Phase 2 will clear up what Phase 1 made difficult. We will know later today which eliminated NHL qualifier team will have the #1 pick in the NHL draft, aka Alexis Lafreniere.
The teams that don't win this part of the lottery will be ranked based on points percentage in the regular season to the #15 spot. Rogers Sportsnet, NBCSN, and the NHL Network will carry the lottery results at 6 pm Eastern tonight. If you don't want to watch, check your Twitter feed.
2019 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview
Calgary will face Dallas in the playoff round. Vancouver will take on St. Louis in the next round. Montréal will take on Philadelphia in the next round. In 2020, the matchup is #12 vs. #1; in 2010, the Habs were the #8 seed while the Flyers were the #7 seed in the conference final.
Paul Martin had a majority government as prime minister the last time the @MapleLeafs won a playoff series. #BobCole and Harry Neale were in fine form. https://t.co/6yRI5HD1tE
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) August 10, 2020
Toronto had a beatable opponent in Columbus. The momentum was in the corner of the Maple Leafs for Game 5.
We profiled last year about the dismal rate of Canadian NHL teams winning a playoff series. While this round is technically a qualifying round, Montréal and Calgary won their first playoff series since 2015. Vancouver won its first playoff series since 2011 when the Canucks got to the Stanley Cup. The only Canadian team that didn't win a playoff series in the 2010s was Toronto. The spring of 2004 was the last time. Still the last time.
The Winnipeg Jets lost Dustin Byfuglien and then Bryan Little during the season. Mark Scheifele suffered a crushing injury to his Achilles. Patrik Laine suffered a sprained left hand. The Jets fought hard but ran out of almost everything at the end.
The Edmonton Oilers had a lot of expectations being the #5 seed. The fact that both #5 seeds lost was a bit of a shock. The team that has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is gone from the bubble. If Edmonton had faced Calgary in the opening round, maybe the Oilers would have been more motivated.
Steve Mayer told me the NHL was going to do some cheeky things about playing in the bubble. This is great. pic.twitter.com/Klw6xGgqzD
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) August 3, 2020
We knew the Elliotte Friedman playoff beard (pictured above) was impressive. Friedman kept the beard. Maybe the beard stayed because of the nuance of the qualifying round. We are rooting for the beard to stay and to have a Twitter account of its own. Oh wait, there is a Twitter account for Elliotte's beard.
The Arkells performed in the second intermission of Toronto's Game 1. They performed at the same place they did last summer when the Toronto Argos CFL home opener was moved from 7 pm to 4 pm to make room for those who wanted to see the game and walk over to hear the Arkells. Felt like a Toronto summer watching the band.
2020 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview for Canadian teams
The U.S. audience got a decent number of Canadian feeds thanks to coverage on the NHL Network. Games 1 and 4 of the Toronto series; Games 2-3 of the Calgary-Winnipeg series; and Game 3 of the Vancouver series. All of those games aired on Rogers Sportsnet except for Game 4 for Toronto, which aired on CBC. Rogers had a full menu on Friday night.
NBCSN aired a cut-in for Game 4 of the Maple Leafs to run against Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson on the NHL Network. A choice between filet mignon and pink slime. NBCSN was supposed to show the Rogers Sportsnet for Vancouver Game 4. Couldn't get the game at the start on TV or streaming while 2 outlets were carrying the Toronto game. Then. the NBC folks stuck us with the Minnesota feed.
Hughson and Simpson called 9 games. They only had a single game a day except for 2 on Friday but none on Saturday. Chris Cuthbert and Louie DeBrusk were a lot busier, calling 12 games in 7 days.
CBC only had 3 games in the qualifying round: the doubleheader on August 1 and the special August 7 Friday night edition. Rogers Sportsnet only produced the games involving Canadian teams.
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
"A Zach Collaros long bomb." Chris Cuthbert used that phrase on a Nikolaj Ehlers goal early in Game 3 from Dmitry Kulikov of the Winnipeg Jets. Cuthbert was the top CFL play-by-play person at TSN before the move this summer to Rogers Sportsnet. Collaros led the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to the Grey Cup in 2019. The U.S. audience might have eventually figured out the reference. Thanks to Cuthbert for not forgetting about the CFL.
The real seeding for the theoretical 2020 NHL playoffs
Mike Milbury is a terrible analyst for a variety of reasons. He's lazy, biased, and his language is below Grade 5 level (dopey?). His ability to have no filter is sometimes charming in the studio but can be horrible as an analyst. Milbury inferred that Toronto's Jake Muzzin was faking his injury late in Game 2. We know this because after that he said that he wasn't saying that, which he did. Muzzin was carried off on a stretcher and went to hospital. NHL on NBC, put Keith Jones as an analyst and put Milbury and Brian Boucher in the studio.
Kathryn Tappen had to explain to the NBCSN audience that Mark Scheifele was a star for the Winnipeg Jets. Good for Tappen to say something; sad that the NBCSN audience wouldn't know that otherwise.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
Chris Cuthbert and Louie DeBrusk were speaking gibberish at times in Game 2 of the Calgary-Winnipeg series. The working theory was the delay in telecasts in case the players swear (much more an issue in the U.S. than in Canada). Cuthbert had more gibberish than DeBrusk in the 1st period. Still sounded more informed than Brian Boucher.
Canadian long weekend notebook: A year without a permanent U.S. Ambassador to Canada
We covered the Matt Dumba Game 1 speech before the Edmonton-Chicago game in our long weekend notebook.
This was an important moment in sports and the world outside sports. The NHL and other sports leagues have to operate from the perspective that every player should have a chance to shine, even if for selfish purposes, like making teams better. Inclusion benefits teams and the players themselves.
A recap of CBC Saturday night Canadian films in spring and summer 2020
2020 CBC television upfront preview
CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage
For the first time since March 7, there is an alignment with CBC and the NHL Network. Rogers Sportsnet had a full plate on Friday so CBC stepped in to help and NBCSN picked Edmonton over Toronto.
The Junos, scheduled for March 15 in Saskatoon, were the highlight the last time we had this dance. The Junos were eventually awarded online on June 29. The Fridge Wars promos back in March proved noteworthy to the U.S. audience since the show debuted on the CW on August 2.
The fall Wednesday night lineup — War of the Worlds and Trickster — were the 1st period promos. The Olympic Channel is available in Canada on CBC Gem.
The Olympic Channel promo ran before the start of the 2nd period. The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) semifinal and final were mentioned in the promo.
There were no CBC promos during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs on U.S. television. We have no clue if there will be CBC promos in the next round but we will cover any that air.
Toronto Game 4: War of the Worlds; Trickster (1st); Olympic Channel; CEBL Summer Series; War of the Worlds (2nd); Trickster (3rd)
photo credits: Rogers Sportsnet/NHL (x2)
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing; @wyshynski
You wont have two channel carrying the same game in the "real" first round though.
Posted by: danderson400 | August 10, 2020 at 10:37 AM