Last week, the Vancouver Canucks released their broadcast schedule for the upcoming NHL season.
All 82 games will be broadcast on the Sportsnet family of channels. Click here for the full list.
As always, though, you'll have to be in the right place and have the right cable package if you want to see all the games. Sportsnet Pacific broadcasts are available only in B.C. and the Yukon, and I believe the seven games that appear on Sportsnet Vancouver can only be picked up in the lower mainland.
Also, there are two games tagged for Sportsnet One and four for Sportsnet 360. Those are national broadcasts, but aren't included in all cable packages. Though it hasn't officially been announced, my expectation is that all seven preseason games should be broadcast—though I suppose we'll have to keep an eye out for possible conflicts with the final portion of the World Cup of Hockey tournament.
Rogers GameCentre Live should be opening up its subscription window in the next couple of weeks, as they are promising livestreams of the World Cup of Hockey games as well as the NHL season.
As for the schedule itself—last year, it was pretty clear that the Canucks were going to have a tough time keeping pace with their division rivals, with a heavy road schedule through the first three months of the season.
They hung in pretty well—still third in the Pacific at Christmas, but slipped to fourth with 41 points in 41 games by the midpoint of the season and spiralled further downward from there. The bottom fell out on January 23, with that late-game collapse against Pittsburgh in their last road game of the season against an Eastern Conference team. Including that game, Vancouver went 11-21-2 through the last 34 games of the season, including the nine-game regulation winless streak during the second half of March.
This year, expect attendance stories to dominate the headlines early on, as the Canucks will spend plenty of time at Rogers Arena through the early part of the season.
October: 13 games in total - four preseason, nine regular season
• 9 regular-season games: 7 home, 2 road
• 4 games against Pacific Division: Calgary, L.A., Anaheim, Edmonton
• Eastern Conference teams to visit Rogers Arena: Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals
• two back-to-backs: on the road against L.A. and Anaheim, then at home against Edmonton and Washington
November: 14 games: 9 road, 5 home
• November kicks off with first six-game Eastern Conference road trip—Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, then Islanders, Rangers, Detroit
• other road trip is three games in four nights—Arizona, Dallas, Colorado
• only two games against Pacific Division, both against Arizona
• home game highlights will be Dallas - afternoon game on Nov. 13 - NYR on Nov. 15 and Chicago on Nov. 19
• three back-to-backs, all on the road
December: 15 games: 8 home, 7 road
• nicely spaced five-game road trip will visit New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Florida, Washington, Carolina—not a bad region to visit in December!
• the Leafs make their annual 4:00 Hockey Night in Canada appearance on Dec. 3.
• other Eastern Conference visitors to Rogers Arena will be Tampa Bay and Columbus
• five games against the Pacific Division, four of which will come at the end of the month
• three back-to-backs, all of which involve travel
So, by the end of December, the Canucks will have played 20 of their 41 home games and 18 road games—pretty reasonably balanced. Of those 18 road games, 11 are against Eastern Conference teams, which will leave just five games in the Eastern time zone in 2017.
Also, the Canucks don't see much of their Pacific Division rivals, playing just seven games against Pacific Division teams before Christmas. That starts to change right after the Christmas break, with seven of Vancouver's next eight games against Pacific Division teams. The crucial four-pointers that will ultimately determine division seeding will mostly be played during the second half of the season.
The other challenge that really hooped the Canucks last season was their lack of success in the new three-on-three overtime format. Vancouver lost eight games in overtime or shootouts and managed two shootout wins before Jannik Hansen finally scored Vancouver's first three-on-three game-winner against Edmonton on December 26.
Now that three-on-three is less of an unknown entity, it shouldn't be as much of an albatross for Vancouver in 2016-17.
I'll look more closely at the second half of the schedule tomorrow.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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