Who doesn’t love a good whiparound show these days? The NHL will return with one of its marquee days on the regular season calendar Tuesday night that has been a huge smash hit with hockey fans – the Frozen Frenzy.
If you need a reminder, the Frozen Frenzy features all 32 NHL teams in action with staggered starts across the night. Games will be available on ESPN and ESPN+ throughout the evening with the main action taking place between 6:30 p.m. ET and 9:30 p.m. ET when incredibly a new game starts every 15 minutes. It begins at 6:00 p.m. ET with the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers all the way until 11:00 p.m. ET with the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights.
And of course, there will be a whiparound show to guide everyone through the night on ESPN2 and ESPN+ that starts at 7:00 p.m. ET with John Buccigross, Kevin Weekes, and P.K. Subban. The 7 o’clock hour will air on ESPN+ before shifting to ESPN2 from 8-12 p.m. ET.
If there’s one catch with the Frozen Frenzy this year, the NHL and ESPN decided to schedule it on the NBA’s Opening Night, going up against two highly anticipated games with the defending champion Boston Celtics hosting the new look New York Knicks and LeBron and Bronny James making their NBA debut together with the Los Angeles Lakers against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The NHL can’t avoid everything on the schedule, especially in October with the World Series happening as well as the NFL and college football taking up a lot of oxygen in the sports world, but maybe it could have waited another week or two to maximize exposure? This is the only Frozen Frenzy scheduled for 2024 and it seems like a missed opportunity to do it at least one more time in February or March after football season is over and more of the focus of the sports world can turn to hockey. It’s unfortunate that such a great idea like this may not get the viewership or attention that it really could if it took place at another time.
Nevertheless, ESPN will hope to make the most of it and remind everyone of their broadcast power when it comes to being one of the NHL’s main television partners.