Do you think its a bad thing that NBC shuns the West Coast NHL teams?

COL was on 10/17 when they played @TOR (the NBC promo board signs and seeing McGuire with an NBC mike gave it away).

MIN is on this week and makes multiple appearances on Versus/NBC Sports Network.

As you noted, San Jose was on last night playing NYR.

Florida was on earlier this year (albeit playing PIT).

As far as NBC goes, the issue is simple- a 12:30 EST start means a 9:30 start time on the West Coast, which effectively knocks out one of the local markets.

The other ugly truth is that these games with the smaller markets don't draw as well. Go look at the ratings and you'll see, in clear terms, that the smaller market teams don't draw that well. If they did, they'd be on more.

There is a reason for this. NBC and Versus have specific slots for games. the problem for the Versus games on the west coast would either be played too late to get the entire US market or the games would start at 7:00 eastern (4:00 on the west coast, so people would still be at work). Meanwhile, NBC has games on Sundays. They've picked the 12:00/3:00 slots for those games, since those are the best times to get viewers (they've done the mass, and showing games on Sunday nights would bomb in the ratings). A game at 12:00 eastern is 9:00am on the west, so you'd have to wake up at like 6am to get there (which means attendance would be terrible at these games). The reason they can show Chicago or Detroit is that these teams have large fanbases (both are in rather large cities and are historic franchises), and the are in the central time zone, so it's only 1 hour behind the east.

Honestly, for now, I think they should stick to the current format, because the alternative is likely having fewer NHL games televised nationally or having more games, but on really obscure networks that nobody gets. This year, with the NBA lockout, might've been an opportunity to show more games on the west coast, since they don't have basketball for competition (though college basketball starts soon and is big competition). But for now, the purpose is to sell the game, expand the fanbase, and get the NHL in a position where it can compete for viewers with other sports and programs, and when they get to that point, you will see more diversity in the teams shown. But for now, they have to deal with time zones, and, whether you like it or not, the fact that Ovechkin and Crosby (when healthy) bring in casual viewers, as do the Original 6 (not that I think there's anything special about them, but some people do), and cities like New York and Philly, which have a lot of people in the first place.

I always thought they often don't show far west games because of the time zones. A 7:00 game in San Jose can be an 11:00 game in New York, and the bulk of their viewers are in the east. It is just too late, they wouldn't have enough viewers

I think the Coyotes got one game on Versus last year, and it was against the Wings in the Joe. Considering the Coyotes' own network doesn't even display all their games, I don't see them ending up in the spotlight anytime soon

Why I hate NBC exactly. Who cares if the damn Coyotes have the lowest fan base, they're still fun to watch, Who cares if teams like the Avalanche and Wild suck, NBC and NHL should stop showing teams only in the Eastern Conference, I can think of 8 other teams who are better than all the teams you mentioned. (Caps, Sabres, and Bruins.) And where's the love for the Hawks. NBC would get more views if they had more teams like the Hawks, Wings, and others. To answer your questions, I would rather see a game like Preds vs Avs.

Despite the fact that the Kings have a long history and players like Military, Brown, Doughty, Quick, etc we made the national broadcast I believe 3 times and even then one or two of them are Canadian broadcasts. Not to mention we are playoff contenders.

This is the problem with every other West team after other named Detroit or Chicago and it is frustrating seeing Pittsburgh, Washington, even Tampa Bay highlighted as the NHL's posterchild when they aren't and do they not realize the opportunity that has been presented to them with the NBA lockout I menace come on, no Layers, Clippers, Suns, Mavericks, Nuggets, Cavaliers etc.

Its all about viewers. Most of the viewers are in the East and can't watch 10pm West Coast games. In order to have the most viewers they put on Eastern and Central timezone teams so they get the most viewers possible. Nothing against West coast teams just not enough people to watch them.

I'd love for NBC/Versus to show more of the WC games. The West has great teams with great players....but they don't get the recognition they deserve.

It'd be nice to see more teams get national airtime even if they showed the games later on the east coast I'd be all for it. And I think it could only help the league.

I'd like to see more of those teams on NBC, of course I like the Original Six matchups though.

Look at what Jay said, pretend he knows that Detroit is in the EASTERN time zone, not Central, and give him best answer. Other than the small geography error, he's dead on.