The NHL Network will have the Montréal Canadiens, though not on Hockey Night in Canada. The channel will carry the game featuring Philadelphia at the Bell Centre Friday night.
The CBC starts its doubleheader with Philadelphia at the Air Canada Centre. The Edmonton Oilers host Colorado in the CBC nightcap.
City TV gets the Ottawa Senators as the Red Wings come to the Canadian capital.
Rogers Sportsnet has the Winnipeg Jets in the Miami suburbs on Saturday night. Hometown Hockey will be in Abbotsford, BC with a doubleheader with the Calgary Flames in Anaheim with a local 4 pm start followed by the Avalanche in Vancouver. Les Habs will be in the U.S. capital Wednesday night.
Rogers Sportsnet 360 showcases the Edmonton Oilers in Los Angeles Thursday night.
The NHL Network won't air the Saturday pregame for the rest of the month. Even as we have mocked the program, not finding a way to air shows tape-delayed is an ongoing issue with the NHL Network.
There is a lone NHL Center Ice free preview game for those getting the preview: the Vancouver Canucks are in Calgary on Friday. The NHL Network managed to squeeze in its own 2 Canadian-based teams games in the NHL Center Ice free preview.
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NHL Network
Friday
Philadelphia @ Montréal, 7:30p
Tape delayed
Friday NY Rangers @ Toronto, 2p
Anaheim @ Vancouver, 3p
Wednesday Calgary @ Los Angeles, 3p
Thursday Montréal @ Washington, 2p
CBC
Saturday
Philadelphia @ Toronto, 7p
Colorado @ Edmonton, 10p
City
Saturday
Detroit @ Ottawa, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet
Saturday
Winnipeg @ Florida, 7p
Sunday
Calgary @ Anaheim, 7p
Colorado @ Vancouver, 10p
Wednesday
Montréal @ Washington, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet 360
Thursday
Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10:30p
NHL Center Ice
Friday Vancouver @ Calgary, 9p
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Those in Chicago got the CSN-Chicago feed as did those watching on the NHL Network for the Leafs and Hawks. When these teams played in Toronto, the NHL Network picked up the TSN4 feed. That prevented the Center Ice free preview from picking up the TSN4 feed Monday night.
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Sportsnet reported on Saturday night that the Winnipeg Jets will likely get its Heritage Classic against the Edmonton Oilers. The nuance is that the game will be held in October. The Environment Canada numbers paint a fairly warm October average high of 11°C (51.8°F). Late October could be cool but without the snow and ice filled landscape a Heritage Classic deserves. We thought December was a stretch in the original proposal, but October sounds a lot worse. By contrast, the average November high is 1.2°C (34.2°F) and average December high of -7.7°C (18.1°F).
Having the game in December takes the CFL out of the equation since the Winnipeg Blue Bombers play at Investors Group Field. We don't have a 2016 CFL schedule, though based on past years, that should be soon. An October Heritage Classic also has to factor in the other tenants: the University of Manitoba Bisons football team and the Winnipeg Rifles of the CJFL.
If Gary Bettman is serious about a Heritage Classic in Winnipeg in October, the CFL schedule has the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at home on October 8 and October 29. The Blue Bombers are in Vancouver October 14 and on a bye week on the October 22 weekend. This doesn't factor in the other teams that use Investors Group Field.
Gary Bettman should know the CFL timeline from the butchered negotiations from last year. October is a bad time on multiple levels. December lends itself to snow and cold and the football seasons are over. We also don't know the impact on the field once the game is over, not as much of a concern if the season were over.
We also heard that Toronto will likely host the Winter Classic at BMO Field. Detroit is the apparent opponent. Besides being a repeat of the 2014 Winter Classic, Detroit doesn't have the same buzz in Toronto as the Maple Leafs do in Windsor. The NHL will also water down that game by offering a U.S. outdoor game the next day.
As we've learned, "likely" isn't good enough for the NHL; only count on anything if it's definite and there isn't a lockout coming down the road.
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The horror that was how the NHL Center Ice free preview was brought to consumers was gone into detail earlier in the week. Details can be found here.
NHL throws on NHL Center Ice free preview at last minute
The NHL has shown a high-level of incompetence in the last few weeks. This is getting ridiculous. Communicating with the NHL and NHL Network is almost impossible
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"People know my love of Toronto. This is one of the best-kept secrets in the world. I tell people, this city and Chicago, they're my two favorite cities. But you got to come here during the summertime because it's cold as hell out there."
Charles Barkley made a huge impression on the Rogers pregame Saturday night. Barkley was in town for the NBA All-Star Weekend. He showed off his knowledge of hockey from Ron Hextall to the current Tampa Bay Lightning.
Barkley had good advice for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a piece of advice that is highly pertinent to all Canadian NHL teams.
"The biggest problem with all these teams is everybody is impatient. You can't be a mediocre team. You either got to be a really good team or a really bad team. Because if you're mediocre, that's just false hope."
The segment concluded with Barkley trying to shoot a puck into the net. His approach needs some work, but it was one of the few times the large set actually was relevant.
As we noted earlier, the U.S. viewers will miss the pregame in the next 2 weeks. Glad this was the last segment we saw for awhile.
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How long had it been since the Maple Leafs won in Vancouver? The last time before Saturday was November 22, 2003 when Jean Chrétien was prime minister. That date should also ring a bell because, according to my usually good sources, that was the last time the Maple Leafs played in the late game. The reason why they played late was the original Heritage Classic with the Canadiens in Edmonton was in the early slot.
Don Cherry said on "Coach's Corner" that the Vancouver Canucks will make the playoffs despite the massive list of injuries. Cherry isn't right all the time, but there is about 30% left in the season.
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Sunday is "Hockey Day in America" but that isn't the interesting part. For the first time that I can recall, NBC is not using a Canadian announcer on Hockey Day in America. Usually, Gord Miller helps out but not this year. The TSN announcers can easily handle a Sunday game, but NBC went in a different direction this year.
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NHL Network matinee feeds
Friday Calgary* @ San Jose
Tuesday Toronto @ Chicago (unknown due to blackout)
Thursday Montréal @ Colorado*; Minnesota @ Calgary*
Actually the Maple Leafs played in the HNIC late game back on January 12, 2008 at San Jose. Detroit @ Ottawa and Montreal @ NY Rangers were the early games that night. But yeah before that I think that game in 2003 was the previous time the Leafs were in the late game.
Posted by: KWH84 | February 19, 2016 at 09:09 PM
Thanks for this. Proves how rare a Maple Leafs late game on CBC has been over the years. I appreciate you sharing that with us.
Posted by: Chad | February 21, 2016 at 02:11 PM