April 16, 2009
by Stephen M. Lepore
Let’s get straight to the point with this one. Here’s Saturday’s NHL Stanley Cup Playoff schedule:

1:00 PM ET

9:00 PM ET
Now here’s your equally well copy-pasted schedule for Sunday:
Yes, the games are terrific. But here we are at our “There’s got to be a better way!” moment. You have the entire weekend to schedule eight Stanley Cup Playoff games. You can control the eyeballs of every addicted puckhead out there, yet you make them flip around between two (and possibly at times) three games, and most of the time – especially in the states – not all can be on television without paying extra for Center Ice or NHL Network.
Now, wouldn’t something like this look better:
Saturday
NY Rangers vs. Washington – 1PM, NBC/TSN
Columbus vs. Detroit – 4PM, VERSUS/TSN
Montreal vs. Boston – 7PM, VERSUS/CBC
Calgary vs. Chicago – 9PM, TSN/VERSUS (JIP)
Wouldn’t this just satisfy everyone? And if VERSUS wants to dump out on the NHL in the afternoon for IndyCar, give the game to NHL Network like the NHL smartly did for Saturday night. Now, for Sunday, NBC really wants that timeslot at 3:00 PM ET. What we would do in that case is as follows:
New Jersey vs. Carolina, 12:30 PM ET, VERSUS/TSN
Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, 3:00 PM ET, NBC/CBC
Vancouver vs. St. Louis, 6:00 PM ET, VERSUS/CBC
San Jose vs. Anaheim, 9:00 PM ET, VERSUS/CBC
Now, we know some people won’t be crazy about the start time for the Devils-Carolina game. But both schedules give you a full day of hockey to sit through on TV, and if you’re in the arena, you’re home before the game interferes with a schoolnight or worknight.
We think, with some tinkering to appease TV and arena partners, this could be a great move for the NHL to satisfy what fans will watch it on the tube.
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