Colorado Avalanche: Pondering the 12 Nationally Televised Games

The Colorado Avalanche will be getting more national exposure as they’ll have at least 12 games televised nationally.

The Colorado Avalanche are becoming a hot commodity. During the 2019-20 season, they’ll have 12 games televised by either NBC or NBCSN.

The majority of those games are going to be on NBCSN (all times MT):

• Oct. 26: at Pittsburgh (NBCSN, 5 p.m.)
• Dec. 11: vs. Philadelphia (NBCSN, 7:30 p.m.)
• Dec. 18: at Chicago (NBCSN, 6 p.m.)
• Dec. 27: vs. Minnesota (NBCSN, 6 p.m.)
• Jan. 2: vs. St. Louis (NBCSN, 7:30 p.m.)
• Jan. 7: at New York Rangers (NBCSN, 5:30 p.m.)
• Feb. 9: at Minnesota (NBCSN, 5:30 p.m.)
• Feb. 26: vs. Buffalo (NBCSN, 6 p.m.)
• March 4: vs. Anaheim (NBCSN, 7:30 p.m.)
• March 8: at San Jose (NBCSN, 8 p.m.)
• March 29: vs. Nashville (NBCSN, 7:30 p.m.

One game will be on NBC proper. Not surprisingly, it’s the outdoor game:

• Feb. 15: vs. Los Angeles Kings at Air Force (NBC, 6 p.m.)

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Now, besides the spectacle of the outdoor game, which was always going to be nationally televised, we can see some rationale for the plethora of outdoor games in the competition. Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers games are often nationally televised. Plus, the St. Louis Blues are the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

However, Colorado is the driving force in some of those NBCSN games, including those against Minnesota and Buffalo. That fact says to me that the Avalanche have put the league on notice, and the TV stations at least are paying attention. Indeed, Mike Chambers of the Denver Post speculates Colorado will be featured in a few Hockey Night in Canada matchups on Sportsnet, too.

Well, there’s no doubt that our top line, centered by superstar Nathan MacKinnon, who was ranked third in the NHL for all centers, makes for exciting hockey. Nonetheless, there’s a part of me that shuns all the attention.

This current inception of the Colorado Avalanche often plays poorly when under the spotlight. Remember last season, their play dropped right around the time MacKinnon and his cohorts Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog were getting press about the All Star Game. They do prefer their underdog role.

Well, they’re going to have to get over that reluctance eventually. GM Joe Sakic built this team to be an exciting hockey force for years to come. They could well become like the glory teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Those were teams that knew how to harness the spotlight.

A large part of me shuns this coverage, too, because I much prefer out Altitude TV broadcast. I like hearing Marc Moser call the game and Peter McNab come up with his inane but entertaining quips. They know our guys, and they unabashedly root for them.

Well, a lot of us have vowed to turn the sound off during those games and listen to Conor McGahey call the game over the radio.

Anyway, I guess watching all these nationally televised games will get us ready for the playoffs — when more of the games get that kind of treatment.

So, the Colorado Avalanche will get their time on Altitude TV, too. The broadcast schedule hasn’t been released yet.