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The headache Of streaming popular North American sports is part of a drawn-out transition from broadcast television that's been hampered by a ludicrous number of regional and national deals that remain largely in place even as audiences move to streaming. As a cord-cutting puckhead, your task isn't easy. But with a little fancy footwork, you can watch every game that matters to you without running cable or erecting a wonky satellite dish. Here's how.
Be sure to check out our other streaming and TV guides, including the Best TVs, Best Streaming Devices, and Best Soundbars, as well as our guide on How to Stream NFL Football.
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Best OverallSling TV Orange + Blue for $60 per month
Sling TV splits its channel lineup into Blue and Orange tiers. Some channels are shared between both while others are exclusive to one tier or the other. To watch the maximum number of NHL games, you need to bundle both. Sling TV offers a discount if you buy them together.
You can watch regional games on ABC, TNT, and TBS, as well as national games shown on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3. Add the Sports Extra add-on for $11 more per month and you also get NHL Network, which shows NHL preseason games as well as some highlight shows and daily news. The big downside is that Bally Sports, Spectrum SportsNet, and MSG Networks, major regional broadcasters, aren't included.
For the casual hockey fan who lives in the broadcast market for their favorite team, the Sling TV Orange + Blue package without NHL Network makes the most sense if you weigh the number of games against dollars spent. Also, when you see the attractive discount offers on Sling TV's homepage, know that your first month is half off, but after that it reverts to its full price.
Best for Diehard FansDirecTV Stream for $75 per month
Drop the extra money for the entry-level Entertainment tier of DirecTV Stream, which does not require a satellite dish or an annual contract, and you get access to all the regional and national broadcasters, such as ABC, TNT, TBS, ESPN, ESPN2, MSG Sports, Spectrum SportsNet, and Bally Sports.
Then, to make sure you can watch the rest of the games on the regular-season schedule, pick up ESPN+ for $10 per month or $100 per year to watch the out-of-market and exclusive nationally televised games not included in your DirecTV Stream package. The whole kit and caboodle comes out to $85 per month, but NHL Network is available only on the Ultimate and Premier tiers for $110 and $155 a month, respectively, if you want to watch those preseason games badly enough. That means to get absolutely everything, you'd need the Ultimate tier and ESPN+ for a combined total of $120 per month.
If your primary concern is the NHL, there's not much of a reason to step up to the $100-a-month Choice tier, anyway. You pick up ESPN News, which is fine but not worth the big jump in price. One weird word of warning: NHL Center Ice is available as an add-on for a regular DirecTV satellite subscription but not as an add-on to DirecTV Stream.
Best for Out-of-Market FansESPN+ for $10 per month or $100 per year
Pity the sports fan, such as yours truly, who lives far from the home base of their beloved, favorite sports team. Except when it comes to watching them on TV. Freed from the Byzantine web of regional blackouts and restrictions, a fan can stream all out-of-market games on ESPN+. Not only that but there are 50 exclusive games shown on ESPN+ too.
Just remember that if your favorite team plays a game in an enemy arena—say you live near Chicago, and your Carolina Hurricanes play the Chicago Blackhawks on their home turf—then that becomes an in-market game and you won't be able to see it on ESPN+. Still, no single streaming service is as comprehensive as ESPN+ for out-of-market viewers.
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The other downside is that even though you do get to watch some specials on ESPN+, such as the all-star game, the draft, and the playoffs, you won't get to see the Winter Classic or the Stanley Cup Finals. For that, you'll need to add a streaming channel with TNT and TBS.
Because Disney is now somehow even more of a juggernaut than it was previously, you can bundle ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu for $13 per month if you enjoy streaming television that sometimes isn't sports and don't mind ads. Upgrade to the Premium bundle for $20 per month to get rid of ads on Hulu and Disney+, although you'll still have to deal with them on ESPN+.
Other Streaming Services to Know
Hulu + Live TV for $70 per month is a close runner-up to DirecTV. It offers access to ABC, TNT, TBS, ESPN, and ESPN2, plus it includes ESPN+ at no extra charge. Sounds great, no? Well, almost. It lacks the crucial regional networks Bally Sports, MSG Network, and Spectrum SportsNet. Less crucially, it also lacks the NHL Network.
NHL Center Ice for $70 per season gives you up to 40 out-of-market games per week, making it an attractive option that, on the face of it, seems a fair bit cheaper than ESPN+. It even includes the NHL Network. Well, keep your stick on the ice, sports fan. The major catch is that you need a subscription to a cable or satellite television provider and purchase it through them. Once upon a time, you could stream NHL Center Ice through the NHL app, but now it comes exclusively as a station via whichever cable or satellite subscription you're paying for. Not to mention that you still won't get to watch the 50 exclusive games that ESPN+ carries.
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Fubo for $75 per month offers ABC, TNT, TBS, ESPN, ESPN2, Bally Sports, and MSG Networks on its entry-level Pro tier, but it lacks NHL Network and the regional broadcaster Spectrum SportsNet. You can add the Fubo Extra package or Sports Plus package for an additional $8 or $11 per month, respectively, to pick up NHL Network, or you can upgrade to the Elite tier for $85 per month. Fubo isn't a bad deal, but it occupies a funny sort of middle ground between Sling TV and DirecTV Stream. It's a bit more expensive and a bit more complete than Sling TV, but it lacks a crucial regional network that DirecTV Stream carries for no extra money.
A Note on VPNs
Virtual private networks allow you to run your device's connection through a middleman server in a different location. So to other websites, your device appears to be connecting from London, Toronto, Chicago, Miami—wherever there's a server. Streaming services have rules about not using VPNs, and some attempt to block viewers who are using VPNs (with mixed results).
It's a bit more complicated to configure a VPN to run through your internet router—which is what's required to run your smart TV or streaming box through the VPN—but it can be done. Alternatively, you can connect your tablet, smartphone, or computer to a VPN and either watch it on your device or cast it on your smart TV or TV streaming device.
