Four Canucks games won’t be televised on Sportsnet this season

The Vancouver Canucks’ television schedule was released today, and for the first time in a long time, not every game will be featured on Sportsnet.

In fact, not every game will be available via traditional television.

Sportsnet will broadcast 78 of the Canucks’ 82 regular-season games this season. Included in those 78 games are regional games, featuring John Shorthouse, Dan Murphy, and one of Dave Tomlinson or Ray Ferraro. There are also national broadcasts, including Hockey Night in Canada games, featuring various broadcasters and hosts.

The remaining four games will be broadcast via Amazon Prime, marking the first time Canucks games have been exclusively broadcasted on a streaming-only service.

“Prime Monday Night Hockey” will broadcast nationally televised NHL games next season, beginning October 14. Amazon says games will be streamed in Canada at no extra cost to Prime Members, which can be purchased for $9.99 a month, or $99 annually.

The Canucks will be featured on Amazon Prime four times next season:

  • December 23: San Jose @ Vancouver
  • January 6: Vancouver @ Montreal
  • January 27: Vancouver @ St. Louis
  • March 24: Vancouver @ New Jersey

John Forslund and Jody Shelley are the likely broadcasters for Amazon games, according to reports from sports media insider Jonah Sigel.

The Canucks haven’t played a regular-season game that wasn’t broadcast by Sportsnet since before 2014, when Rogers wrestled the national television broadcast rights away from TSN. The Canucks haven’t had games that weren’t available through traditional television since they scrapped their pay-per-view broadcasts, which first debuted in the early 2000s.

Training camp kicks off on Thursday in Penticton. The Canucks begin preseason play next week, at home to the Seattle Kraken on September 24. Vancouver’s first regular-season game is October 9, at home to the Calgary Flames.

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