…yeah.

Had a chance to look at the TV schedule yesterday, after I got home from work. Nice to see that the Champs will actually be on national TV on Opening Night (but that’s only because they didn’t beat the Favored of Comcast on their march to the title)….but since they’re a small-market team, they still get skroobed.

Here’s the breakdown of OLN’s schedule, courtesy of a poster on the scout.com ‘Canes board:

Anaheim 3
Atlanta 3
Boston 8
Buffalo 7
Calgary 0
Carolina 4
Chicago 5
Colorado 7
Columbus 3
Dallas 6
Detroit 7
Edmonton 0
Florida 1
Los Angeles 2
Minnesota 4
Montreal 3
Nashville 1
New Jersey 6
NYI 2
NYR 7
Ottawa 0
Philadelphia 7
Phoenix 1
Pittsburgh 7
San Jose 6
St. Louis 3
Tampa Bay 2
Toronto 1
Vancouver 0
Washington 2

Wow–even the Leafs get the shaft this year. I guess they gave San Jose and Buffalo more games so that they can say “Hey look, we’re paying attention to the smaller markets”, but overall OLN pays little if any attention to any team that isn’t in a Northern US market (and the Islanders). It’s the same small handful of teams getting the lion’s share of the games, with two additions (SJ and Buffalo), and everyone else (including the Canadian teams) gets told to step off.

And NBC? Not much better (schedule breakdown courtesy of the same poster).

Anaheim 1
Atlanta 2
Boston 4
Buffalo 1
Calgary 0
Carolina 2
Chicago 3
Colorado 3
Columbus 3
Dallas 4
Detroit 4
Edmonton 0
Florida 0
Los Angeles 2
Minnesota 0
Montreal 0
Nashville 0
New Jersey 3
NYI 2
NYR 4
Ottawa 0
Philadelphia 4
Phoenix 0
Pittsburgh 4
San Jose 2
St. Louis 2
Tampa Bay 1
Toronto 0
Vancouver 0
Washington 1

Gee, that looks kinda familiar. Boston, Dallas, Detroit, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, and Sidney Crosby get the bulk of the games. And who gets hosed? The little guys and the Canadians, as usual.

I am willing to give OLN and NBC the benefit of the doubt regarding the Canadian teams–there might be some rights issues with Rogers Sportsnet, the Ceeb, and RDS that are preventing the Canadian teams from being shown on US networks.  I can understand that the NHL wants “marketable” teams getting the bulk of the schedule–but since when the Hel did Boston have anyone “marketable”?
The more things change….