Welcome to a new Morning Skate in a new month, folks!
It only took me three days into the month to get September started, so we’re clearly not in mid-season form around here, but that’s OK.
With the calendar turning to September, new routines will begin for many people — whether that means your kids are going back to school, you’re back to school yourself, or something in between.
While the NHL machine hasn’t fully cranked to life yet, there are signs of activity on the horizon.
Key upcoming dates for the Bruins
Opening Night for the B’s is on September 29, meaning we’re just over three weeks from the actual season starting.
That, of course, means there’s a lot of stuff to cram into the schedule in the meantime.
If you’ve forgotten some of the important or noteworthy dates in September, here’s a refresher:
- Rookie Camp starts on September 11. This year’s rookie camp will include the two prospect games against the Buffalo Sabres (instead of the more tournament-style Prospects Challenge from recent years). We’ll probably see a Rookie Camp roster within a few days.
- Regular training camp opens two weeks from yesterday on Wednesday, September 16.
- The B’s first preseason game, at home against the Washington Capitals, will be on September 20, just two weeks from Sunday.
It always seems like the dates/camps/games come fast and furious this time of year after a few months off, but I’m sure we’ll all be ready to argue about the bottom-six line combinations in no time.
Same-day delivery
As Amazon continues its creep into all aspects of your everyday life, the NHL announced on Wednesday that Prime Video will be the exclusive in-market streaming service for six teams this season.
Those teams: Carolina, Anaheim, Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota, and St. Louis.
Each of those teams will be taking a slightly different approach to how they actually show their games (e.g. some will still broadcast on cable as well), so it gets very confusing.
While many of us around these parts have raised legitimate issues with the cost of NESN and the challenges of watching all of the Bruins games without 839 services, we’ve been pretty insulated from all of the regional sports network chaos that has affected other fanbases.
Diamond Sports, FanDuel Sports Network, and a few others have all fallen apart in recent years, while good ol’ NESN keeps chugging along.
There’s some chatter that more and more teams will shift to these kinds of streaming models with centralized production involving the NHL, but considering the Bruins (via Delaware North) are part owners of NESN, it’s hard to see the model changing locally anytime soon.
Get ready to watch Opening Night on ESPN/ESPN+/HBO Max/TNT/Hulu/Prime/SportsChannel/UPN38.
Sending good vibes to all who are transitioning back to school this week (or have recently, as I know states outside of Massachusetts have different schedules).
What else is on tap for today?
