The NHL has been posting “If the playoffs started today…”-type news up on the main page for the past couple days, a practice that limits those tired of taking the time to just click on the “Standings” icon. Anyway, we thought we’d take an early look on what series the networks would be showing. First of all, here’s what the series would be:
East
#8 Florida vs. #1 Boston
#7 Carolina vs. #2 New Jersey
#6 Pittsburgh vs. #3 Washington
#5 Montreal vs. #4 Philadelphia
West
#8 Nashville vs. #1 San Jose
#7 Edmonton vs. #2 Detroit
#6 Columbus vs. #3 Calgary
#5 Vancouver vs. #4 Chicago
NBC: Is there anyway NBC can convince the NHL to schedule two Pittsburgh-Washington games on Saturdays and Sundays in the first round? Probably not, but with their Saturday coverage airing at 1PM and Sundays at 3PM, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that NBC couldn’t sway the NHL that far. If not, it’ll likely be Edmonton-Detroit on Sunday with Pens-Caps on Saturday.
VERSUS: Obviously, the entire Pens-Caps series will be televised, save for the NBC games. For the late games each night, they’d likely swap Nashville-San Jose and Columbus-Calgary for Vancouver-Chicago and Edmonton-Detroit when each series is on the west coast. As for early games, Washington-Pittsburgh, Florida-Boston, the Detroit-hosted games of Oilers-Red Wings.
CBC: Montreal-Philadelphia will likely get the top billing. Seeing as there are currently four potential series featuring Canadian teams, CBC’s commitments are filled with Vancouver-Chicago, Edmonton-Detroit and Columbus-Calgary.
TSN: They benefit from not having Canadian first-round series, as Washington-Pittsburgh will likely have more buzz than any of them. They’ll also air Carolina-Boston, New Jersey-Florida and Nashville-San Jose when they can, and dump the rest off on the Canadian NHL Network.
We’ll do more of these periodically pre-playoffs.
Posted by kevin on March 12, 2009 at 11:22 am
Pitt/Wash is a no brainer. But I don’t see Detroit/Edm happening. Lots of bad TV series there. I’m sure NBC is hoping Dallas, Minn and the Rangers get their butts in gear
Posted by jkrdevil on March 12, 2009 at 12:04 pm
The Canadian tv choices work different this year. Remember this is the first year of a new tv contract that allows TSN to air series with canadian team.
CBC has the 1, 2, 4, 6 choice of series
TSN has the 3, 5, 7, 8 choice.
It would then probably break down like this.
CBC: Montreal/Philly, Vancouver/Chicago, Calgary/Columbus, One US series
TSN: Edm/Det, Phi/Wsh, The two other two remaining series
Posted by Jeff W on March 12, 2009 at 2:13 pm
This thing with TSN getting choice 3 is correct. However, the CBC could theoritically PASS on Vancouver/Chicago, handing it right over to TSN, to take Pitt vs Wash. I wonder if there is language in the contract that forces CBC to take Canadian teams in the 1 and 2 slots. The top Canadian series would clearly be Mont/Philly. So under my scenario:
CBC:
1. Mont vs Philly
2. Pitt vs Wash
4. Edm vs Det
6. US Series TBA – most likey San Jose vs Nashville so they can have constant west coast programming – 3 early games and then one of the Det and SJ series is always on the west coast
TSN:
3. Vancouver vs Chicago
5. Calgary vs Columbus
7. US Series TBA – Boston vs Florida
8. US Series TBA – NJ vs Carolina
The 2 US Series would mostly be relegated to TSN2 and would feature the pickup of the local feed.
VS would air every game of Pitt vs Wash that NBC does not as well as most games from the Philly and Detroit series. They would probably totaly skip the NJ vs Carolina series and only air Boston vs Florida out of desperation or on a Saturday afternoon 4PM slot if they so desired to. They would air home games from Calgary from TSN feed if there was no other west coast option that night. They might send their own crew to San Jose games.
Posted by Cornelius Hardenbergh on March 12, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Your TSN matchups differ from your other matchups.
Otherwise, good analysis. The more NESN I get, the better off we all are.