Hi, I've been helping Kraken fans understand how to watch games on Prime the last few years and wanted to help answer some questions you might have. Until the Stars formally announce the deal we can't know for sure, but here's what I expect if the Stars get a deal like what the Kraken have.
What do I need to watch games on Prime?
All you should need is an active Amazon Prime membership and live within the Stars' local broadcast area. If you were able to watch Stars games on Victory+ before, you should be able to do so on Prime next season. The games themselves will be available in the Prime Video app or website for no extra cost.
Within Prime games are listed under the "Sports" section. They started showing up on my home page after I watched some games so Prime will know you want to watch future games.
Will Prime have all Stars games?
No. Like Victory+ and all other regional broadcasters, they can only show "local" games not taken by the NHL's national broadcasters (TNT and ESPN) since those games are exclusive to those channels.
You'll still need ESPN+ to watch local games if you live outside the Stars' regional broadcast area or the national channels to watch the national games.
These are rules set by the NHL and how their media contracts are written.
Is Prime the only place to watch games locally?
I don't know, it depends on what deals the Stars sign with local channels.
Up here all Kraken games are also available on a collection of various local TV channels that are available free over the air with an antenna or in any basic TV package, in Seattle it's the NBC affiliate. We can watch either on Prime or through normal TV. The Stars might do something similar.
How do Prime games look?
Overall the quality in Prime is typically very good. For the Kraken, Amazon only broadcasts the game, they don't produce it or hire any of the on air people. All of that is done by the Kraken in-house.
The Prime broadcasts include both the full pre and post-game shows for each Kraken game.
My best guess is that the Stars will do something similar for their broadcasts and produce it themselves like I think they were doing for Victory+.
Can I watch replays on Prime?
Yes, but only for about 24-48 hours after the game. After that the replay is on ESPN+.
Prime does allow rewinding on live broadcasts so you can re-watch a big goal or save. You can also join an in-progress game either live or start from the beginning.
Are there any technical issues watching on Prime?
A few Kraken fans have experienced issues where Prime doesn't recognize they are in the local region. This appears IP/MAC address issue with some people's routers, see "Issues with Amazon Prime Region Restrictions" on the Kraken reddit wiki -
https://www.reddit.com/r/SeattleKraken/wiki/howtowatch/#wiki_issues_with_amazon_prime_region_restrictions