NHL announces changes to 8 games in the new year.

The National Hockey League and their broadcast partners have announced a host of changes to games that will be coming up in the new year, some of which will make it more difficult for some fans to track down the games they were hoping to tune in for.

These changes appear to be largely motivated by the standings in the league this season with a number of games between teams at the top of the standings being more prominently featured on national broadcasts. A notable example of this is a game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers scheduled for the 24th of February. The game was originally scheduled to air on ESPN+ and the Hulu streaming service but has now been moved to ABC with a 12:30 pm start time. Although not explicitly stated, this is almost certainly a result of the success both teams have had this season.

In total we have seen 3 games moved over to the national broadcast on ABC, but the NHL has counterbalanced that by moving three games that were originally scheduled to air on ESPN to ESPN+ and the Hulu streaming service.

For a full breakdown of the changes, please glance at the table below courtesy of ESPN:

These changes will make for some big days of games on ABC with as many as 3 games airing on the national network in a single day. All in all these appear to be positive moves from the NHL's perspective, and it will be interesting to see if the trend continues this season.