Editor's note: Today is the last day of the regular season (plus the Winnipeg game on Sunday). We are including tidbits from April that we would normally have in a "month in preview" if there was more of a regular season. Playoffs start Monday and we will have an extensive preview.
Kraft Hockeyville is down to the final 4 communities for 2022. The communities are Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC; Sydney, NS; Douro-Dummer, ON; and Princeton, BC.
The winner will get a NHL preseason game in or close to the community. The 2020 (Twillingate, NL) and 2021 (Elsipogtog First Nation, NB) winners still have not played their NHL preseason game.
Voting for the 2022 version runs May 6-7.
An incredible tribute to Guy Lafleur from the Montreal Canadiens ❤️pic.twitter.com/5oc7D1X5Ga
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) April 24, 2022
Guy Lafleur and Mike Bossy were dominant scorers in their time. Both led their teams to multiple Stanley Cup titles. Both died recently far too young.
Je me souviens. I remember Guy Lafleur as a child with the hair flowing. I remember almost nothing about Mike Bossy. Porquoi.
Canadians growing up at that time got Hockey Night in Canada and the Stanley Cup playoffs on the CBC. The NHL in the United States wasn't automatic.
The TV deals were better in the 1970s when Lafleur was prominent. The NHL was almost invisible in the early 1980s when Bossy was the boss.
Growing the game in the U.S. is important. Having a Canadian influence in the last decade or more has helped awareness of the game in the U.S. NHL Network and Canadian feeds during the playoffs have helped.
While we appreciate moments of silence, the cheering for #10 in Ottawa and Montréal was glorious to hear.
.@Sportsnet spent more time on #gambling in pregame than on @CanadiensMTL and @Senators combined. Admittedly we are not fond of the gambling obsession. There wasn't really anything about hockey in the segment. At least tell us something about @NHL
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) April 9, 2022
Rogers Sportsnet debuted a gambling segment on April 9 in the pregame show. There isn't enough time for the early game teams so devoting valuable time to gambling is a poor choice. We admit to being not thrilled with time devoted to gambling. The pregame should be about hockey but all we got in that segment was about gambling. At least pretend this is about sports.
The gambling leaked into the 1st intermission on April 16.
Sportsnet had some sense to put a brief segment in between the gambling and the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup winners.
Cabbie Richards, who is a delightful personality, is paired with the creepy Andy MacNeil, a hockey betting analyst. To be fair to MacNeil, he is right out of central casting for a betting segment.
"We don’t want to hit people over the head. Our market isn’t hardcore bettors. This is an opportunity to reach out to sports fans and slowly educate them on betting," said Sam Nasrawi, senior director of content for Rogers Sportsnet, to the Toronto Star.
Slowly is the key word since the segments so far include nothing about educating the viewers. The language is aimed at hard-core bettors who aren't watching the segments in question. This is like interrupting a cooking program and talking about carburetors and car aficionados aren't watching.
This isn't limited to hockey. Blue Jays fans are on Twitter complaining about the gambling obsession on the MLB telecasts.
Nasrawi and the others should comprehend that the commercials, in-game ads, and the betting segments add up to the frustration. If you think you need to educate people about gambling and losing money, produce a video that could run on your channels (TSN, also pay attention) that explains the basics of betting. You can run the show at 4 am since bettors will be up anyway, figuring out how to pawn their wife's jewelry.
Those focused on gambling more than the actual sports aren't watching pregames and intermissions. The segments are upsetting those viewers watching for hockey content.
Where the NHL Canadian teams stand in the Stanley Cup playoffs chase
NHL the month in preview April 2022
The NHL Network shows condensed versions on NHL games for the next afternoon. First rule of condensed versions: show the goals. The Toronto Maple Leafs scored 7 goals at home against Washington on April 14. The condensed version only had 6 Toronto goals. All 3 Capitals goals made it on the condensed versions.
We watch most of the condensed versions with Canadian teams. We've seen the NHL Network miss a few goals from Canadian teams. We have never seen any U.S. based team magically lose a goal in the condensed versions.
2022 Heritage Classic wrapup
2022 Heritage Classic preview
The NHL Center Ice free preview never appeared. The end of the season has always had some kind of preview. Not sure why that happened but the preview was definitely missed.
Wow, #HockeyTwitter. Your misogyny is on full display today!
— Tara Slone (@TaraSlone) April 22, 2022
Leah Hextall has been working as part of the ESPN NHL telecasts. Hextall has called a few games and been a sideline reporter for others. She received some unbelievable grief over a question posed to Wayne Simmonds when the Toronto Maple Leafs were in the Tampa area. The "are you soft?" question was based off of someone's quote. NHL fans know Simmonds isn't soft and Hextall knows that as well.
Misogyny is certainly at the heart of the vast majority of the vitrol for this and other horrible moments. Sadly not a shock. Your humble narrator is a critical person and certainly jump on moments.
ESPN was smart to hire the people that they hired (not Brian Boucher). TNT has made some smart choices. Sportsnet has also made some marvelous choices. The future of hockey, if not the present, is inclusion. You can certainly criticize Hextall or Cassie Campbell-Pascall or the others. Just ask yourself if your objection would also apply to Pierre McGuire (either the TSN or NBC versions) or Boucher.
Hextall was trying to get a fun answer out of Simmonds. She did a good job in that moment.
A message from @TSN_Sports regarding Dennis Beyak: pic.twitter.com/cuaPiK5Hdq
— TSN PR (@TSN_PR) April 28, 2022
Dennis Beyak has been a strong force for the Winnipeg Jets in the broadcast booth since the return of the franchise in 2011. Beyak has been the TV voice for TSN3 and also the radio voice on national TV games when Bell Media had the radio rights from 2011-2020.
Beyak is retiring as the voice of the Jets though he will continue to work international games.
Beyak called Edmonton Oilers games earlier in his career for CFRN-TV in the mid 1990s and was the radio voice for the Toronto Maple Leafs and TV voice for the Toronto Marlies. Beyak even filled in on Maple Leafs TV games during the pandemic.
He hasn't lost a step and is going out on his own terms. The international games, such as the World Juniors, is a nice way to stay involved in the game.
We would have part of the summer to speculate on who will take over for Beyak on the Winnipeg Jets games. Brian Munz is the logical pick having called the Jets games on TSN 1290 and filled in on the TV side for Beyak until the radio contract flipped to Corus in late 2020.
Bell Media could lure current radio play-by-play announcer Paul Edmonds away from 680 CJOB.
Current Bell Media employees (freelancers) including Jon Abbott, Victor Findlay, and Bryan Mudryk are remote possibilities. If Dave Randorf has had too much sunshine in Tampa and wants to also call the CFL, TSN would welcome him back.
If TSN crossed over to Rogers Sportsnet for an option, Harnarayan Singh, who called quite a few Winnipeg games this season, and Winnipeg resident Leah Hextall should be considered.
How to consume NHL trade deadline coverage on the U.S. side
Jamal Mayers made his HNIC debut for the Los Angeles Kings in Winnipeg on March 2. Mayers is Camadian and played 15 NHL seasons (including Toronto and Calgary). Most of his analyst work has been in the studio for NHL Network Canada and NBC Sports Chicago.
NHL the month in preview March 2022
We noted at the beginning of the NHL season that this would be the last go around for legendary broadcasters Rick Jeanneret (Buffalo) and Pat Foley (Chicago). We know Chris Vosters will be the new TV play by play voice in Chicago. The team had a number of people in the booth this season doing play by play.
Dan Dunleavy has shared the Sabres duties with Jeanneret and will take over next season. The question is whether Buffalo will continue a TV/radio simulcast or go to separate feeds.
.@espn finally acknowledges @MapleLeafs but only in final few days of the season. Crews for #Canadian teams have been good. Crews for #Toronto games have @BrianBoucher33, who is terrible at his job and will root against @MapleLeafs. https://t.co/RkkqaF9wWm
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) April 19, 2022
April 6 Calgary @ Anaheim, 10p Kenny Albert/Eddie Olczyk/Keith Jones TNT
April 21 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 8p Bob Wischusen/Brian Boucher/Leah Hextall ESPN
April 24 Toronto @ Washington, 7p Bob Wischusen/Brian Boucher/Emily Kaplan ESPN+/Hulu
April 26 Edmonton @ Pittsburgh, 7p Sean McDonough/Cassie Campbell-Pascall/Leah Hextall ESPN
The TNT crew was generally good to the Calgary Flames. Calgary had an amazing season yet this was the only telecast on the primary carriers. The network didn't have Calgary scheduled for April 6 but smartly changed the schedule.
ESPN waits until the final week of the season to acknowledge the existence of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Then the network gives us Brian Boucher twice. These games are supposed to be special but Boucher gets in the way.
There was some hope that maybe outside the NBCSN waters, Boucher could figure out how to be a game analyst. He struggles to come up with insights above cliches. He literally can't think on his feet. At the end of the first period in Tampa, Boucher literally repeated something Wischusen said 5 seconds earlier.
ESPN has some great camera angles. We even had a brief conversation with Sheldon Keefe. Their studio shows are way better than the TNT version. Boucher is the weak link. Every analyst is better. Mark Messier is learning the craft but even he is better than Boucher.
For this, ESPN bumps off TSN4 (21) and Rogers Sportsnet Ontario (24).
ESPN bounced back with the crew doing the Oilers game. First time Sean McDonough has called a Canadian team under the new contract. In a long ago time on CBS, McDonough called the 1992 and 1993 World Series won by the Toronto Blue Jays.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
The NHL Network carried 3 Hockey Night in Canada games in April: 2 with Citytv feeds and 1 with a CBC feed.
The U Sports Men's Championship hockey game aired on CBC Gem. The Porter is a really great show on CBC that will run on BET+.
Earth Week was a series of shows and movies on the planet we call home. The Fifth Estate episode was part of Earth Week. The latter promo aired before the 2nd period started, a technical violation.
The Canadian Screen Awards promo was visually on screen for a few seconds with no audio (edited out by the NHL Network). Ironic given that the awards are given out for TV shows shown in the United States.
The 2022 Junos with host Simu Liu will be on May 15 on CBC. The Buzzer is a CBC Sports newsletter.
We haven't even had matinee HNIC rebroadcasts on the NHL Network outside of the one in early April.
April 16 early game: World Rugby Sevens Series; CBC News app (1st); The Fifth Estate; Earth Week (2nd); 2022 Junos; The Buzzer (3rd)
April 2 early game (matinee rebroadcast): CBC News app; Run the Burbs (1st); U Sports Men's Championship hockey game; The Porter (2nd); Son of a Critch; Canadian Screen Awards (3rd)
photo credit: NHL
Twitter captures: @hockeynight; @canadian_xing; @TaraSlone; @TSN_PR; @canadian_xing
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