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There are two mindsets when it comes to the Blues having national games broadcast on NBCSN and NBC. The first mindset, and probably the most popular one, is that exposure is a good thing. The second mindset, which admittedly is mine and is less popular, is one of “oh, God no, they shit the bed during national games.”
Regardless of your mindset, you’ll be watching the Blues on either NBC Sports or NBC ten times this season, the same number of games as last year. National broadcasts started off exciting and fun, but by mid-December, NBC execs were probably questioning if giving the Blues that many games was the best idea. Hopefully they won’t have to examine their life choices this season.
Here’re the games, starting on November 14th against the Blackhawks (last year the Blues’ first game was the season opener against the Penguins on October 4th):
- Nov. 14 at Chicago Blackhawks - NBCSN
- Nov. 28 at Detroit Red Wings - NBCSN
- Dec. 5 at Edmonton Oilers - NBCSN
- Jan. 21 at Los Angeles Kings - NBCSN
- Feb. 10 at Nashville Predators - NBC
- Feb. 17 at Minnesota Wild - NBC
- Feb. 19 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - NBCSN
- Feb. 24 at Minnesota Wild - NBCSN
- March 6 at Anaheim Ducks - NBCSN
- April 3 at Chicago Blackhawks - NBCSN
They open and close their broadcast schedule with games against the Blackhawks, but there are a few fun match-ups worked in that are a bit out of the ordinary. They’re playing the Oilers in Edmonton on December 5th and the Maple Leafs at home on February 9th. Having the Blues play two Canadian teams on a US national broadcast like that may not exactly be a ratings boon regardless of McDavid and Matthews, but both of those games should be fun.
November 14th, 28th, December 5th, March 6th, and April 3rd are all Wednesday Night Rivalry games. I was unaware that the Blues and Oilers had a long standing beef.