The regular season started on October 4, 2024, when the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played the first of two games in Prague, Czech Republic, as a part of the 2024 NHL Global Series.
[3] The sale, which involved the NHL buying the franchise from Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo, then reselling it to Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA), was finalized on April 18, after the NHL Board of Governors voted to establish a team in Utah, with the Coyotes' hockey assets;[4] however, rather than formally relocate, the Coyotes franchise was instead marked "inactive", with the Utah Hockey Club considered an expansion team in a similar situation to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL).
[8][2] The Utah Hockey Club will play its inaugural season without an official name, mascot, or colors, while a full identity is developed in time for 2025–26.
[1] The Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played their first two regular season games against each other on October 4 and 5, 2024, at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.
Four teams representing NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States will play a total of seven games from February 12 to 20.
This includes Sportsnet's sub-licensing agreements to air Saturday Hockey Night in Canada games on CBC Television and French-language broadcasts on TVA Sports.
Prime Monday Night Hockey features a new broadcast team, led by John Forslund on play-by-play, and Thomas Hickey, Shane Hnidy and Jody Shelley on color commentary.
[120][121] The Ottawa Senators hired Matt Cullen to replace Jon Abbott as the team's backup TV play-by-play announcer, typically filling in during Gord Miller's national TSN assignments.
[123] This is the fourth season of the league's seven-year U.S. national broadcast rights deals with the ESPN family of networks and TNT Sports.
[125] TNT has games on Wednesday nights throughout the season, selected Sundays between February 23 and April 13, the Thanksgiving Showdown on November 29, and the Winter Classic on December 31.
[127][128] CHSN is available as a digital multicast television network within the team's broadcast territory, with WJYS in Hammond, Indiana serving as flagship affiliate for the Chicago market.
[131][132] As part of the asset transfer, the Utah Hockey Club received the Arizona Coyotes' existing broadcasting contract with Scripps Sports.
KUPX in Salt Lake City, which had been televising Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights games, was named as the Utah team's new flagship station.
[133] In turn, Arizona's former television territory was granted to the Golden Knights, who announced broadcasting agreements with the Phoenix-based KASW and Tucson-based KWBA (with both stations carrying a mix of Utah and Vegas games).
The Panthers then signed a multi-year agreement with Scripps Sports to broadcast games on three Scripps-owned stations: WSFL-TV in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, WHDT in West Palm Beach, and WFTX-DT3 in Fort Myers.
[141] The Stars subsequently announced a new digital platform known as Victory+ as part of a partnership with A Parent Media Co., to carry the team's ancillary video content, and stream regionally-televised games in-market for free.
[151][152] Along with airing on FanDuel Sports Network, the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes and Predators announced agreements to simulcast a limited number of games on local over-the-air stations.
[156] The Boston Bruins hired Judd Sirott to be the new TV play-by-play announcer this season following the retirement of Jack Edwards.
[159] The Columbus Blue Jackets hired Steve Mears to be the new TV play-by-play announcer this season following the retirement of Jeff Rimer.
Nickson spent the last two seasons doing play-by-play on both television and radio alongside analysts Jim Fox and Daryl Evans.