The Calgary Flames are back on Sportsnet+ for Monday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks, and the matchup will not be shown on traditional television. It is the second straight Monday the Flames have been pushed to the streaming service, this time with puck drop set for 8 p.m. ABT.
For fans looking for Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks, the only way in is to stream the game. That matters because this is not a preseason exhibition or a special event tucked behind a niche package; it is a regular-season NHL game, the kind of broadcast many viewers expect to find on TV without having to navigate a separate subscription.
There is a price attached to that access. Non-TV subscribers need a Sportsnet+ plan that costs $34.99 per month or $269.99 per year. Fans who already get Sportsnet through a TV provider must pay an extra $12.99 a month to unlock the streaming-only content, though Rogers Xfinity TV customers with Sportsnet do not need to pay anything extra for this game.
That pricing split is at the heart of why this game is drawing attention. The Flames had already been sent to Sportsnet+ last week against the Toronto Maple Leafs for the streaming-only Monday Night Hockey debut, and Monday’s meeting with the Sharks is now the second of eight games scheduled to appear exclusively on Sportsnet+ this season. The shift is not accidental or one-off. It is part of a broader move that is pushing more of the Flames’ Monday night inventory away from traditional television.
What makes the arrangement harder for viewers is the mismatch between the expectation and the delivery. Monday night hockey has long been a TV product for many fans, but this one is behind a paywall unless they already have the right subscription or pay more. Amazon’s Prime Video also has the exclusive rights to a select number of Wednesday Night Hockey games, another sign that the broadcast map for the NHL is being carved up by platform instead of carried in one place.
For now, the immediate question is not whether the Flames will keep showing up on Sportsnet+ on Mondays — they will — but which of the remaining six exclusive games will follow the same pricing rules and whether more viewers will decide the extra fee is worth it. Monday night starts at 8 p.m. ABT, and the barrier to watching is as much about access as it is about hockey.
