SAN JOSE – For the second straight year, fans of the San Jose Sharks who want to watch the team’s season-opening game will either need to buy a ticket or be subscribers to ESPN+ or Hulu.
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The Walt Disney Company announced on Wednesday that it will stream four Sharks regular-season games exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu, including the team’s season-opener on Oct. 9 at SAP Center against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The streaming services will also show the Sharks’ road games against the Utah Mammoth and Minnesota Wild on Oct. 17 and Nov. 11, respectively, and San Jose’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 20.
ESPN+ costs $11.99 per month and can be bundled with Disney+ and Hulu for $16.99 per month with commercials.
Two Sharks games will be on national television. On Oct. 28 at 8 p.m., ESPN is airing the Sharks’ home game against the Kings, which is the final game of the NHL’s Frozen Frenzy, an event that features 16 games involving all 32 teams.
The Sharks’ April 8 home game against the Edmonton Oilers will be televised on TNT, marking San Jose’s first appearance on the network, which began airing NHL games in the 2023-24 season. That game was initially supposed to start at 7:30 p.m., but will now begin at 7 p.m.
Last season, the Sharks appeared exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu three times and on ESPN another three times.
The Sharks’ first game of the 2024-25 season was at home against the St. Louis Blues, featured the NHL debuts of forwards Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, and was shown exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.
Prior to that, recent Sharks season openers had been shown on the team’s broadcast partner, NBC Sports California.
Celebrini led the Sharks with 63 points in 70 games last season, but the team still finished in 32nd place in the NHL standings with a 20-50-12 record.
The Sharks made significant changes to their roster this offseason, notably signing forwards Jeff Skinner and Adam Gaudette, defensemen Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic as free agents and acquiring forwards Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Reaves via trade. Veteran defenseman Nick Leddy was also claimed off waivers.