Insider Trading: NHL’s broadcast deal with potential of more to come

The TSN Hockey Insiders discuss the NHL’s Canadian broadcast rights deal, the Oilers’ and Jets’ injury issues, the latest on Matthew Tkachuk, Miro Heiskanen and Dougie Hamilton and the NHL’s plans to follow the final stretch of the Gr8 Chase.

Gino Reda: Gentleman, it's expected the NHL will announce its national television rights this week. Reports indicate a multibillion-dollar deal. Darren, could there be more as well? 

Darren Dreger: Yeah, there could be Gino. I mean, obviously this is a huge deal for the National Hockey League, the Players Association, NHL owners. To the tune of $11 billion. Rogers paying more than twice their existing agreement, but where it gets really interesting is the nuance of the overall deal and the ongoing negotiating that is available here to the National Hockey League. Sources say that there is still one more night per week available to be negotiated outside of this agreement with Rogers. Now, it's complex and Rogers could get a taste in terms of the finances but also would need to be negotiated is the French language rights. Again, outside of this deal. So, when you see reports of 11 billion or more, the 'or more', is the extra night available to a potential suitor and the French language rights as well.

Reda: Just over two weeks left in the NHL regular season, and some key injury questions surround some key talent on Canadian clubs. Dregs, what's the latest out of Edmonton and Winnipeg?

Dreger: Well, optimism, to be fair, I mean, when you look at the Edmonton Oilers, it's great to see that Connor McDavid continues to skate and by all accounts from the Edmonton Oilers, McDavid looks good out there, but they're not going to push him. They're going to give him the time that he needs to fully recover. The expectation is that McDavid should be back with at least a week before the end of the regular season. Stuart Skinner is feeling better. He's probably a week away. Mattias Ekholm, the defenceman - he's also about a week away. Meanwhile in Winnipeg, good news for Jets fans. Neal Pionk is back on the ice. He's skated for the first time in a while and again by all accounts he looked looked pretty good to a point where they're going to try and ramp up his conditioning later in the week. So the expectation is he will be back before the end of the regular season, maybe much sooner than that, but the news is not as sound for Gabriel Vilardi  or Rasmus Kupari, they both remain week-to-week.

Reda: And while the Jets' and Oilers' key injury woes will likely be resolved before the start of the playoffs, the Stars and Panthers may have to wait until the start of the postseason for some of their key bodies to return.

Pierre LeBrun: Yeah. Let's start with Miro Heiskanen in Dallas. The number one defenceman for that team. He had knee surgery Feb. 4 and at the time, the team said it would be three to four months for his recovery. Well, it's two months on Friday and the updated timeline for him is anywhere from coming back for Game 1 of the playoffs or the end of the first round. And of course, the variance in those two scenarios looms large for the Dallas Stars who right now are matched up against the Colorado Avalanche in a Conference Final-worthy playoff matchup. So getting Heiskanen back, who leads them in ice time, would be gigantic during that series, but they don't know if they will. Now, Matthew Tkachuk also still not a firm timeline for him. The Panthers hope to have him back for Game 1 of the playoffs, but he hasn't really pushed it so far. He's skated on his own Monday, hasn't joined the team yet in practice, and the nature of his groin injury is that they don't know for sure when he starts pushing it, how he's going to react to that and that's why they're not sure if for sure he'll be back for Game 1. Although knowing Tkachuk, he'll probably try to talk his way into Game 1 of the playoffs.

Reda: A positive development for the Devils on the injury front though, Pierre.

LeBrun: Well, potentially positive Gino. Here's what I would say...the Devils had indicated a couple of weeks ago that Dougie Hamilton would not be back for the rest of the regular season, and probably not back until the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If they indeed made it that far, but he started skating last week and there's been a bit of positive there and if he continues to progress and doesn't have a setback. Now they are holding out slim hopes that he could be back before the end of the regular season. Let me stress slim from the Devils' perspective here, but it is certainly better than the original prognosis. He has a type of knee injury that usually has a four-to-six week recovery time period. Gino, it's four weeks today on Tuesday that he got hurt.

Reda: When we were at the GM meetings in Florida, you guys shared word that the NHL had big plans for when Ovechkin ties and then breaks Gretzky's goal scoring record. The only question was when the NHL roadshow would start following around. Do we have an answer to that now, Dregs?

Dreger: Yeah, they're likely traveling this week, and that includes NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer and an entourage of NHL folks. Obviously, Ovechkin's family, perhaps some friends and ownership of the Washington Capitals. The league head office is waiting for Ovechkin to be within four goals or less. So he's five goals away. They just need him to score one more and then they're getting on planes and they're following. Likewise for Wayne Gretzky. There'll be some production elements added - cameras, all of that. So looking forward to a big ceremony and celebration of a record-setting goal by Alex Ovechkin.