NHL Announces Schedule Changes Featuring Two Maple Leafs National Games

There is a lot of debate about the NHL and how they schedule teams throughout the season as we've already seen days with zero games and others with an entire slate where everyone is involved; there doesn't seem to be a lot of parity and evenness when it comes to when teams play.

With the rise of streaming services, the NHL has implemented new measures like partnering with Amazon Prime and ESPN to broadcast games to a wider audience and expand the game across North America.

That comes with some scheduling conflicts however, and it seems like the league has had to adjust some of their broadcasted games, which will be able to be viewed over ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu+ and two of them involve the Toronto Maple Leafs:

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski reported the changes, and it shows that the Maple Leafs vs. Kraken game on Jan. 29th has changed to 10PM ET, meanwhile their late season game in April against the New York Islanders has been moved to 6:45PM ET.

There is no direct reason for the changes and the press release itself does state that the times are still subject to change even though they already have been once before.

Other games that are involved in the change include the Dec. 4th game between Detroit and Columbus, two of Dec. 11th's games (Vegas vs. Philadelphia; Florida vs. Colorado), and Jan. 8th's contest between The Islanders and the Predators.

The neatest part of this is that the Maple Leafs are actually going to be appearing in some high-profile games at least in terms of exposure.

We often see the majority of American teams occupy the prime national slots, but Toronto getting in on the action is a positive sign.

While they aren't Original Six matchups vs. Boston or the New York Rangers, they do have quite a bit of history with the Islanders over the years, and the Kraken did end up stealing their former coach to lead them (to decent success already).

In terms of exposure it's hard to say the Maple Leafs are a team who don't get the spotlight as they are clearly one of the most popular and recognizable sports teams in North America, but it's actually a sign of good things to come that perhaps more Canadian teams can get exposure elsewhere.

Much like some Canadian fans enjoy rooting for American squads, there is no shortage of American fans who love their Maple Leafs or Canadiens or Oilers; and more exposure means more money for the league.

So it's a great sign to see Toronto get some broadcast time in the U.S. and be primed to show everyone that while they may have had some doubts, fans are in for a treat.