Reading Between The TV Lines
There's a Canadian TV footnote to the announcement of the U.S. NHL national TV games for the upcoming season.
Seattle-area Kraken fans can watch their favorite team on ESPN six times and on TNT five times. The Saturday, April 13 game in Dallas can be seen on completely free, over-the-air ABC-TV (KOMO-4 in Seattle) at 12 noon PT. The Feb. 10 game at Philadelphia will stream exclusively on ESPN+/Hulu.
So what's that Canadian footnote? Most Puget Sound cable systems carry CBUT-TV, the Vancouver affiliate of public broadcaster CBC. And CBC is the Saturday home of Hockey Night in Canada.
Every HNIC regular-season game features at least one Canadian NHL team. With three of the seven - Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary - located in the Kraken's Pacific Division, there was reason for hope the Kraken would get HNIC airtime.
No dice. The schedule is subject to alteration, but as of now, the Kraken are slated for just one Saturday night CBC game. Oddly, that one broadcast is against the Senators in Ottawa on Saturday, Jan. 7.
It's one of three regional telecasts at 4 pm Pacific that evening, and not the one likely to be telecast to CBUT's British Columbia audience. (Detroit at Toronto is the main HNIC early game.)
The defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights will provide the opposition on three of the Kraken's national appearances - none of which will be at Climate Pledge Arena. One will be the Jan. 1 Winter Classic, a Kraken home game at T-Mobile Park.
ESPN will show two games in Las Vegas, including the season-opener on Oct. 10, and again on Mar. 21. The Oct. 10 game will also be the Golden Knights' banner-raising, so feel free to tune in well after the scheduled 7:30 pm PT start of the telecast.
Perhaps the networks are counting on the Kraken to be fast finishers. Five of their national broadcasts will come in the last eight games of Seattle's regular season.
The Opposite Of Shore Leave
Instead of fighting the Edmonton Oilers, the Kraken are trying to acquire them. Not really, but Devin Shore has become the fifth former Oiler to join the organization. Kailer Yamamoto signed as a free agent earlier this summer, joining Jordan Eberle, Adam Larsson, and Justin Schultz, who all spent time in Edmonton.
Oilers Nation sizes up Shore this way: "His strength was his ability to be a glue guy for the team. You could see, even from afar, that Oilers players loved to have him around. He was, at best, the 12th-best forward in Edmonton and more often than not found himself in the press box."
Sale Signs With Barrie
What was previously widely reported is now official: 2023 Kraken first round draft choice Eduard Sale has signed with the OHL Barrie Colts.
Statement by Colts coach & GM Marty Williamson, from the team's website: “When we drafted Eduard originally, we knew it would take some time before he would come to North America. It’s always exciting as a coach to add a player of his calibre to our lineup. Our entire coaching staff is looking forward to welcoming him to Barrie and helping him continue his development here."
