Expansion draft, first round of regular draft to air on ESPN2

Buckle up, folks: our first dose of the NHL on ESPN is less than a month away!

The league announced its broadcast plans for the Seattle Kraken’s Expansion Draft and the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft on Monday, and both of those events are headed to the NHL’s new home: the ESPN networks!

The Expansion Draft will be broadcast live on ESPN2 on Wednesday, July 21 at 8 PM. It should be pretty cool to watch everything unfold live, though it’s probably fair to say we’ll know about a few of the picks/surrounding dramatics before the event itself.

A couple of days later, ESPN2 will also show the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft, beginning at 8 PM.

It’s worth noting that only the first round will be shown on ESPN2; rounds two through seven will only be broadcast on NHL Network (in the US, that is).

The Expansion Draft and the entire 2021 NHL Draft will be shown on Sportsnet up in Canada.

We’re going to get our first look at the ESPN personalities who will be covering hockey during these events too, as the names on the list include:

• Chris Fowler
• Kevin Weekes
• Dominic Moore
• John Buccigross
• Elliotte Friedman
• Sam Cosentino
• Jackie Redmond
• Emily Kaplan

Your thoughts on ESPN’s coverage? Excited to see it? Pining for NBC? Indifferent?

Discuss.