The 2026-27 NHL season gets going on September 29, and the way you watch depends entirely on where you are. US fans juggle ESPN, TNT and regional networks. Canadians rely on Sportsnet+ and Prime Video. The rest of the world goes through DAZN. And the moment you travel, your usual service may stop working. Here’s where to watch and which VPNs keep you connected.
2026-27 NHL season: key dates
According to the NHL’s official schedule release, the season opens on September 29 with an ESPN tripleheader, starting with the Carolina Hurricanes raising their Stanley Cup banner against the Florida Panthers. Teams play 84 games this season instead of 82, for 1,344 games in total. The regular season ends on April 10, with all 32 teams in action.
Two Global Series events are on the calendar: games in Finland in November (with the Seattle Kraken and the Hurricanes) and in Germany in December (with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Ottawa Senators).
Where to watch the NHL in 2026-27
In the United States
National games are split between ESPN, ABC and TNT Sports. ESPN streams its games on its own apps, and TNT’s games stream on HBO Max. Out-of-market packages and live TV services like YouTube TV, Fubo or DirecTV Stream fill the gaps, according to Yahoo Sports’ viewing guide. Local games are usually on regional sports networks, which is where blackouts come from.
In Canada
Sportsnet+ carries the bulk of national games, including the Saturday and Monday night broadcasts, and Amazon Prime Video has Wednesday night hockey.
Everywhere else
Since the 2025-26 season, DAZN has been the global distributor of NHL.TV in nearly 200 countries, with the US, Canada and the Nordic countries excluded. If you live in the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland or most of Europe, you watch the NHL through DAZN, either as a standalone NHL.TV subscription or bundled with your existing DAZN plan.
Watching the Global Series games in Europe
The November games in Finland and the December games in Germany are a special case. They’re played in European time zones, so fans at home in North America get early starts, while European fans finally get NHL games at a normal hour. In Germany, NHL games stream on DAZN as part of its NHL.TV deal. In Finland, the Nordic exclusion from the DAZN deal means a separate local broadcaster holds the rights. If you’re a North American fan travelling to see the games in person, your ESPN or Sportsnet+ account will be geo-blocked there, and a VPN connected to home is the simplest way to catch the other games on the schedule that week.
Is there a free way to watch the NHL?
Not legally, for full games. Highlights are free on the NHL’s own channels and apps, but live games require a paid service in every market we checked. Free “NHL streams” sites are pirate operations, often packed with malicious ads and fake players that ask you to install software. A VPN doesn’t make those safe. If money is the issue, compare the cheapest legal option in your country first, and use the free trials that some live TV services offer at the start of the season.
Why hockey fans use a VPN
Travelling fans. A Sportsnet+ or ESPN subscriber on a trip to Europe hits geo-blocks immediately. Connecting to a server at home restores access to the service they already pay for.
Expats. A Canadian living in Switzerland may prefer the Canadian broadcasts and commentary they grew up with over DAZN’s international feed.
Privacy on public Wi-Fi. Watching the game on hotel or airport Wi-Fi is exactly the situation a VPN is built for.
Blackouts. Out-of-market packages black out local teams. Some fans use a VPN to appear in another market. It breaks the terms of most services, and apps increasingly cross-check GPS, so it’s the least reliable use case.
The best VPNs for the NHL in 2026-27
| VPN | Overall score | Streaming score | Speed | Devices | 1-year plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | 4.63 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 10 | $68.85 |
| Surfshark | 4.08 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | Unlimited | $59.76 |
| ExpressVPN | 3.72 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 10 to 14 | $99.95 |
| Private Internet Access | 3.63 / 5 | 3.5 / 5 | 4 / 5 | Unlimited | $39.95 |
NordVPN: best for NHL streaming overall
NordVPN is the top-rated VPN in our table (4.63/5) with a 5/5 streaming score, and our data shows “Excellent” results on HBO Max, Peacock and Prime Video. It has servers across dozens of US cities and several Canadian ones, which helps when one location gets blocked on game night. Its apps cover Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV. Get NordVPN for the new season.
Surfshark: best value for a hockey household
Surfshark allows unlimited devices, scores 4.5/5 on streaming and 5/5 on speed, and costs $59.76 for the first year. Good for a family watching on a TV, a laptop and a couple of phones at once.
ExpressVPN: excellent streaming, premium price
ExpressVPN also scores 5/5 on streaming, with “Excellent” across every platform we track. It costs $99.95 for the first year, and its overall score (3.72/5) is lower because of ownership and transparency criteria.
Private Internet Access: cheapest with a huge US network
PIA has one of the largest US server networks and costs $39.95 for the first year. Its streaming results are more uneven (“Good” on Netflix and HBO Max, “Variable” on Hulu and Peacock), so it’s a budget choice, not a first choice.
Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.
How to watch NHL games with a VPN
- Subscribe to your streaming service before you travel, with your home payment method.
- Install the VPN on your streaming device. For TVs without VPN apps, use a Fire TV Stick or set the VPN up on your router.
- Connect to a server in your home country: a US city for ESPN or HBO Max, a Canadian city for Sportsnet+.
- Clear the streaming app’s cache (or reinstall it) and turn off location permissions for the app on mobile.
- Test it before puck drop. If the stream refuses to load, try another server in the same country.
If you run into proxy errors, our guide on fixing “VPN detected” errors goes through the fixes in order of how often they work.
Does a VPN cause lag during live games?
A little, but less than you’d think. Live sports are more sensitive to buffering than to raw speed. With a WireGuard-based protocol (NordLynx on NordVPN, WireGuard on Surfshark or PIA) and a server reasonably close to you, HD hockey streams without trouble on most connections. If you’re watching from Europe on a US server, the distance adds a delay, so pick an East Coast city.
Other sports on the same subscription
If you also follow the NBA or US college sports, the same setup works for those services. See our guides to the best VPN for NBA League Pass and the best VPN for ESPN.
NordVPN is the best VPN for the 2026-27 NHL season: top overall score in our table (4.63/5), 5/5 streaming and reliable US and Canadian servers for ESPN, HBO Max and Sportsnet+. Surfshark is the value pick for households. Outside North America and the Nordics, remember that DAZN now carries NHL.TV legally, so you may not need a VPN at all at home.