NHL Games on NHL Network

Whoever makes the decisions for NHL Network is absolutely clueless. From taking away the late game of HNIC, to hardly showing any early games from HNIC, to squishing the picture, to the lame non-live game schedule. When comparing NHL Network with NFL Network and MLB Network, the NHL is light years behind in quality. And as a long time hockey fan it just drives me crazy.

To the NHL and Comcast. With the playoffs coming up on the networks of NBC. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD and every hockey fan nationwide who owns a DVR, PLEASE drop that score ticker on the NHL Network during live games. Do they do that on NHLN in Canada? Thank the hockey gods that the NBC Sports network does not do that. Don't you think that we might want to DVR a game to watch later especially during the first and second round when there are multiple games that night? Well, when you give away the scores every minute the game we recorded is ruined.

Also, thank you for denying the fans and subscribers of NHL Center Ice in the U.S. access to most Canadian broadcasts. If there is a team in the states are playing a Canadian team we either get the U.S. broadcast only or the U.S. broadcast in HD and SD only for Canadian broadcast. When there are 2 Canadian teams playing, 90% of the time we get SD only. Why does $249 a year for Center Ice not enough to buy us a broadcast on TSN HD especially when the Winnipeg Jets are at home. We would love to experience the "Fuelled Passion" as well. We have to watch the SD game and when we watch NHL Tonight, most of the highlights are from TSN, Sportsnet or LeafsTV in HD. It equals up to a slap in the face to the U.S. audience. To the subscribers of NHL Center Ice, it's like a kick in the pills. One can only hope this is corrected as a part of the next CBA. In addition, thank you for mudering Hockey Night in Canada for us. Center Ice subscribers in the U.S. should be allowed to see it as presented.

It's all just not fair.

I agree that the scorebar on NHLN needs to go during live games, whether it's NHL, AHL, the Memorial Cup, World Championships, college, or whatever other games they can pick up. NBCSN has the right idea with putting it up during intermissions and postgame and taking it down during the actual game.

GameCenterLive gives you 720p30 video for both feeds for every game that isn't otherwise available on local/regional TV, NBCSN, or NHLN. Still stuck with the NHLN-crapped-on broadcast of the first game of HNIC and the Thursday/Friday games they pick up, and still no way to avoid 3 of the worst announcing crews in the NHL that inevitably get picked up for bonus national coverage the most (Pens on Root Sports, Wings on FS Detroit, Sharks on CSN), but at least the rest have options. The PQ isn't quite as good as full HD on Center Ice, but the better selection is worth it.

I agree on all but one. I do enjoy a night with Ken and Mick. Have for years. Mickey Redmond is a great color analyst. Murph was a great player but color is not his best suit. However they pale in comparison to 1. Pierre McGuire 2. Daryl Reaugh 3. Eddie Olzcyk. And definately some of the broadcasters in Canada(Wouldn't know becasue we rarely see a Canadian broadcast. THANKS Gary). Those 3 analysts see the ice like a coach and call it how it is regardless of who's team they are on.

You can add the Canes broadcast to the top of that list. I got a taste of that the other night when we were denied a good broadcast out of Winnipeg. Those tools attenuated the crowd and when WPG scored they dropped it furthur so you could hear that nut and his HOMER analyst explain to us how bad the Canes suck. Poor, just plain poor.

Pierre? Really? Yes he has great knowledge of the players, but he seems to have no idea what's actually going on in the play. Edzo is just terrible in general, unless you're one of the young hockey players he's always talking to. Doc and Dave Strader are both awesome as play by play guys, though, and Engblom is a good analyst.

For the local guys, Ralph and Razor are the best team in the NHL, and I'm not just saying that because I have Stars season tickets. Weber and Crisp for the Predators are great, as are Miller and Fox for the Kings. The guys in Florida, Carolina, Columbus, and St. Louis are all good too. Can't really blame the announcers for the decision of the director to cut down on the crowd, and I don't really blame the director either because every road broadcast does that. The Wings guys are huge homers, and spend way too much time not talking about the game going on. I understand telling stories when you're in the last 5-10 minutes of a blowout and need to fill time, but they go on and on for the entire game.

Yeah, watching the DET-NYR game and together they are great. Pierre always seems to call the penalty and the offending player before they even blow the whistle. When Richards scored in the 1st period he knew exactly what happened with the wings D. He's always spot on. Together he and Eddie are great. Not such a fan of his Blackhawks work. As for Pierre on NBC and what little I have seen him on TSN/TSN.ca he's awesome. I think of him like a Razor without the sense of humor or expanded vocabulary. Razor doesn't do anything different when he is on HNIC. The only thing I don't like about his work on HNIC is that we have to endure the sturminator in his absence. I'm not faulting the directors even though that analyst in CAR is horrible. I'm blaming the NHL. We should be able to see each others broadcast when it costs $250 for CI and they advertise "Watch your home team and your home broadcast". Need a asterisk and a disclaimer about Canadians living in the U.S....sorry about your bad luck.

I wish I had the internet connection for Gamecenter. Not that lucky out here in the paw-paw patch. That would be my only subscription. Got my comp hooked to my TV 7MC/HDMI and that would be really nice.

Coyote, what is the best hockey forum online. The ones I find are pretty cheesy. Which ones are respected like AVS. NHL.com doesn't have one and I can only imagine why.

Just thought of this. Perhaps Edzo is using "young players" instead of "fans new to hockey" and just learning the game without calling them out? That can only be good.

HF boards forum is a good read.

Thanks, i'll check it out. My interest in hockey was peaked when the Habs won in '93 with Patrick Roy. Been addicted since the "Guarantee" game in '94. Too bad I missed the Edmonton years. Just didn't want anyone to think I'm a hockey newbie by asking that.

You didn't miss anything. Lol,j/k

Been a fan since the Bobby Hull days in the late 60's, so I've seen a lot!

I can't stand the NBC analyst and color guys, they are terrible. The bald guy in between the benches is a creep and overdramatic. They try to hard to write the script of the game and they'll try to sell you there storyline even if it's not panning out on the ice.

What kind of mess is this Penguins game. I know it's the Root sports broadcast clean no graphics being fed to the NBC/NHL where they reproduce it with their own graphics and replays. They have been doing this for a while now. Is this not the finest of example where NBC Comcast and the NHL have totally gone overboard?

This year has left me speechless in terms of TV coverage of NHL hockey.

NBA TV does the same thing where they get the RSN feed with no graphics and use their own graphics and transitions on the replays.

Just as worse on NHL Network's broadcast of games is the giant NHL Live logo on the top right added this season that and the score bar at the bottom need to go.