NHL on NBC was a premier live sports broadcast package that televised professional hockey games in the United States. NBC aired NHL games intermittently from 1966–1975, but the modern era began after a league lockout cancelled the entire 2004-05 NHL season, leaving the sport without a national U.S. television home. NBC Sports stepped in, acquiring the league’s broadcast rights from ABC, with the first game airing in January 2006. Games aired across multiple NBC properties, including the main NBC network, NBCSN, USA Network, and Peacock.
The core programming provided comprehensive weekly coverage of regular-season matchups on Sunday afternoons. Furthermore, the broadcast package showcased marquee events like the annual outdoor NHL Winter Classic. The network also delivered complete coverage of every single game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Consequently, this expansive approach significantly grew the sport’s television audience across the United States.
The studio show was central to the franchise’s identity from the start. During the early years, Bob Costas served as a studio host for select marquee events, including the NHL Winter Classic, from 2008 to 2012. Liam McHugh then took over as the lead studio host in 2011, anchoring pregame, intermission, and postgame programming for the remainder of the franchise’s run. Kathryn Tappen joined as a secondary studio host in 2014, sharing duties with McHugh across regular-season and playoff coverage.
Legendary commentator, Mike “Doc” Emrick, served as the lead play-by-play announcer from 2006 through 2020. Emrick called games alongside color commentator Eddie Olczyk and Inside the Glass reporter Pierre McGuire. The show also featured a roster of analysts, including Mike Milbury, Jeremy Roenick, and Keith Jones. Both Milbury and Roenick were fired in 2020, after which Anson Carter, Patrick Sharp, and NHL insiders Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger took on larger roles in the studio
NHL on NBC aired 15 Stanley Cup Finals across its 15-season run. The show’s final telecast was Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final on July 7, 2021. McHugh hosted the closing studio show from NBC’s Connecticut headquarters, with Jones, Carter, and Sharp as analysts, while Tappen worked on-site in Tampa. Later that year, the NHL signed a new seven-year deal with ESPN/ABC and Turner Sports, and NBC withdrew from future NHL rights bidding.
