The NHL Network returns with the CBC feed for the Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada.
CBC starts out with the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting Philadelphia. The Canucks gravitate to the warm weather in Los Angeles in the Saturday nightcap.
Citytv showcases the Winnipeg Jets in St. Louis on Saturday night.
Rogers Sportsnet spends Saturday night with the Boston Bruins in Montréal. Hometown Hockey from Dieppe, New Brunswick gets an early start with the Grey Cup matinee as the Calgary Flames visit the neglected desert team. Wednesday Night Hockey has Toronto hosting Patrick Marleau's old team.
Rogers Sportsnet One follows the Calgary Flames to the bright desert lights on Friday and a home game with Dallas late on Wednesday.
NHL Network
Saturday
Philadelphia @ Toronto, 7p
Tape delayed
Sunday Boston @ Montréal, 2p
Monday Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 1p
Tuesday Boston at Toronto, 12:30a (90-minutes), 2p (2-hour)
Wednesday Pittsburgh @ Winnipeg, 2p
ESPN+
Monday
Boston at Toronto, 7p
Tuesday
Ottawa at Philadelphia, 7p
Wednesday
Dallas at Calgary, 9p
Thursday
Las Vegas at Vancouver, 10p
CBC
Saturday
Philadelphia @ Toronto, 7p
Anaheim @ Vancouver, 10p
Citytv
Saturday
Winnipeg @ St. Louis, 7p
Rogers Sportsnet
Saturday
Boston @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
Calgary @ Arizona, 3p
Wednesday
San Jose @ Toronto, 7:30p
Rogers Sportsnet One
Friday
Calgary @ Las Vegas, 6p
Wednesday
Dallas @ Calgary, 9p
Todd McLellan started Tuesday in San Jose where he was the coach of the Edmonton Oilers and used to be the San Jose Sharks coach. Edmonton replaced McLellan with Ken Hitchcock.
The average hockey fan could tell you GM Peter Chiarelli was the better candidate for firing. McLellan didn't trade Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle for pennies.
Edmonton acquired Ryan Spooner for Ryan Strome with the New York Rangers. You had to feel bad for Strome, who was singled out in a horrible one-sided deal when he was acquired from the New York Islanders for Jordan Eberle. Spooner may not be that much of an upgrade scoring-wise but he will be a different Ryan.
When Edmonton goes to the New York City metro area, they have to deal with the ghosts of Taylor Hall (New Jersey) and Eberle (NY Islanders) and possibly Strome (NY Rangers).
Hitchcock's debut came in the only NHL game on Tuesday complete with NBCSN coverage. You could get excited that NBCSN carried the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night, but for the second time in as many attempts this season, the U.S. channel used the other team's announcers. We got San Jose broadcasters Randy Hahn and Bret Hedican for the "national" telecast. It would have been funny if NBCSN had brought in Drew Remenda, former Sharks colour analyst and current part-time Oilers colour analyst, especially in San Jose.
Earlier this month, NBCSN used the Tampa Bay announcers. NBC has exclusivity for producing national telecasts in the United States. This was literally the only game on the schedule that night. Kevin Quinn and Louie DeBrusk would have been better and that is saying a lot.
The intermissions were actually helpful. Paul Burmeister may be #3 on the NBC depth chart but is the best friend of Canadian teams in that category. Jeremy Roenick and Anson Carter lent great insight into Hitchcock's methods. The segments even looked at Calgary and Vancouver. Unfortunately for NBCSN, Calgary had its only telecast already shown and Vancouver continues to be banned by the network.
---
Checked out ESPN+ for the Battle of Alberta last Saturday night. The service ran a bit of the first intermission, but that seemed to be an exception. The intermissions should be part of the programming but there may be issues with the coverage. Still, people are paying for the ESPN+ service. The game telecast went off without a hitch. The amount of fighting reminded the studio crew of the 1980s. Back then, fighting was more of a thing. Edmonton and Calgary were among the top teams in the NHL in the 1980s.
If Edmonton was as good at scoring as the team was in fighting, Todd McLellan would still have a job.
---
The NHL is considering an outdoor Heritage Classic game at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The league has been focused on neutral sites such as South Bend, IN and State College, PA. The Winnipeg Jets would be a logical pick with a Canadian opponent that could be Calgary, Edmonton, or Toronto.
We have to point out that Montréal still hasn't hosted an outdoor game. If they have to remove the roof at Olympic Stadium to replace it, that would be an obvious spot. Stade Saputo and Molson Stadium would need additional seats to be viable.
---
Calgary sports fans get a doubleheader on Sunday with the Hometown Hockey game early and the Grey Cup late. At least they aren't playing at the same time like what Ottawa had to deal with in 2016.
The NHL Network ran a matinee rebroadcast with Montréal in Edmonton last week that didn't seem out of the ordinary. The first commercial break in the 3rd period had all Canadian ads. We saw ads for A&W Canada for their Beyond Meat burger; Mopar tires; 630 CHED, a news/talk radio station that is also the home of the Edmonton Oilers; and Fountain Tire.
The Mopar ad could have been American but an American ad inserted in what was clearly 3 Canadian ads isn't terribly likely.
Sometimes, Canadian ads can sneak through in a live game. Having Canadian ads in a tape-delayed game is rather remarkable. The NHL Network are never that exciting so maybe the channel couldn't sell that air time. Still, those Canadian companies got some free advertising in the United States.
Hard to imagine an episode of After Hours without Scott Oake but that is what we had on Saturday. Ryan Leslie, who worked as the reporter on the Battle of Alberta, hosted the program.
Oake had the weekend off to do fundraising, presumably for the future Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. There might have been a time or two in the CBC days when Oake didn't host. Elliotte Friedman might have filled in at some point.
Leslie started the show with a video call from Oake for Calgary goalie David Rittich. Oake mentioned 2 earlier interviews and asked if Rittich knew who he was. Rittich said he didn't know.
You might have noticed that City is now Citytv on our NHL previews. The channel changed its name from City to Citytv so we are modifying the posts accordingly.
---
Rogers did need 5 crews on Wednesday and didn't use Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, and Bob Cole. They made do with what they had but did violate what should be a cardinal rule. In an all-Canadian matchup, do not use a local crew. Rogers used the Calgary crew in a Flames-Jets game. We like Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudey but that was rude to Winnipeg Jets fans. Yes, Rogers doesn't have rights to the Jets but should still respect their fans. At least Rogers could have used Drew Remenda to counterbalance the Calgary bias.
NBCSN used Gord Miller on U.S. Thanksgiving Eve in a game barely in the United States in Buffalo.
Twitter capture: @ScottOake
