Dwayne Roloson may not want to watch the lone TNT game in December (6) involving a Canadian team. The 2006 Stanley Cup final rematch could be triggering for Roloson. At least the Oilers have a new downtown arena instead of being out at Northlands Coliseum.
ESPN matches that with a rare trip to Canada where Connor Bedard will play Connor McDavid (12).
The NHL Network has a pair of Showcase games following the Vancouver Canucks to Minnesota (16) and Chicago (17). The Hughes brothers — Jack (New Jersey) and Quinn (Vancouver) — are a good reason for the U.S. channel to pay a visit to Vancouver (5).
The NHL Network has Canadian teams on 4 of the 5 HNIC Saturday nights: Boston in Toronto (2), Nashville in Canada's largest city (9), Sidney Crosby goes to Ottawa (16), and Carolina spends some of the holidays in Toronto (30).
ESPN+/Hulu is doing an unusual experiment, kicking up the Connor McDavid road obsession to 11. The streaming service will showcase Edmonton against the 3 New York City area teams in Belmont (19), Newark (21), and Midtown Manhattan between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Street (22).
If Ray Ferraro is on those calls, we will be much more interested.
The NHL will take a seasonal break from December 24-26.
TNT
December 6
Carolina @ Edmonton, 9:30p
ESPN
December 12
Chicago @ Edmonton, 10p
NHL Network
December 2
Boston @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
December 5
New Jersey @ Vancouver, 10p
December 9
Nashville @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
December 16
Vancouver @ Minnesota, 2p (NHLN Showcase)
December 17
Vancouver @ Chicago, 3p (NHLN Showcase)
December 23
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, 7p (HNIC)
December 30
Carolina @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
ESPN+/Hulu
December 19
Edmonton @ NY Islanders, 7:30p
December 21
Edmonton @ New Jersey, 7:30p
December 22
Edmonton @ NY Rangers, 7:30p
Hockey Night in Canada
December 2
Boston @ Toronto, 7p/Detroit @ Montréal, 7p/Seattle @ Ottawa, 7p
Vancouver @ Calgary, 10pDecember 9
Nashville @ Toronto, 7p/Montréal @ Buffalo, 7p/Ottawa @ Detroit, 7p
Carolina @ Vancouver, 10pDecember 16
Pittsburgh @ Toronto, 7p/NY Islanders @ Montréal, 7p/Colorado @ Winnipeg, 7p
Florida @ Edmonton, 10p/Tampa Bay @ Calgary, 10pDecember 23
Toronto @ Columbus, 7p/Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, 7p
Calgary @ Los Angeles, 10p/San Jose @ Vancouver, 10pDecember 30
Carolina @ Toronto, 7p/Montréal @ Florida, 7p
Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
Rogers Sportsnet national telecasts
December 4 Seattle @ Montréal, 7p/Carolina @ Winnipeg, 7:30p
December 6 Carolina @ Edmonton, 9:30p
December 9 New Jersey @ Calgary, 4p
December 10 New Jersey @ Edmonton, 4p
December 11 Toronto @ NY Islanders, 7p/Calgary @ Colorado, 9:30p
December 12 Calgary @ Las Vegas, 10p
December 13 Pittsburgh @ Montréal, 7p
December 14 Tampa Bay @ Edmonton, 9p
December 17 Vancouver @ Chicago, 3p
December 18 Montréal @ Winnipeg, 7:30p/Florida @ Calgary, 9:30p
December 20 Detroit @ Winnipeg, 7:30p
December 21 Calgary @ Anaheim, 10p
December 22 Edmonton @ NY Rangers, 7:30p
December 27 Ottawa @ Toronto, 7p/Seattle @ Calgary, 9:30p
December 28 Edmonton @ San Jose, 10:30p
2023 Heritage Classic wrapup: Battle of Alberta goes outdoors
2023 Heritage Classic preview: Battle of Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
Appreciate your patience in our 2023 Heritage Classic wrapup. This game really should have been in early December after the Grey Cup. We were covering the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival and couldn't even watch the game live.
The Oilers got their second win of the year in the game. The game wasn't a bounce for either team. Better than San Jose but not by much.
The NHL insults Canada by having the outdoor games in October.
NHL the month in preview November 2023
Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft got to coach in the 2023 Heritage Classic. Edmonton fired Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson on November 12.
Kris Knoblauch of the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack is the new head coach, joined by assistant coach Paul Coffey.
The Edmonton Oilers panicked after the team's 3-9-1 start, 1 of those wins being the 2023 Heritage Classic over Calgary, which hasn't fired its coach … yet. Knoblauch is Edmonton's 10th coach in the last 15 years.
Woodcroft had a 79-41-13 record as Oilers head coach. Will Knoblauch (nothing personal) do better? Neither of them is in goal for the Oilers.
NHL the month in preview October 2023
Where was your favourite Canadian NHL team in the standings on U.S. Thanksgiving? For those who care, Vancouver is #2 in its division (Smythe), Winnipeg is #3 in its division (Norris), and Toronto in a wild card spot (Adams).
Montréal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton hope that trend does not hold.
Tracking the NHL 2023 media changes
The TTC aka Toronto subway takes a lot of flak from those who live in Toronto. You can access Scotiabank Arena from Union Station without going outside.
William Nylander actually takes the TTC to the Toronto Maple Leafs home arena for nearly every game. Auston Matthews does not.
Tyson Barrie reportedly took the subway to the arena when Barrie played in Toronto.
Professional athletes make enough money to drive to work. So seeing a NHL player on your way somewhere is a nice treat. Be respectful. They are literally going to work, same as millions who take a bus, train, or streetcar.
Alex DeBrincat leaves the Ottawa Senators in part to search for a nearby Chipotle
Maybe there is something to what the Ottawa team did, but something where Las Vegas deserves some kind of punishment for having the player after Ottawa had that person and the Senators get severely punished while Las Vegas gets off scot free. That sadly feels like the NHL these days.
Ottawa fired general manger Pierre Dorion in part because of the loss of the 1st round draft pick. Steve Staios, the club's president of hockey operations, will assume interim GM duties.
The Ottawa Senators will forfeit a 1st-round draft pick in either 2024, 2025, or 2026. The ruling noted that Ottawa didn't tell Las Vegas about the no-trade clause after Las Vegas tried to trade Evgeni Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks.
Dadonov had a no-trade clause that the NHL claims Ottawa should have told Las Vegas. This non general manager imagines when a player is traded, the contract is forwarded to the new team. In said contract, any non trade clauses would be included.
Las Vegas made the trade, not Ottawa. The severe punishment doesn't come with an explanation on what Ottawa didn't do that would be different from normal NHL team protocol.
Since this rarely happens, we can't imagine of the NHL privileged teams (Las Vegas, Boston, Pittsburgh) would ever suffer such a penalty. We can sadly imagine a team such as Ottawa suffering such a penalty.
Dorion had been the Senators general manager since April 2016.
Movember is over. The mustaches have been out over the last month as a reminder about fighting cancer. Gord Downie died from cancer; the Tragically Hip Fireworks was a wonderful tune for the Hockey Night in Canada open on November 4.
2023 NHL preseason schedule
Gary Bettman may not be interested in Quebec City though the Los Angeles Kings are drawn to the Quebec provincial capital for the 2024 preseason. The Kings will train in Quebec City from October 2-6.
The Quebec government is helping out with $5 million to $7 million. The Kings will have some open practices as well as a couple of preseason games with Boston Bruins (3) and Florida (5).
Montréal used to have a preseason game at the Videotron Centre yet that hasn't happened since September 20, 2018 with Washington as the opponent.
Philip Danault (Victoriaville), formerly with the Habs, and Pierre-Luc Dubois (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts), formerly with the Winnipeg Jets, are Quebec natives on the Los Angeles roster.
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
November 2 Toronto @ Boston, 7:30p Steve Levy/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN+/Hulu
November 4 Nashville @ Edmonton, 3p EJ Hradek/Kevin Weekes NHLN
November 9 Edmonton @ San Jose, 10:30p Mike Monaco/Cassie Campbell-Pascall ESPN+/Hulu
November 15 NY Islanders @ Vancouver, 10p Brendan Burke/Jennifer Botterill/Darren Pang TNT
Was fun to watch Ray Ferraro cover a Toronto game in Toronto, like in the TSN4 days. Not the same in a lot of ways, especially without Gord Miller. The November 9 game might have been part of why Edmonton fired Jay Woodcroft.
Brendan Burke is the Team B play by play person for TNT so Burke covered his day job team in Vancouver. Burke is a professional but that is not a good look. We found out this was Jennifer Botterill's return to Vancouver since she was on the gold medal team for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
TNT's Eddie Olczyk did a little moonlighting, co-hosting After Hours with Scott Oake in Seattle. Olczyk has a good history with the original Winnipeg Jets and shared some memories with Oake.
Sportsnet threw a few wrenches in watching After Hours right away. You can eventually find the whole episode online though Canadians could get faster access through Sportsnet+. Those who can access CBC can watch the segment on television.
We've seen John Garrett work a couple of Hockey Night in Canada games from Montréal this season. If you are cutting back your workload, Montréal trips are a good way to relax in a really beautiful city.
Ray Ferraro made his return to the Vancouver Canucks booth in Montréal. Ferraro and John Shorthouse proved to be a great combination on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific.
Gord Miller and Mike Johnson did an excellent job with the games in Sweden. They are used to international games. They even covered the Sunday game with Toronto for the NHL Network while John Bartlett and Garry Galley called that game from Stockholm on Sportsnet.
Kyle Bukauskas had some fun with an homage to Mister Rogers in Pittsburgh on November 25. Of course, Rogers started Mister Rogers Neighbourhood with CBC in Toronto.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
We are catching up on 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 Pan American Games ran from October 20-November 5. Chris Cuthbert noted the irony of running that promo the day before the end of the games on November 4. The Parapan American Games ran from November 17-26.
CBC used promos for a non-Canadian TV show (Ghosts), which would seem to be a violation of its own internal rules.
For those new readers, Rogers Sportsnet is required to air 6 CBC promos during Hockey Night in Canada. Ideally, there should be 2 promos per period, within game action and not next to a commercial.
The Chris Cuthbert telecasts seem to run 5 promos except for November 25. John Shorthouse only gave us 4 promos on November 11.
Rogers Sportsnet claimed exclusivity of the Vancouver-Toronto game on November 11. We have noted this strategy before in previous seasons. This also means CBC and Citytv carried the game from Montréal that night.
We don't run the ads from the NHL Center Ice free preview anymore. We did note the terrible ad with Zack Hyman (Edmonton) and his former Toronto teammate Morgan Reilly for Pepsi Zero Sugar. They disagree on a celly but agree on a crappy soda.
October 21 early game: CBC News app; Santiago 2023 Pan American Games (1st); Bones of Crows; CBC News app (2nd); Halloween movies (The Witch) on CBC Gem (3rd)
October 28 early game: Santiago 2023 Pan American Games; CBC News app (1st); BlackBerry; Bones of Crows; Black Life: Untold Stories (2nd); CBC News app (3rd)
November 4 early game: BlackBerry; CBC News app (1st); Santiago 2023 Pan American Games (2nd); Black Life: Untold Stories; Ghosts (3rd)
November 11 early game: CBC News app (1st); BlackBerry; Ghosts (2nd); Black Life: Untold Stories (3rd)
November 25 early game: BlackBerry; CBC News app (1st); Ghosts; Santiago Parapan American Games; BlackBerry (2nd); CBC News app (3rd)
photo credit: NHL
video credit: Rogers Sportsnet
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