TNT loves the Vancouver Canucks and not just because Rick Tocchet is the coach. The U.S. channel shows the Canucks hosting the New York Islanders on November 15. TNT can find Vancouver on a map, unlike ESPN, and isn't afraid to travel to Canada's West Coast.
ESPN+/Hulu sticks to its strengths: Toronto and Edmonton on the road. The Maple Leafs will be in Boston on November 2 while the Oilers are in San Jose on November 9. There are no ESPN games in November involving Canadian teams, not even on U.S. soil.
The NHL Network features all the games from Stockholm: Detroit @ Ottawa (16); Toronto @ Detroit (17); Minnesota @ Ottawa (18); and Toronto @ Minnesota (19). The Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs along with the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild will be part of the 2023 NHL Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden. The games will take place November 16-19 at Avicii Arena.
The channel features a Showcase game with Nashville @ Edmonton (4).
There are 3 doubleheader days with the Sweden games in the mix. The NHL Network has Hockey Night in Canada games with the close rivalry of Buffalo at Toronto (4), the Habs hosting Boston on Remembrance Day (11), the highly unusual Calgary home game with the New York Islanders (18), and the very conventional Maple Leafs in Pittsburgh (25).
The channel also has a Toronto home date with Tampa Bay (6) and the classic snow battle with Buffalo in Winnipeg (18).
The NHL Network Showcase games are called from the channel's studios and are featured on select Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
A reminder for our U.S. readers that games not on a major channel or the NHL Network are available on ESPN+.
TNT
November 15
NY Islanders @ Vancouver, 10p
NHL Network
November 4
Nashville @ Edmonton, 3p (NHLN Showcase)
Buffalo @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
November 6
Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p
November 11
Boston @ Montréal, 7p (HNIC)
November 16
Detroit @ Ottawa, 1p (Sweden)
November 17
Toronto @ Detroit, 2p (Sweden)
Buffalo @ Winnipeg, 8p
November 18
Minnesota @ Ottawa, 11a (Sweden)
NY Islanders @ Calgary, 7p (HNIC)
November 19
Toronto @ Minnesota, 8a (Sweden)
November 25
Toronto @ Pittsburgh, 7p (HNIC)
ESPN+/Hulu
November 2
Toronto @ Boston, 7:30p
November 9
Edmonton @ San Jose, 10:30p
Hockey Night in Canada
November 4
Buffalo @ Toronto, 7p/Tampa Bay @ Ottawa, 7p/Montréal @ St. Louis, 7p
Dallas @ Vancouver, 10p/Calgary @ Seattle, 10pNovember 11
Vancouver @ Toronto, 7p/Boston @ Montréal, 7p/Calgary @ Ottawa, 7p
Edmonton @ Seattle, 10pNovember 18
Montréal @ Boston, 7p/Arizona @ Winnipeg, 7p/NY Islanders @ Calgary, 7p
Seattle @ Vancouver, 10pNovember 25
Toronto @ Pittsburgh, 7p
Calgary @ Colorado, 10p/Vancouver @ San Jose, 10p
Rogers Sportsnet national telecasts
November 1 Dallas @ Calgary, 8:30p
November 4 Nashville @ Edmonton, 3p
November 6 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p/Edmonton @ Vancouver, 10p
November 8 Ottawa @ Toronto, 7p
November 13 NY Islanders @ Edmonton, 8:30p
November 15 Seattle @ Edmonton, 8:30p
November 18 Edmonton @ Tampa Bay, 4p
November 20 Edmonton @ Florida, 7p/Calgary @ Seattle, 10p
November 22 Edmonton @ Carolina, 7p/Winnipeg @ Tampa Bay, 7p/Calgary @ Nashville, 8p
November 24 Calgary @ Dallas, 8:30p
November 26 Anaheim @ Edmonton, 9p
November 27 Florida @ Ottawa, 7p/Las Vegas @ Calgary, 9:30p
November 29 Montréal @ Columbus, 7p
November 30 Dallas @ Calgary, 9p
2023 Heritage Classic preview: Battle of Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
We had a lovely 2023 Heritage Classic preview. We will have a wrapup when we return from more pressing concerns. Seriously, NHL. Early December would have been a good time after the Grey Cup. Just don't tell us which team won.
NHL the month in preview October 2023
Kirby Dach's season is over after the Montreal Canadiens revealed Tuesday night that he has a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee that will require surgery.
Earlier this season, Ottawa was trying to trade players to ease the salary cap to re-sign centre Shane Pinto. Now the NHL has suspended Pinto for 41 games for "activities related to sports wagering." The league said it found no evidence that Pinto bet on NHL games.
This decision has stripped clubs of a powerful community outreach tool and removed meaningful support for Special Initiatives, all to protect a select few who do not want to answer any questions about their choices. I hope the NHL reconsiders in order to remain a leader in DEI. pic.twitter.com/SM5Fu56w7P
— Brian Burke (@Burkie2020) October 11, 2023
Gary Bettman and the NHL were surprisingly tolerant of those who chose to defy the celebration at Pride events last season. This is likely why the league is prohibiting rainbow tape on hockey sticks.
Let those who choose not to wear Pride tape have to answer for that. By shutting out everyone, we don't know who does stand up for wearing Pride tape.
Ron MacLean, who almost never weighs in on anything of "controversy," stepped up and said something. Gord Miller of TSN pointed out simply what the NHL rulebook says about coloured tape: "Adhesive tape of any color may be wrapped around the stick at any place for the purpose of reinforcement or to improve control of the puck."
NHL players aren't wearing Pride tape every night, just on nights of Pride events 1-2 games a season. People involved with the league are usually very afraid to stand up to Gary Bettman. The fact that so many are standing up is an extra strong sign of how wrong Bettman is.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott was the first to wear the Pride tape in the fall of 2023. Dermott now plays for Arizona. The NHL, in an update, jumped back into the 21st century on October 24.
Toronto is rotating celly songs after a goal is scored. The song Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi is one of the songs. Not to be confused with The Pursuit of Happiness, a Canadian rock band best known for I'm an Adult Now. That would have been awesome choice.
The main issue is that your humble narrator can't hear any of the new songs being played. Was glad to see the Maple Leafs retire the lame Hall and Oates song.
I'm An Adult Now might be an odd choice for the lyrics but a good rocking Canadian song would be a nice celly tune.
Tracking the NHL 2023 media changes
The NHL Center Ice free preview ran from October 11-20. A chance to see some Canadian ads. Not too much to speak of in terms of ads.
There were a lot of CBC Gem promos, including CBC Comedy. Zach Hyman and Morgan Reilly, former teammates in Toronto, did a lame commercial for a lame American product — Pepsi Zero Sugar. They disagreed on a celly but agreed on the crappy soda. The ads used to be more amusing.
The hyperbole for Pepsi Zero Sugar and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is that their main products don't contain sugar but use high-fructose corn syrup (glucose-fructose in Canada) in place of sugar.
The pattern for other free previews during the season is that there is no rhyme or reason.
2023 NHL preseason schedule
The NHL schedule page has only American feeds on the U.S. side and only Canadian feeds in Canada. This might make logical sense but generally fans in both countries want all the listings on the official schedule page. Fans want more information, not less.
Alex DeBrincat leaves the Ottawa Senators in part to search for a nearby Chipotle
Cabbie Richards doing a NHL interview of sorts is a great improvement over the betting segment where one of the actual panelists get dragged in giving the segment legitimacy. We know Cabbie can be entertaining on some level but these 2 ventures are not entertaining.
Having a silly, useless segment is way better than a troublesome segment. Yet let's work toward a positive segment on an already crowded pregame show for Hockey Night in Canada.
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
October 19 Edmonton @ Philadelphia, 7:30p John Buccigross/AJ Mleczko ESPN+/Hulu
October 24 Toronto @ Washington, 6p Mike Monaco/AJ Mleczko/Leah Hextall ESPN
October 29 Calgary @ Edmonton, 7p (2023 Heritage Classic) John Forslund/Eddie Olczyk/Jackie Redmond/Anson Carter TBS
October 31 Los Angeles @ Toronto, 8p Bob Wischusen/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN
We wanted Alex Faust. Faust likes Canada; John Forslund doesn't. Forslund has a day job, Faust does not. Oh well. No Brian Boucher is a bonus. More on that later.
We are more into listing who is calling the U.S. games involving Canadian teams. We will comment later on the Heritage Classic call (during our wrapup) and be curious how the first ESPN telecast in Toronto went (in our December preview).
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
We will catch up October and November in our December month in preview for CBC promos during Hockey Night in Canada games as seen on U.S. television.
The CBC fall schedule has some, well, the opposite of hidden treasures. Hidden in plain sight and definitely not treasures of value. The fact that the CBC is ashamed of this speaks silent volumes.
The NHL Network picked up the Citytv feed for the first Saturday night on October 14. The pattern unfortunately has been 5 promos, not 6, in the first 2 weeks of the NHL season.
photo credit: NHL
Twitter capture: @Burkie2020
video credit: YouTube/Nickel City Scene
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