The Absolutely Dire State of Hockey Coverage in Canada Right Now (And Sportsnet SUUUUCKS)

MarkusNaslund19

Registered User
Dec 28, 2005
5,478
7,854
I want to start with this:




And just in case they fix this, the NHL's carrier in Canada posted a video of the highlights between the Panthers and the Red Wings, an absolute must-win for the Red Wings, and an important game for seeding for the Panthers. And whatever unpaid intern or AI program managed to literally post the shootout highlights BEFORE the overtime highlights.

Where is the quality control? You would be fired from a car wash for doing your job this poorly. Imagine drying the car before you wash it.

But I want to use this thread also to talk about how pathetic the hockey highlights in Canada are currently.

Your options are:

1. Sportsnet or TSN highlights which are geared entirely towards bettors and will show like one goal per game for any games that don't feature Canadian teams.

2. The NHL's official highlights which are clearly created by an algorithmic program that simply hunts for shot highlights. They show zero penalties, fights, or hits (I suspect due to fear of lawsuits for profiting from concussions), and show nothing of the story of the game. If Ovechkin fought Crosby and then played air guitar while licking Tristan Jarry's mask, the OFFICIAL highlights would just randomly suddenly show the Penguins on the powerplay. They tell you nothing.

They don't high light career milestones, they don't highlight players who are having a good game. It's 10 minutes of soulless, algorithmic shots.

I'm a hockey junkie and so I watch them fairly regularly, and since I know almost every player in the league I can usually follow how the game went. But imagine trying to introduce a new fan to the sport?


3. Sportsnet's extended highlights which are a copy past of the NHL highlights but will sometimes randomly include a fight without including any context for what caused the fight or what it meant.


It makes it such a chore to follow the league.

I know they want to get their impressions and don't trust the attention span of fans so they post everything in 10 second clips if you want to see hits, fights, and narrative. but some of us like to follow the entire league and don't want to do it on TikTok one achingly stupid 20 second clip at a time.

20 years ago there was an NHL highlight show (and NHL on the fly during games) on the NHL network that would show you 4 or 5 minutes of highlights for every game and would carefully cultivate it so that it presented the story of the game. I used to look forward to it every night.

MLB highlights will carefully cut audio from both feeds and both radio feeds and edit things so that you know what's happening and why it's significant.

So we're now 20 years later and now the NHL has apparently decided that their highlights should be outsourced to an algorithm that scrapes highlight clips based on 'event' categories 'Find>'shot clip'>print. Seems to be the extent of the work.

It's like they actively don't want people to follow their sport.

You could hire like 30 people, maybe 15, who actually understand the game to watch the game and cut 10 minutes of highlights and the product would be so vastly superior it's incredible.

They could make their league so much more enticing by paying like 15 people 50k per year or less (if they were ethical it would be more, but we all know who we're dealing with). In a multibillion dollar league they choose to cut the dumbest of corners.


It's embarrassing.
 

HolyHagelin

Speed? I am speed.
Jan 8, 2024
723
1,077
Also the NHL app is incredibad. It is literally quicker and easier to use the mobile website for everything.

The “condensed game,” longer highlight package that is more than just the goals, is not available on the app at all so you have to go to the site anyway.

Gary Bettman the mole has been incredibly successful for the NBA 😂
 

Vasilevskiy

The cat will be back
Dec 30, 2008
17,956
4,743
Barcelona
The Sportsnet highlights are a disgrace.

When they don't know what to put or low scoring game they will just have every single shot of the 1st period, even if it's s shot from centre ice with 0 danger.
They have the reviews of disallowed goals before the actual goal happens.
Today the SO highlights before OT ones.

Etc, etc. Is it that hard to hire one or two guys to do proper highlights? Pathetic
 

kevsh

Registered User
Nov 28, 2018
3,380
4,697
Sportsnet or TSN highlights which are geared entirely towards bettors

This is where I have an issue, but it's not just highlights, it's everything.

It's now every second of every show on either network has some form of sports betting advertised, from the ticker to the intermissions, to the commercials to ads on the boards, to the commentary, to actual sports betting segments so we get the "expert" picks. It's so pervasive it's disgusting.

Then, after smothering you with it at every turn for every second you're watching, they throw in the "if you have a gambling problem call now" bits just to cleanse their hands of any responsibility.

It's so impossible to escape that it should be no surprise we're even seeing more issues with pro athletes being caught betting on their own sport (and every other) and reportedly the number of young people betting on sports has skyrocketed the past few years. Do they care?

Let the title of the link answer the question:
Ontario Sports Betting Industry Hits Record Levels in Q3.
 

VivaLasVegas

Registered User
Sponsor
Jun 21, 2021
7,455
7,925
Lost Wages, Nevada
This is where I have an issue, but it's not just highlights, it's everything.

It's now every second of every show on either network has some form of sports betting advertised, from the ticker to the intermissions, to the commercials to ads on the boards, to the commentary, to actual sports betting segments so we get the "expert" picks. It's so pervasive it's disgusting.

Then, after smothering you with it at every turn for every second you're watching, they throw in the "if you have a gambling problem call now" bits just to cleanse their hands of any responsibility.

It's so impossible to escape that it should be no surprise we're even seeing more issues with pro athletes being caught betting on their own sport (and every other) and reportedly the number of young people betting on sports has skyrocketed the past few years. Do they care?

Let the title of the link answer the question:
Ontario Sports Betting Industry Hits Record Levels in Q3.
The curious thing is that the the NHL's sports betting advertisements are far worse than anything else we experience living in Las Vegas. You know that when it gets on our nerves that it is really bad.
 
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