Nobody knows where Toronto Maple Leafs games will be aired next season

The NHL’s current Canadian television broadcast rights deal is set to expire at the end of next season and the path forward isn’t exactly clear.

Rogers Sportsnet has been the sole rights holder for the league in Canada over the past 12 years after inking a historic $5.2 billion deal with the NHL in 2013. Since then, nationally broadcast games have been exclusively produced by Sportsnet.

This deviated from the previous Canadian rights deal which splintered the rights between CBC and TSN.

There have been a few hints regarding the new deal. Rogers has already teamed up with Amazon and comments from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman signal that exclusivity may take a backseat in future negotiations.

We should get clarity on who will broadcast NHL hockey in Canada going forward at some point this year.

Will Sportsnet keep the rights?

Rogers will reportedly be vying to hold onto the broadcast rights and it has recently engaged in a 60-day exclusive negotiation window with the NHL that began on New Year’s Day.

But it hasn’t all been sunshine and roses for Sportsnet throughout the current deal. A lack of success from Canadian NHL teams has hampered Rogers from maximizing its profits. The company sold off its Monday night national spot to Amazon Prime for the last two years of the current deal.

It also won’t be cheap. The NHL is reportedly seeking at least double the amount on the next deal, which means the price tag could get as high as $10 billion.

So if not Sportsnet, who else could jump in to take over the rights? There are a few obvious players that can speculated on, both old and new.

Amazon bringing streaming to the forefront

Amazon appears to be a company anxious to get into hockey broadcasting.

The online giant jumped onto the Canadian sports broadcast scene this season after Rogers sublicensed Monday-night games and its new format seems to be a hit with fans. Amazon also struck a deal with the PWHL to stream women’s hockey games on Prime this season.

With streaming services becoming increasingly more popular, Amazon is an intriguing new possibility for the future of the NHL in Canada.

Bettman seemed to allude on an episode of CNBC’s Squawk Box back in November that the next deal may not carry as exclusive a tag as the current deal with Rogers currently has.

“There seems to be less of a need for exclusivity, everybody wants a piece of the pie,” Bettman said. “But again, we’re open-minded and Rogers has been a great partner and we’re going to wait and see what they’ll say.”

“I think we are at a point where distribution is going to be maximized and the really good content, which we include ourselves in, is going to be increasingly valuable and we’re going to reach more fans.”

Could TSN make a comeback?

Bell Media, which owns both TSN and CTV, is another company that could get involved.

TSN held national broadcast rights from 1987 to 1998 and again from 2002 to 2014, and currently holds regional broadcast rights for the Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens, as well as a portion of games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is also the exclusive home for popular international hockey events such as the World Juniors.

TSN remains a household name among Canadian sports fans even without the national rights and it boasts an impressive roster of hockey broadcasters that could easily step in.

Could you imagine watching Hockey Night in Canada on CTV rather than its traditional home of CBC? If exclusivity is on its way out in the next deal, perhaps Bell Media can loop TSN/CTV into a broader deal alongside both Rogers and Amazon as well.