Flyers

The Flyers Get 17 Games on National Television

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 14th, 2018 · 3:15 PM EDT

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That means more Pierre McGuire for your viewing pleasure.

The NHL on NBC schedule came out this week and your town, your team, your Philadelphia Flyers have 17 games on national TV. That’s up one from last season.

The slate:

• 10/4 (Thursday) – at Vegas, 10 p.m./NBCSN
• 10/9 (Tuesday) – vs. San Jose, 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 11/21 (Wednesday) – at Buffalo 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 11/23 (Black Friday) – vs. Rangers 1:00 p.m./NBC 
• 12/27 (Thursday) – at Tampa 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 1/8 (Tuesday) – at Washington 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 1/16 (Wednesday) – vs. Boston 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 1/28 (Monday) – vs. Winnipeg 7:00 p.m./NBCSN
• 1/29 (Tuesday) – at Rangers 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 2/11 (Monday) – vs. Pittsburgh 7:00 p.m./NBCSN
• 2/17 (Sunday) – at Detroit 6:00 pm./NBCSN
• 2/23 (Saturday) – vs. Pittsburgh 8:00 p.m./NBC
• 2/26 (Tuesday) – vs. Buffalo 7:00 p.m./NBCSN
• 3/6 (Wednesday) – vs. Washington 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 3/17 (Sunday) – at Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m./NBCSN
• 3/24 (Sunday) – at Washington 12:30 p.m./NBC
• 3/31 (Sunday) – vs. Rangers 12:30 p.m./NBC

So that’s four games on NBC and 13 on NBCSN. You’re gonna get three of the four games against the Rangers, Penguins, and defending champion Capitals on national TV, plus a Thursday night season opener at Western Conference champion Las Vegas.

Two of these dates are showcase games, the Black Friday matchup with New York and the Stadium Series contest with the Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field.

For what it’s worth, the Flyers are near the very top when it comes to nationally televised games for American teams:

Here is the break down of NBC's NHL schedule. On the far right is the teams' draft position from this year, with red indicating no-playoffs and green indicating conference finals or better. pic.twitter.com/EL2QxXE4FD

— Tyler Mair (@mairican) August 13, 2018

The Canadian teams are very low on this list because of the separate TV deal north of the border. But that’s pretty impressive company for the Flyers, who get more national games than the Penguins, Bruins, and Rangers. The Blackhawks, who were awful last year, top the list, so go figure. I guess it is the National Blackhawks Channel after all. Tampa and Nashville got a significant boost, going from 6 to 12 and 7 to 12 national games, respectively.

Also, “Rivalry Night” is dead, which is good for everybody. I don’t know how many people were yearning for more Blue Jackets vs. Sabres on national TV, but this is being re-branded as “Wednesday Night Hockey” with 17 double-headers. All in all, 109 games will be on NBC networks this season, which is the highest number since the network acquired league rights back in 2005.

Also this:

An interesting observation about the national NHL broadcast schedule is that Leafs' game-Ops need to cease and desist playing Sweet Caroline during their fucking home games.

— Stop fuckin’ crying bro (@TheOakLeafs) August 13, 2018

Agreed. Sweet Caroline is one of the worst songs ever written.

The rest of the schedule will be out later this summer.