How to watch the Canadiens in 2014-15, your definitive guide to watching the Habs

There's no way to sugarcoat the fact that the new TV rights deal has made it more difficult, and likely more expensive for Habs fans outside of Quebec and the Maritimes to partake in the full 82-game schedule. Blogger Fagstein has already provided a great explanation of the new regional rights, and while they are pretty confusing, rest assured that it is still possible to have access to the full 82.

TSN 690 will allow you to listen to every Canadiens game with no blackout issues, which you can also stream online if that is sufficient for you. In order to get video access to the 42 games that will be completely regionally exclusive, you'll likely need to supplement your regular TV service with an additional subscription service. Luckily there are two viable options that will help bridge the gap nicely.

NHL Centre Ice- $Various

Centre Ice can be ordered through your TV service, with the costs varying by provider and generally offered through monthly payments or a one time fee. Games otherwise available in your region will be blacked out, and if a game is blacked out on your local station, it may also be blacked out on Centre Ice. Be sure when you are ordering from your provider that you ask them about your regional blackouts to make sure you're getting what you want. They are required to abide by the restrictions set forth by the NHL, and in most cases they should be able to give you a good idea of which games may or may not be blacked out. It won't be many, but you should prepare yourself accordingly.

Game Centre Live- CDN $179.95 (early bird) to CDN $200.00

GCL works on pretty much anything that allows you to download the app; tablets, smartphones, computers, even gaming consoles. Like Centre Ice, It will black out otherwise available games in your region based on your IP address, but that means you should have a relatively easy time finding it on regular television. For instance, Montreal's game against Vancouver on October 30 would be blacked out if you're in the Canucks region. With certain TV subscriptions, you can actually get around the blackouts entirely on GCL, but this depends on your home TV provider and does not appear as if it will be fully supported until around January. It is also a stream, and generally runs on a bit of a delay, so it may also affect your ability to follow on social media. Early bird special for this is only if you subscribe prior to October 13, so grab it soon if you want it.

Both Centre Ice and Game Centre Live also have a special French package available for CDN $60 that will carry 60 Canadiens (and 54 Sens) games in french. This will help nicely to cover you for non-national games, and is only available for those outside the Canadiens and Senators broadcast regions.

Now down to brass tacks; the 40 nationally-available games. If you have cable or satellite, you will want to go over your package options to see what's available. Load up on the Sportsnet channels, and maybe get TVA sports if available, even if you don't speak french. The 40 games that are national will be pretty spread out throughout channels like Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Regional channels, and 22 games in French on TVA. Those regional channels are the ones like Sportsnet Pacific in Vancouver, and they will be carrying a few games throughout the year.

The table below lists every game and it's broadcast availability. Blue means a nationally available game either in English through one of the Sportsnet channels or City TV, or in French on TVA Sports. The Bold games in red are also being broadcast nationally in the United States for our American friends. The green games are all the games where you'll likely require one of the aforementioned subscriptions unless you live in Quebec, the Maritimes, or that game's regional broadcast area.