ESPN's John Buccigross will host live coverage of Round 1, alongside Sportsnet analysts Elliotte Friedman and Sam Cosentino. Weekes, NHL Network's Jackie Redmond and ESPN hockey writer and reporter Emily Kaplan will join the coverage team, providing insight and analysis.
NHL Network™ will provide exclusive coverage of Rounds 2 to 7 in the U.S. Saturday, July 24, at 8 a.m. Pacific-coffee all around, Kraken fans. NHL Network's signature programs NHL Now™ and NHL Tonight™ also will air live pre- and post-coverage of the Expansion Draft and the first round of the NHL Draft.
ESPN's coverage of the Kraken's expansion draft and the NHL amateur draft represent the first official broadcasts by the league's Disney-owned rights partner, which signed a ground-breaking, seven-year deal earlier this spring with a full schedule of games on ESPN networks.
What's more, ESPN+ and Hulu will be home to 75 exclusive, national NHL game telecasts, and ESPN+ will be the exclusive home for NHL's out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games available for fans to stream as part of an ESPN+ subscription.
The league also announced the 2022 NHL Winter Classic with feature St. Louis and Minnesota at the Target Field ballpark of MLB's Minnesota Twins on Jan. 1, 2022. The event was scheduled for last Jan. 1 but canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The game will mark the 14th anniversary since the first Winter Classic in Buffalo with the host Sabres playing Pittsburgh.
The 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend will be in Las Vegas with its exact mid-season date to be announced. An additional outdoor game, the 2022 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series, will be played between the Nashville Predators and Stanley Cup Finalist Tampa Bay Lightning Feb. 26, 2022, at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans. All details will be determined and revealed at a later date.
