Draft Decisions

General Managers weren’t the only ones making interesting decisions at this year’s NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles. Broadcasters of the event, TSN and RDS, both incorporated some changes into their coverage when compared to how things were handled in years past.

TSN made the choice not to interview every player taken in the first round. In fact, only a handful of the 30 first round choices sat down for an interview with host James Duthie. Instead, the specialty channel chose to air a double dose of analysis from hockey gurus Bob McKenzie and Pierre McGuire. At times, this provided for insightful commentary, but the duo ended-up sounding like a broken record on many occasions – particularly as it became evident that defencemen Brandon Gormley and Cam Fowler were not going to be taken anywhere near the fourth and fifth spots that McKenzie had originally predicted. McKenzie’s exclamation of “But oh my goodness”, punctuated each and every time he contemplated another team passing on the defencemen to go with someone else, probably aired more often than the show’s theme music. It was with great relief to viewers at home that the blueliners were finally taken 12th and 13th so that McKenzie could finally shift to another topic. In all fairness to TSN, interviewing 30 players in a row can be just as repetitive, so kudos to the specialty channel for at least trying to find the right balance. I just hope TSN realizes that the search for that balance should still continue.

Over at RDS, the French-language network opted not to send their full contingent to Los Angeles, no doubt trying to save on costs in the same way the network picks-up feeds from other broadcasters during the regular season for non-Canadiens games and then dubs over French commentary from the Montreal studios. Let’s just say that this doesn’t make for entertaining television and the network really does a disservice to its viewers by not airing its own production. Interestingly, unlike TSN, RDS placed more emphasis on player interviews, with Stéphane Leroux making the journey out to L.A. to speak with many of the draft selections, most notably Canadiens top pick Jarred Tinordi. Whereas TSN uses NHL analysts to cover the draft, RDS provides a different perspective with Leroux, a junior hockey specialist covering the QMJHL. But with Leroux one of the only RDS members to actually fly to L.A., it must have made for some pretty lonely mornings around the breakfast table.