Welcome to Super Bowl Weekend where Canadians can finally be guilt-free in watching U.S. commercials Sunday night.
The CBC has the Toronto Maple Leafs in Boston for the Saturday night doubleheader. City TV will also have that game. The late game has the Minnesota Wild in Vancouver on CBC.
Rogers Sportsnet starts its busy week on Friday with the Edmonton Oilers in Carolina. The channels showcase the Montréal Canadiens matinees with Washington on Saturday and Edmonton on Sunday. Sportsnet follows the Ottawa Senators to Buffalo Saturday night. Toronto gets the Sportsnet spotlight Monday as the Maple Leafs are in Brooklyn.
The Hometown Hockey telecast from Edmonton run 30 minutes before the matinee in Montréal.
Rogers Sportsnet 360 also has a Sunday matinee with the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden.
The Super Bowl Sunday matinees get repeated twice by the NHL Network on Sunday night and Monday afternoon.
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NHL Network
Tape delayed
Friday Toronto @ St. Louis, 1p
San Jose @ Vancouver, 2p
Sunday Calgary @ NY Rangers, 7p
Edmonton @ Montréal, 10:30p
Monday Edmonton @ Montréal, 1p
Calgary @ NY Rangers, 2p
Tuesday Toronto @ NY Islanders, 2p
Wednesday Calgary @ Pittsburgh, 2p
CBC
Saturday
Toronto @ Boston, 7p
Minnesota @ Vancouver, 10p
City
Saturday
Toronto @ Boston, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet
Friday
Edmonton @ Carolina, 7:30p
Saturday
Washington @ Montréal, 1p
Ottawa @ Buffalo, 7p
Sunday
Edmonton @ Montréal, 1p
Monday
Toronto @ NY Islanders, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet 360
Sunday
Calgary @ NY Rangers, 2p
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The NHL will offer a game of the week on Twitter via nhl.twitter.com. This service is only for those in the United States and available out-of-market. Each broadcast will be a simulcast of the home team's television broadcast.
Below is the schedule involving Canadian teams. All times Eastern.
February 9 Montréal @ Arizona, 9p
February 14 NY Islanders @ Toronto, 7:30p
February 28 Toronto @ San Jose, 10:30p
March 16 Winnipeg @ NY Islanders, 7p
April 3 Montréal @ Florida, 7:30p
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Forget that Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. has tried to find a local buyer for at least 3 years, even willing to settle for a buyer of part of the club but no takers. And ignore that the Hurricanes ranked last in the NHL in attendance last season. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman quickly knocked down the idea that the Carolina Hurricanes would move to Quebec City. "The club is not moving."
Unless there are star NHL players from the Carolinas, this isn't even Arizona. Getting to the arena isn't an issue in Raleigh, unlike Glendale. The political discourse over bathroom laws make North Carolina an unpopular place to have a team. Keeping Arizona in the West could be important geographically (though Seattle would be better), but keeping a team in the East in a bad market makes even less sense.
Seattle has a temporary arena not suited for hockey, but Quebec City has a state-of-the-art new beautiful NHL arena. But Bettman says the team isn't moving.
"It's not all about money," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. "It's about commitment to markets." Las Vegas was about money. The health of the Canadian franchises, despite a weak Canadian dollar, props up bad markets such as Glendale, Raleigh, Sunrise, and Brooklyn.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs were in Boston on December 10, 2016 the last time the Leafs were on the NHL Network. The NHL Network continues its unofficial ban on showing Maple Leafs games through the end of February at least. The unofficial ban has lasted for Ottawa since November 27, Calgary since November 20, and Winnipeg since November 4.
The Maple Leafs went into the All-Star break a point out of the playoffs with 5 fewer games played than Boston. And they can't buy their way onto U.S. television. The love from the Centennial Classic has been long gone. Begging NBCSN to add a game used to be almost as useless as asking the Catholic Church to admit women priests. Adding a full, not a partial, game by NBCSN would help make up for some of the damage.
A couple of Maple Leafs games are on the deal with Twitter but television is where the Toronto Maple Leafs should be.
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