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Ken Holland stepped down at both a painful and ideal time in Edmonton. As clips of the Oiler locker room post cup defeat circulate it would obviously have been special for the former Wing’s GM to leave with a cup going back to Canada and the pic of McDavid ready to go for NHL 25. As painful as that is, and maybe the players should have some privacy at that moment, two offer sheets from St Louis have
hit the news. This isn’t great timing while the team crunches what a Draisaitl and eventually a McDavid extension is going to look like. CMD went long term on his post ELC and has watched Matthews cash in (smartly, do not blame him at all for getting paid) and his representation will be ready to go. I don’t envy the capologist.
My hockey buddy suggested that an offer sheet for Seider and Raymond could at least speed things up and get the team to finish their business. There’s no problem seeing that as a motivator. In the St. Louis offer, they took full advantage of revised guidelines and made a max offer at a certain cost in terms of draft picks. The trouble comes when the player signs.
It seems that teams usually match, but that the player gets on a trade clock. The GM wants to control the compensation and make a strong showing. Fans can sour and it almost becomes a PR “no win” for a player. I don’t blame players for getting what they can get. The curious part comes in this, what has been the ask? There seems to be some consensus amongst the faithful that Seider is the higher ticket/higher term priority. Raymond eclipsed 30 at a perfect time and a young age. Both have been very pleasant surprises and both are going to have the highest post ELC deal in the salary cap era for Detroit. An offer sheet would have to be fairly high (opinion) and the player would have to be willing to take on the “drama”. Let me know if you think this is a viable possibility. I actually think it could happen with JB more readily than with Seider or Raymond simply based on cost and return. A team with plenty of cap space may not mind surrendering a 3rd or a 2nd to pay beyond what Detroit is offering and JB would get a better opportunity. Of course that’s opinion, feel free to debate.
Either way, most of us just want to see something get finished. St. Louis revived the news cycle and other teams are going to watch this. Please let the next GM meeting have a pay per view option and an MMA ring….
At this point, I’m doing a quick and partial update on “broadcast buzz” issues. If you’re not interested, best to spare yourself on the info.
The new champs are leaving Bally’s on their broadcast side and starting a new streaming venture. Per PHR (click link above):
* The Panthers are one of the many teams parting ways with the Bally Sports family of regional sports networks, previously announcing they’ll have their games locally produced and distributed on various local stations by Scripps Sports for 2024-25. But for non-TV watchers, the team announced today a “strategic multi-year alliance” with ViewLift to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming platform. ViewLift also runs similar DTC streaming services for the Capitals and Golden Knights.
This is where Detroit is directly affected. Comcast finally allowed Bally to return but in a pricey ordeal. You know have to order a top tier plan and then pay around $30 extra for the local package if you’re a Comcast customer. This is what Diamond Sports presented to the bankruptcy court as a “win”. Unfortunately, paying over $200 in some markets vs. figuring out a VPN and paying $11 (for now) isn’t even close. The general “vibe” around Detroit up to this point has been that it was hoped Comcast and Bally would make up. They did, but the cost is not friendly. DirecTV Stream now forces the package at the 2nd tier and shows an a la carte charge of $6.99. That’s what the provider wanted Comcast to do. It didn’t work.
A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks specifically that the NHL will have to address and quickly. I am not going to report on most of it because the initial reports are a bit sensationalized. The most relevant thing for any of you who heard about it came last week with the announcement of “Venue Sports”. A platform on Hulu that combines ESPN/Fox Sports/Diamond and others. It was announced on the ESPN/Disney earning’s call. There had already been a warning from the DOJ that this was being challenged as a potential anti trust issue. This week that is being pursued. The president of ESPN and of Disney/ABC will be starting depositions.
So what should you do? I’ll go back to what I said a few weeks ago. Do your best to make a streaming plan. Until/Unless they’re shut down, Bally’s did the stand alone app for the MLB and with teams leaving may try to do the same for remaining NHL clubs. Otherwise look at ESPN+ with a VPN. A legal and non pirated VPN. There are plenty of them and they also serve as a security measure for your home internet. Hopefully you won’t have to use it, but just be aware.
In terms of cable/broadcast. The ESPN price will go up at least in 2025. There is still a plan for a “flagship” stand alone ESPN streaming service with all of their channels at a price point of around $40 for the ad based tier. It’s been talked about in some capacity for more than a year on each earning’s call. ABC/Disney/ESPN are looking at moving everything to streaming platforms D+ and ESPN (Hulu will likely be a tab on D+).
That’s all I can be fairly confident about at this point.
I did a post about TNT losing the NBA and Barkley potentially joining the hockey panel as he has several years left on his contract. Put that on pause as Warner/Discovery are making some shifts right now. You can do a search on it, but it may be worth waiting. The language being used is pretty sensationalized and ripe for click bait. In short, it’s unclear what TNT in particular will look like while things are being reorganized.
That’s it for now, thanks to all who stop by. Getting excited for player led practices and prospect camps and tournaments.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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