The Blues will be on NBC Sports 15 times this year

If there’s one thing that NBC Sports loves, it’s big-market Stanley Cup champions. If there’s one thing that the Blues are, it’s a big-market Stanley Cup champion.

Hear me out: they consistently rank at the top or near the top of NBCSN’s regular season ratings by broadcast area, even when the Blues aren’t featured in a national game. NBC got a good taste of how excited St. Louis was for hockey during the playoffs and the Final, where they consistently out-drew Boston in the ratings, so why wouldn’t they clamor for a chance to feature the Stanley Cup champions this year?

The schedule starts on October 2nd with the Blues’s home opener against the Washington Capitals.

• Oct. 2 vs. Washington - 7 p.m.
• Oct. 26 at Boston - 6 p.m.
• Oct. 30 vs. Minnesota - 7 p.m.
• Nov. 19 vs. Tampa Bay - 7 p.m.
• Dec. 4 at Pittsburgh - 7 p.m.
• Dec. 10 at Buffalo - 6:30 p.m.
• Jan. 2 at Colorado - 8:30 p.m.
• Jan. 15 vs. Philadelphia - 7 p.m.
• Feb. 16 at Nashville - 5 p.m.
• Feb. 23 at Minnesota - 7:30 p.m.
• Feb. 25 vs. Chicago - 7 p.m.
• March 8 at Chicago - 6:30 p.m.
• March 17 at Philadelphia - 6 p.m.
• March 24 at Washington - 6 p.m.
• March 29 vs. Minnesota - 6 p.m.

There are three (!) games against the Minnesota Wild featured, and two against the Philadelphia Flyers. Only one game is against division rival Nashville, one against Colorado, and two against the Blackhawks. The networks are airing both games against the 2017 Stanley Cup champion Capitals.

It’s interesting that the Wild are most featured opponent for the Blues’ this year. Maybe Minnesota’s in need of a good divisional rivalry that the national network wants to broadcast? I guess their rivalry with the Jets wasn’t enough.

All games will stream on the NBCSports app as well as NBCSports.com.