Each Monday throughout the 2023-24 NHL season, NHL.com will provide fans with a guide of games that will be nationally televised that week. Today, a look at games for the 17th week of the season.
In total, six games will be carried nationally before the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend begins with NHL All-Star Thursday, featuring the Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Player Draft, the NHL Alumni Association Man of the Year honoring the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs and the Canadian Tire PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase. ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports will carry the NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook on Friday. ABC will air the Honda (U.S.)/Rogers (Canada) NHL All-Star Game in the United States on Saturday, when viewers in Canada can watch on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports.
One day before the break, the Los Angeles Kings visit the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, a TNT game with potential ramifications in the Stanley Cup Playoff race.
WEDNESDAY
Los Angeles Kings at Nashville Predators (7:30 p.m. ET; MAX, TNT, BSW, TVAS): The Kings begin the week one point ahead of the Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. This game is vital for the Kings (22-15-9), who try to even the season series after a 2-1 loss in Los Angeles on Jan. 18, are 2-8-6 in their past 16 games and 6-11-7 since they were 16-4-3 on Dec. 7. The Predators are 26-22-1 under first-year coach Andrew Brunette but have lost three of four and are without a power-play goal in their past 13 opportunities.
The Kings and Predators play for the final time this season at Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 22, a game aired exclusively on HULU and ESPN+.
FRIDAY
NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS): There is a new format for the annual skills competition that will showcase 12 players competing in eight events for a winner-take-all prize of $1 million. Vancouver Canucks teammates Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller were the final two players voted in. They join teammate Elias Pettersson, David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Auston Matthews and William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Each of the 12 skaters will participate in four of the first six events: Fastenal NHL Fastest Skater, Rogers NHL Hardest Shot, Scotiabank NHL Passing Challenge, Tim Hortons NHL One Timers, Upper Deck NHL Stick Handling and Cheetos NHL Accuracy Shooting. The top eight point-earners advance to the seventh event, the Honda NHL One-on-One, where each player will choose which goalie they shoot against. The top six reach the final event, the Pepsi NHL Obstacle Course, where point totals are doubled. The player with the most points accumulated after the eight events will be crowned the winner.
SATURDAY
Honda (U.S.)/Rogers (Canada) NHL All-Star Game (3 p.m. ET; SN, CBC, TVAS, ABC, ESPN+): Matthews was chosen as Toronto's representative among the first 32 players named Jan. 4. Three teammates were among 12 added Jan. 13 via the 2024 NHL All-Star Fan Vote presented by MassMutual. If Matthews, Nylander, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly all play, it would tie the most from the All-Star Game hosts since 2002. Dating to 1969, six All-Star hosts have had more than four representatives in the game, most recently five by the Avalanche in 2001.
Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, Brock Boeser, Miller and Pettersson are representing the Canucks. Since 1990, there have been seven instances of at least five teammates playing in the same All-Star Game: The Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 (five), the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 (five), the Avalanche in 2001 (five) and 1998 (six), the Dallas Stars in 1998 (five), the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992 (five) and Bruins in 1991 (five).
Quinn and brother Jack Hughes spent part of their childhood in Toronto when their father, Jim Hughes, worked for the Maple Leafs organization. Jack has not played since he sustained an upper-body injury late in the third period of a 4-2 win against the Blackhawks on Jan. 5, and the level of his participation in the weekend’s festivities is unclear.
Fifteen players from Canada-based teams were named to All-Star Weekend. If they all play Saturday, it would match the highest representation from such teams in 34 years, and the seventh time since 1969 that the game has at least 15. The others: 1988 (19), 1986 (18), 1985 (17), 1989 (16), 2020 (15) and 1990 (15).
OTHER NATIONALLY TELEVISED GAMES
MONDAY
Nashville Predators at Ottawa Senators (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, NHLN, BSSO)
TUESDAY
Columbus Blue Jackets at St. Louis Blues (8 p.m. ET; BSMW, BSOH, NHLN, TVAS)
Seattle Kraken at San Jose Sharks (10:30 p.m. ET; ROOT-NW, NBCSCA, SN360, SN, TVAS)
WEDNESDAY
Ottawa Senators at Detroit Red Wings (7 p.m. ET; BSDET, SN, RDS)
San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks (10:30 p.m. ET; BSSD, BSSC, NBCSCA, SN, TVAS)
