NHL officially announces broadcasting partnership with Turner Sports (TNT and TBS)

The NHL has officially announced a seven year partnership with Turner Sports believed to be worth $225 million per year.

Turner Sports, which will broadcast games on TNT and TBS, joins ABC and ESPN as the NHL's national media rights partners in the United States for the next seven seasons. The NHL's deal with ABC and ESPN, announced in March, is worth $655 million per season and makes them the league's majority rights holder. 

More from the NHL:

As part of the agreement, Turner Sports' networks will televise the NHL Winter Classic, the League's annual New Year's Day outdoor game, in all seven seasons of the deal. They will show all games in the Stanley Cup Final in 2023, 2025 and 2027, one conference final series each season and half of the first two rounds of the playoffs along with 72 regular-season games per season.

Bleacher Report, which is owned by Turner, will have rights to use NHL highlights on its digital platform.

The Stanley Cup Final will air on ABC in in 2022, 2024, 2026 and 2028 as part of the deal with the Walt Disney Co. and ESPN. They have the rights to air one conference final round per season, half of the first two rounds of the playoffs, 25 regular-season games on ABC or ESPN, and 75 additional national games that will stream on ESPN+ and Hulu.

Needless to say, this new agreement bings an end to the NHL on NBC. And frankly, who cares? Honestly, I had such high hopes for NBC when the league announced its partnership 10 years ago, but... honestly it's been such a let down. Sure, the NHL was virtually invisible on mainstream media in the United States prior to NBC, but i'd argue that the game hasn't grown as much as the league would have liked under NBC's stewardship. Combine that with the fact that NBC's rotating cast of analysts and reporters never seemed to catch my attention and I'm left feeling this the entire ordeal was underwhelming.

Here's hoping that ESPN and TNT can do for the NHL what NBC never could: Bring hockey back to the American mainstream.