The Edmonton Oilers have arguably the best player in the world playing on their team. Yet, for some reason, the NHL feels it completely acceptable to schedule a Game 4 between the Oilers and Los Angeles Kings on a Sunday night at 10:30 PM Eastern Time. Meaning, fans on the East Coast who want to stay up to watch McDavid play will have to make it until about 1:30 AM on the last night of a weekend before work or school to see him.
The NHL has four games scheduled on Sunday. The Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche kick things off at 2:30 PM ET, while the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators go at 5 PM ET. The third game is the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals, finally followed by the Oilers and Kings. While the league wants to keep these teams from overlapping their games for broadcast reasons, was there not a better way to do this? With potential overtime and other delays, the chances are, games will overlap anyway.
McDavid is easily the league’s most marketable star. Half of the country won’t be able to watch him the way this is all laid out. He leads the league in playoff points with nine. He’s not the only Oiler worth watching. Zach Hyman leads the NHL in goals with six. There’s also Leon Draisaitl who contributes to the NHL’s highest-scoring offense and hockey fans will have to take a nap on Sunday afternoon to catch the action.
This doesn’t even bring into account this series has gotten feisty and makes for incredibly entertaining hockey. Game 3’s third period was about as rough a game between two teams as the playoffs have seen up to this point.
How Is This Acceptable For the NHL?
One of the big issues fans are pointing out is the misplaced priorities among the NHL’s decision-makers. One person pointed out that Commissioner Gary Bettman forced hockey in the desert for over a decade before finally moving the team and then placed his top star on television in a time slot that a good chunk of fans won’t get to see him.
