Follow me on Twitter
Yesterday’s Entry talked about Danielson and Kasper.. Both names seem to be getting good press and Danielson will have a lot of eyes on him at camp.
After losing last night Carolina is already letting it be known that 2 players may not be back. Pesce will head to free agency, and Necas may have his rights traded. Add to that the line of teams looking at Brind’amour if a deal isn’t done and there are some pieces that Detroit could use.
In chatting with my buddy “C”, Necas is a player that is worth asking about. If this is what Yzerman was working on at the TDL, that would be a very good add. Honestly, it feels like the Captain should be all over this and see what they want. Unfortunately, Necas needs a raise as well so salary would have to be cleared out with Seider and Raymond also needing raises. This may be a tough fit. Let me know if you’d go for it.
Pesce is full on irony. When Nylander was holding out on his second deal, the Leafs were said to have asked for Pesce and Carolina turned them down. Nylander has grown immensely in maturity and really has to have the brass kicking themselves. The ‘Canes were said to have countered with Hamilton, no deal. Now Toronto (if they want) can sign Pesce as a UFA, have Nylander and will be a team looking to see if Brind’amour hits the market. Detroit should be as well.
It may be wishful thinking but if management doesn’t at least kick the tires on Necas and Brind’amour (IF he’s available, they did pick back up in negotiations) it will be incredibly disappointing. Please let me know if you are interested in either player or the coach and what you’d give to get Necas on board.
At this point, I am going to talk about the broadcast stuff. If you don’t want to hear about it, please know that this is the best place to stop reading.
Netflix just made a major push into sports. They signed a deal that will allow for them to broadcast games at Christmas for the NFL. Variety Magazine has a more in depth look but is behind a paywall. So, that’s football, right? Netflix is contacting RSNs like Bally’s and looking to make deals. The Bally’s situation is well known and the Variety article has a pic of a football and a baseball. The MLB is trying to get away from Bally’s and Netflix can offer a massive hub.
Here is the Variety article.. If you have Apple News you may be able to read the entire entry. So, on to Detroit in all of this.
The Detroit Pistons and Amazon announced a community partnership. For all of you who have been keeping up, you know that in January Amazon secured streaming from Bally/Diamond with an influx of cash (amount still unknown). The new Bally app has stand alone subscribership but is limiting the user to whatever Market they are in. The opposite of what usually happens in pro sports (usually have local blackout).
Bally’s was kicked off of Comcast, so DirecTV and Charter are the services left carrying the company. This is problematic because Comcast is the biggest provider. The money just isn’t where it needs to be, and DirecTV (for my account anyway) won’t allow me to cancel Bally unless I go to the basic package. It is now an automatic $8 charge on tier 2 and up that you can’t get removed (per a call in conversation). That may be why Comcast dumped them. ESPN is paid for in base tiers whether you watch it or not. Bally wanted the same deal.
With the Pistons getting the Amazon name as part of the organization, it seems to signal an agreement of some kind. The NHL hasn’t been proactive and now questions are coming in. ESPN just announced for the 4th time in the past 6 months that all of their services are heading to streaming. ABC may also go along with Freeform. With the deal the NHL has that could effectively take every non streaming option off the table. There are a growing number of fans unhappy with this (to say it lightly). Enter Comcast.
Comcast is working on a deal to have a bundle with Netflix and AppleTV. Those three together are a massive build. Comcast still seems committed to NBC non streaming options. The bidding wars are on and most of you have at least been aware of them for a year now. The NHL needs to keep a broadcast option and would do well to revisit NBC. The arrows have all pointed to this and it looks like streaming is going to be Cable 2.0. Two or three companies to choose from as networks get purchased or merge.
That’s most of the buzz for now. The NHL just has to pick a lane and go. It will be interesting to see where it all lands, but Amazon has a nice head start.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»