Sidney Crosby in Montréal is usually magic against the Habs. The NHL Network will take advantage of that magic by carrying the CBC feed Saturday night.
CBC will have the Calgary Flames in Vancouver late on Saturday.
City TV has the Ottawa Senators in the desert on Saturday night. Florida at Edmonton — perhaps the worst Hometown Hockey matchup of the season — will be the Sunday night City TV game.
Rogers Sportsnet has the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night in the late slot at Staples Center to battle the defending Stanley Cup champs. The Wednesday night game on Sportsnet has the Montréal Canadiens in Ohio's capital, the site of the All-Star Game.
Rogers Sportsnet One checks in with a Florida game of its own, Friday night in Calgary.
On the original schedule, Thursday's Vancouver Canucks in Philadelphia game was on the NHL Network docket. For the second time in less than a month, the NHL Network has cancelled a Vancouver Canucks game.
The team is playing much better and deserves the opposite treatment. Yes, the feed would have likely been from Philadelphia, but the channel needs to add at least 2 Canucks games just to get back to par.
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NHL Network
Saturday
Pittsburgh @ Montréal, 7p
Tape delayed
Monday Florida @ Edmonton, 2p (1-hour)
Winnipeg at Anaheim, 4p (1-hour)
Tuesday Toronto @ Los Angeles, 4p (1-hour)
Thursday Toronto @ Anaheim, 3p (1-hour)
CBC
Saturday
Pittsburgh @ Montréal, 7p
Calgary @ Vancouver, 10p
City
Saturday
Ottawa @ Arizona, 7p
Sunday
Florida @ Edmonton, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet
Saturday
Winnipeg @ Los Angeles, 10p
Wednesday
Montréal @ Columbus, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet One
Friday
Florida @ Calgary, 9p
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"Well, we're fresh from the Winter Classic in Washington, DC. That was pretend winter. You want the real stuff? Try this: -25°, wind chill approaching 35 below, drifting snow, extreme cold warning. Yes, we're a hearty bunch here in Manitoba."
Scott Oake's open had a hint of glee in telling the crowd how cold things were in Winnipeg. The on-air graphic actually said -28° with a windchill of -33°.
Oake is based in Winnipeg. The city was getting a lot more attention with the Maple Leafs in town. Inside, the crowd was loud and warm.
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Canada has 7 teams in the NHL. 3 of them have now fired their coach midway through this season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs became the latest team to fire their coach. Randy Carlyle hadn't been hired by the current management, so even in 4th in the division and a better than .500 record, Carlyle was still shown the door.
Assistant coach Peter Horachek took over the team on an interim basis.
The major argument for Carlyle was that he won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim. However, those players don't play in Toronto.
Ottawa and Edmonton fired their coaches. Ottawa is a mixed story but the Oilers fell even further after the move. Lighting a fire doesn't always motivate the players.
Vancouver is proof that the right coach can do wonders and the wrong coach can do damage. The Canucks are thrilled with Willie Desjardins.
This should be the last Canada team coach to be fired this season: Calgary loves Bob Hartley, Montréal is doing plenty well with Michele Therrien, and Winnipeg is flying high with Paul Maurice.
Mike Babcock has been rumoured for Toronto should he leave Detroit, but that is more about pipe dreams than anything.
The Leafs do not have a good reputation outside Toronto. A new coach, Babcock or otherwise, will have to set a pitch-perfect tone on a team that isn't musically inclined.
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Oake pointed out during the telecast "an announcement is coming soon confirming a Heritage Classic for Winnipeg next season."
The CBC visual was a snow-covered Investors Group Field. Oake noted that it doesn't always look like that. Glenn Healy chimed in that in working rinkside, at least there would be no mosquitoes.
Toronto would be the logical Canadian opponent, with the Calgary Flames being a solid Plan B. Minnesota is supposed to get a Stadium Series game next season where the Jets would be the perfect opponent, though St. Louis and Chicago would make Gary Bettman a lot happier.
We heard speculation, though not recently, of a 2017 Heritage Classic in Ottawa to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada.
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James Reimer started in goal for the Maple Leafs in Winnipeg in part because Reimer is from Morweena, Manitoba. Oake pointed out on a map that Morweena is a Mennonite farming community in the Interlake region 141 km north of Winnipeg.
Reimer made the Leafs performance look a lot better thanks to great saves, especially given Winnipeg's dominance on offense.
The time spent with the map of Manitoba was probably the longest explanation of a location in that province in the history of U.S. television. Winnipeg is in southern Manitoba and there is a lot of province north of Winnipeg.
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The first weekend of January offers up an awakward time for CBC promos. We got 2 promos for The Book of Negroes during the 1st period.
The Play Exchange is a reality show centered around competing ideas to improve healthy lifestyles. The contestsants are trying to win up to $1 million in funding for their ideas. The program runs tonight at 7p local time, not even in prime time.
The 2 promos were split between the 2nd period and 3rd period.
A Dragon's Den special got 2 late promos in the 3rd period. Given how poorly the Maple Leafs were doing, chances are few Toronto fans saw either promo.
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Gord Miller spent the last 2 weeks covering World Juniors in Montréal and Toronto. So what did he do on his first day after the tournament? Work with Pierre McGuire in Minnesota for the San Jose game Tuesday night.
The game marked Miller's NBCSN debut this season. Miller is currently 1 game behind Chris Cuthbert's 2 NBCSN games over the holidays. The better question is whether Miller or Cuthbert will call either of the 2 Canadiens games on NBCSN in the next 4 weeks.
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Rogers Sportsnet feeds abounded for the 2 matinee rebroadcasts. The Rogers Sportsnet East feed was used for the Lightning-Canadiens rebroadcast Wednesday afternoon. Rogers Sportsnet supplied the feed for the first Toronto game without Randy Carlyle against Washington.
The NHL Network generally takes home feeds, but we'll note exceptions along the way.
I think Edmonton would make more sense to be Winnipeg's opponent in the Heritage Classic. All the other Canadian teams have played in outdoor games in the past few years, and the Oilers were in the first Heritage Classic back in 2003. You can also play up the WHA and Smythe Division connections between the two teams as well.
Posted by: Kyle | January 09, 2015 at 11:54 AM
True, Edmonton hasn't been outdoors since 2003. The Oilers deserve some prime exposure. U.S. television hasn't shown a single live Edmonton game this season, so unfortunately, that may play into the discussion.
Toronto will likely get the call for Winnipeg, but the Maple Leafs could also be Ottawa's opponent in 2017. Toronto won't get both, so one of them could open up. Yes, the Habs would work well in Ottawa, too.
This will be a good discussion and speculation until and after the announcement.
Posted by: Chad | January 09, 2015 at 05:50 PM
For any outdoor game held in Canada, you can bet there will always be at least one Eastern team involved. Gotta maximize TV ratings!
Posted by: Tyler | January 15, 2015 at 04:02 PM
Agreed. Toronto-Winnipeg will be an easy call. Would they pick a Western team for a game in Ottawa?
Posted by: Chad | January 15, 2015 at 09:58 PM