As we noted below, Caps forward Chris Bourque will be making his NHL debut in Atlanta tonight against the Thrashers.
And in a curious twist, the NHL debut of the son of one of the greatest to ever play the game will go down the video memory hole.
That's right. Thanks to the NHL's contract with Versus, tonight's game between the Caps and the Thrashers will not be broadcast anywhere. For the why, pop on over to Ted's Take:
"The Washington-Atlanta game Tuesday night will not be televised in either market as it falls during an excusive national broadcast window for Versus, which will be televising the New York Rangers-New York Islanders game. Versus broadcasts an exclusive game of the week on Monday or Tuesday night each week during the season. This is the only Caps game this year which will not be televised."
10 years ago, such a blackout might have been acceptable. That it's happening today in a universe that provides us with almost limitless numbers of channels to choose from via cable and satellite is simply inexcusable.
I'm guessing that the reasoning behind this rule -- one that won't prevent any NHL Center Ice subscriber in the U.S. from watching Toronto and Ottawa tonight at 7:30 p.m. EST -- is to maximize the ratings for one game that Versus will televise during the week.
Then again, you'd think the league would have had the good sense not to schedule any other U.S. teams to play during a Versus broadcast window. After all, it's not as if they haven't done it before.
Something tells me that after tonight, it won't happen again.
Count me in as one who will be watching Toronto and Ottawa. Two reasons. First, to boycott that asinine Versus exclusivity deal. Second, Canadian broadcasts are just far superior. Black me out… oh no… I black you out.