It’s been announced that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be featured on American national television throughout the 2018-19 regular season.
This upcoming season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be on NBC Sportsnet (NBCSN) six times. Below is a list of all six games in chronological order.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 – Toronto vs Winnipeg – 7 pm EST on NBCSN
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 – Toronto vs Buffalo – 7:30 pm EST on NBCSN
Wednesday, January 23, 2019 – Washington vs Toronto – 7:30 pm EST on NBCSN
Sunday, February 10, 2019 – Toronto vs NY Rangers – 7 pm EST on NBCSN
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 – Toronto vs St. Louis – 8 pm EST on NBCSN
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 – Chicago vs Toronto – 7 pm EST on NBCSN
The first game is a rather interesting one. The Toronto Maple Leafs will be taking on the Winnipeg Jets on American national television. It’s very rare to see two Canadian teams featured on an American national network.
In the past, it’s been thought that two Canadian teams on a network like NBCSN would be awful for ratings. Perhaps, Gary Bettman and the owners of NBC, Comcast had a change of heart.
They must have come to terms with the fact that the two of biggest stars, Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine will be facing off and that could do wonders for ratings in the United States.
In addition, the Jets and the Maple Leafs have a combined thirteen players hailing from the United States including Blake Wheeler, Jacob Trouba, Jake Gardiner and Matthews. With so many top tier American hockey players appearing in one game on Canadian soil, it makes perfect sense that Comcast would want to display the game on national television.
Other Maple Leaf Games on NBCSN
After the Winnipeg game, the Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Buffalo Sabres, the Washington Capitals, the New York Rangers, the St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks.
All five of these games should lead to massive ratings across the United States. In particular, the match-up between Jack Eichel versus Matthews should be a fun one for a lot of fans across the east coast and the southwest. Not only are both the top two current American centres in the NHL, but they are also leading the charge for two Eastern Conference squads on the rise.
In the match-up with the Washington Capitals, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Matthews will be tasked with defeating the Stanley Cup Champions on home ice in Toronto. They’ll face a tough top six as Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov lead the charge for the Capitals. Ovechkin is coming off of a 49 goal season and will be looking to prove to the globe that the Capitals are a serious cup contender again.
In the final three match-ups, the Maple Leafs will take on two fellow original six squads as they take on the Rangers and the Blackhawks. Plus, they’ll visit a few former Maple Leafs including Tyler Bozak, Nikita Soshnikov and Carl Gunnarsson at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri in mid-February.
All-in-all, the NHL and Comcast did a great job in selecting these match-ups. All six games will lead to big ratings across the United States and will give American viewers a chance to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs on the national stage.
stats from NHL.com