The St. Louis Blues had a resounding win last night over the Florida Panthers, but it came at a cost. Both forward Brandon Saad and defenseman Torey Krug left the game with injuries, and they could be without both tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils, says head coach Craig Berube.
Berube confirmed Saad, who’s dealing with an upper-body injury, will miss the game. Krug is questionable with a lower-body injury. Both players have already missed chunks of the season with injuries, contributing to the Blues’ mediocre record. Saad’s injury opens the door for veteran Josh Leivo, who has four goals and 13 points in 38 games, to step into a top-six role for the time being. Neither Saad nor Krug have a timeline for their injuries, although Krug’s is obviously a short-term absence.
- Despite other hot-commodity defensemen being scratched for asset protection, Vancouver Canucks defender Luke Schenn doesn’t expect the same treatment. Schenn told reporters that he “expects to be playing every night” ahead of the March 3 trade deadline, despite multiple teams having reported interest in the stay-at-home defenseman. The 33-year-old has 18 points and a +5 rating in 53 games this season.
- The NHL Board of Governors had an emergency meeting today to discuss the financial struggles of Bally Sports Network’s parent group, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Diamond Sports, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, operates the Bally Sports umbrella of regional sports networks that broadcasts the home games of many U.S.-based teams. Today, they skipped a debt payment of $140MM as the organization nears bankruptcy. A potential sudden, unexpected lack of TV revenue is certainly a bit of financial concern for the league.
But I thought Bettman said these were the best of times ever for revenue? (Insert giant eye roll).
That’s for the nhl.
Bally sports isn’t part of the nhl.
@I wander off—This involves the regional networks, which is part of the NHL’s TV revenue. That is supposed to be part of the pile of loot known as HRR. Unless Gary & Bill have decided to move goalposts again.
@Gbear—We could tell he wasn’t totally truthful with that stuff, eh? We saw his lips moving… ;)
Some evidence of not-so-great broadcast revenue health:
L.A. Kings get shoved off of flagship station KABC with almost no notice and are forced to re-invent the wheel (L.A. Kings iHeart Audio Network) over a 4-week span (give or take).
Anaheim Ducks lose flagship station KLAA and are forced to do the same, but on TuneIn (Ducks Stream).
San Jose says Adios to the garbage station that is KFOX, to create their own San Jose Sharks Audio Network. KFOX was notorious for timing out the interweb radio stream (shutting it off), and never really addressed listener complaints about that.
Vancouver Canucks had to play chicken with Sportsnet 650 to get on the air this season.
St. Louis Blues separate from legendary KMOX-AM and move to 101.1 ESPN (WXOS), which reduces the possible terrestrial radio audience, due to FM being line-of-sight. But, at least they’ve kept Frederic Roofing as a loyal sponsor.
Several stations repeat the same commercials, implying that there aren’t enough advertisers that want to pony up the big $. And, some who are supposed to be on the teams’ radio network affiliate list are not airing games, opting for High School sports, or local small college sports. Sure this could be a charter thing for them, but in some cases it is a reduction of games aired. Even WBZ-FM lost the venerable advertiser, John’s Sewer, maybe because they failed to act when warned, “The Name to Know When The Drains Don’t Flow–John’s Sewer, We Get The Job Done!”
Just pointing out that more than half of what you complained about involves radio, a dying media which impacts revenues the least.
@Rick from Red Deer—I was pointing out just some examples, as it wasn’t a comprehensive list. Most of us do know that the radio side of the NHL isn’t the cash cow, but it still exists and is popular is some markets.
Wake up! Why is anyone surprised by this? This is what happens with too much media consolidation and a lack of diverse ownership in media companies. Sinclair/Bally & Fox are cancers to sports broadcasting with Disney/ESPN aka SECSN not too far behind. Sinclair will file for bankruptcy, screw some creditors, reorganize on paper, and be back doing business like they were last year as if nothing happened. It’s called unfettered, unregulated greed, vulture capitalism in corporate-owned company first America.