That was Scandella. I’d expect him to maybe miss a game, unless he’s got the luck everyone else has and has some broken bone and has to sit until he can use a face shield.
Gunnarsson is out for the season. Parayko reportedly has a back injury, which combined with other comments on teh interwebs should make every Blues fan really nervous. Perunovich, who a few Blues fans have anointed as the replacement for Pietrangelo, is out for shoulder surgery. We’re down to using a guy who’s got about 8 NHL games under his belt and might be a 5/6 option for a few years, and a guy who’s got about 3 NHL games under his belt and is at best a 6/7 fill-in.
After that, we’re down to a college UFA we signed a couple years ago who’s still trying to get it sorted out in the AHL, a fill-in from the Devils, and a 20-year old prospect who’s a long way away from being NHL-ready.
Oh, and these uniforms suck. As in, you can tell the Blues players are uncomfortable wearing them, and it shows in their play. Thankfully, we don’t wear them again this season. Hopefully, we never wear them again. I’d take the Keenan-quashed pajama tops before those again.
In other news, ESPN gets the NHL back, not exclusively though, and this story does not explicitly list the other provider.
Q: what is being dropped from ESPN, I wonder? Certainly not going to take an NBA game off in favor of NHL. And, they won’t be begging cable provider to add a new hockey network or The Ocho.
So, more streaming shit?
On a long-term thought process: when will Cable TV be simply 24 hours of advertising content only? It is mostly that from Midnight until 6AM. Demographics must show advertising gullibility in order to put on shows. NHL might not have enough of that. ESPN already has rights to EFL Cup and FA Cup Soccer, and shows them only on The Plus, because they did the forecasting and determined more money can be made by showing something else on their several cable stations, and forcing soccer fans to buy a subscription.
The report I saw was $410M-420M per year, so think $2.9B over 7 years. NBC reportedly paid $240 million this year, ESPN had paid $100 million for some digital rights. Meaning, when you add the two together the NHL gets a small on that + whatever they get for the rest of the rights.
Other details gleamed from here and here:
Half the playoffs go to ESPN, who also gets first choice on the conference finals.
No more NHL.tv. All of that goes to ESPN+, more than 1000 out-of-market games land there.
25 (25!) regular-season games exclusive to ESPN or ABC. [NBC had 109 scheduled for the 2019-20 season and about that many for this year, but … 25!]
75 regular-season games exclusive to ESPN+ and Hulu. Subscriptions required, naturally.
Other provider still being negotiated. NBC could be in, Fox reportedly talking as well. Will that net $200 million per? I think that other half has the other half of playoff games, the 2nd choice of the conference finals, 3 Cup Finals, … the Winter Classic? [Which ESPN/ABC will counter-program with five bowl games and eleventeen college basketball games, at least 7 of which will be “UNC/Duke classics.”] Any other regular-season games?
Good job for the NHL, but I still think people are going to be disappointed in how ESPN treats the NHL after the first couple of years and the “new, shiny” wears off and ESPN has to show nearly wall-to-wall coverage of the NFL to make up for the money it’s going to burn for NFL rights, among other things it’s shelled out money on trying to create a monopoly on sports programming.
It’s a good deal. Looks like 1 game a week on ESPN/ABC with this one, and 3 on ESPN+ which was already happening. It’s less screen time but more $$ and on ESPN you’ll get more viewership than NBCSN. NHL.tv → ESPN+ is huge. I already subscribe to both so that will save me the $130 a year for NHL.tv
Considering that there is still a large chunk of tv rights to sell, the NHL has definitely improved their financial position. I’m hoping either NBC or FOX or whatever will show more than 25 games for the season, but I don’t think anyone can complain about this ESPN deal as of now.
TBD. Yes, for dollars it’s a win but I think everyone should have expected any new deal would be more $ regardless of who picked up the rights. From what I gather, NHL.tv sucks so most things would be an upgrade. If you had both, yes there’s savings now. [Don’t worry, they’ll be increasing prices so you’ll lose some of that.]
25 only on ESPN/ABC proper might be OK depending on what the other half of the package looks like and if those are guaranteed to be on the main network channels. ESPN main? OK. ESPN2? Probably passable. [I suspect this is where most games will go.] ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN Classic? Probably will have the same problem people complained about with NBCSN. Again, NBC was putting up 100 or so; 25 is a big step down. 75 exclusive to ESPN+ / Hulu is a pure want to see that game? Buy our package … buy both play. Yes, some will do it. I can see some balk and bitch because now they’ve got several different streaming services and end up with a total bill higher than the cable bill they tried to get away from.
I’m not hating this, but I’m not convinced it’s the long-term, sure-fire guaranteed win some think it is. Willing to have my mind changed on it, but I need to see solid evidence across all 7 years and not the mere promise and hope it’s all going to be dandy.
For the most part there are two types of Sports Organizations: One just takes as much money as they can and does not care how or when or on what platform it is presented. That’s the NHL, MLB, FA, and smaller sports like skiing and cornhole. The networks decide how, when, on what platforms to present the sport, to their maximum profit.
The other cares less about the money and a lot about how the sport is presented, calls the shots on when and what platforms, even who gets to talk on the show. That’s The Masters.
In between is the NFL and NBA.
I always think it could be worse. This could be 1988 and the NHL is dropping ESPN for SportsChannel that’s in about 6 markets, is only on the air for a few hours a day, and it’s a decision being heavily influenced by someone who owns a team and also has a 25% stake in the network.
And, for the Oilers out in the first round, again, with one of the best players in history:
Solution is to find better players. Issue is that it’s Edmonton, and nearly every other city in the NHL has a better Winter than Edmonton. Better solution is to trade him for several first-round picks.
McDavid may well want to move as I am sure he would like to win a Stanley Cup. Maybe he will do a Wayne Gretzky and transfer down to your neck of the woods? I’m sure you wouldn’t mind seeing him in a Kings jersey!
There were a lot of jokes about the Leafs going to blow their 3-1 series lead after game 4 ended. Now there are a lot of jokes about the Leafs now that they have blown their lead and lost the series. Ouch. Other than Florida they are the only team not to win a playoff series in the last 10 years (last win was 2004).
