Prime Video becomes local streaming home for six NHL teams

Prime Video will be the exclusive local streaming home for six NHL teams next season.

Prime Video and the NHL jointly announced Wednesday that the streamer is now the local rights holder for the Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and St. Louis Blues, each within that team’s own regional territory, starting with the 2026-27 season.

“We’re excited to build upon our strong relationship with the NHL and provide fans with more ways to connect with the local teams they love,” said Prime Video’s head of sports partnerships, Charlie Neiman. “We have firmly established Prime Video as a primary destination for sports and look forward to helping these teams broaden the reach and accessibility of their live games.”

“Fans want an easy way to find and follow their favorite teams, and this agreement with Prime Video gives Clubs the flexibility to meet that demand as the market evolves,” added NHL chief media officer, David Proper. “Amazon has been a terrific partner to the NHL, and we’re excited to expand our relationship as Prime Video grows its NHL offerings. Together, we’re creating new opportunities for Clubs to reach fans and delivering a premium, accessible regional viewing experience.”

Four of these six teams — the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild and Blues — were among the 20 NBA and NHL clubs left searching for new local broadcast partners after Main Street Sports Group, the operator of the FanDuel Sports Network, wound down operations this spring. None of those teams had received any local media rights payments from Main Street in 2026 before the shutdown was finalized. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had already signaled the league had no interest in building a centralized local streaming hub the way the NBA and MLB were pursuing, leaving each Main Street orphan to find its own way to a new partner

Both MLB and the NBA have seemingly settled on a centralized package of local rights to sell to a streamer like Prime Video or YouTube TV. The idea is that if teams aggregate their local broadcast rights and the league sells them to one streamer, they can generate more revenue than if individual teams sold their own local broadcasts, as has been done for decades.

But as it stands, the NHL is planning to let its teams decide what is best for their local rights situations.  NHL commissioner Gary Bettman suggested earlier this year that the league won’t centralize its local broadcast rights à la MLB or the NBA, but that it would be available to support production and distribution of those games if necessary.

That became necessary in July, when the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild and Blues turned to the NHL’s newly created centralized production arm for their local telecasts beginning in 2026-27, following the closure of the Main Street Sports Group-operated regional networks that had previously carried their games.

The Stars and Ducks were previously with Victory+, the free, ad-supported local streamer that dissolved this week after a summer of losing rights partners, including the Texas Rangers, the NWSL and the Ducks themselves back in July. The Ducks left Victory+ with two years still remaining on their agreement; at the time, Anaheim was reportedly exploring an expanded over-the-air arrangement with its local Fox affiliate, which already carried up to 65 Ducks games a season, similar to the deal the Nashville Predators struck with Scripps after losing their spot on a FanDuel-branded network. The Stars, who co-founded and held an equity stake in Victory+, were reportedly exploring a Prime Video move just days before Victory+ shut down for good, taking Dallas Stars broadcasts and Texas high school football with it.

Prime Video already carries the Seattle Kraken’s local broadcasts, and the service also holds a broad portfolio of MLB, NBA, WNBA, and NWSL local packages, along with distribution deals for regional networks like MSG, NESN, SNY, and YES. In late July, the company signed a separate 12-year agreement with Rogers Communications, making it the exclusive home of Wednesday night national NHL games in Canada.