Come Saturday night don’t expect CHSN’s broadcast of the Chicago Blackhawks game to be accessible in any more places than it has been so far. It doesn’t sound like a deal is imminent.
Comcast isn’t budging. Comcast has offered CHSN carriage on its higher tier, just as it has nearly all regional sports networks (RSNs) lately. Previously, Comcast did put RSNs on its middle tier, but as more and more people have parted from traditional cable, Comcast has found a majority of its subscribers on the second tier aren’t watching RSNs and would prefer not to have that added fee. From everything I’ve heard, there’s zero chance of Comcast giving CHSN something it hasn’t given any RSN lately. Comcast is still interested in carrying CHSN, but it has to be on its terms.
CHSN has been holding out for that second tier, which is where the Blackhawks were with NBC Sports Chicago. CHSN has had Comcast’s offer for some time, but CHSN was optimistic Comcast would change its terms once the Blackhawks’ regular-season games came around. Traditionally, deadlines are where carriage negotiations really begin.
But that didn’t happen. Comcast has remained firm. With that, Saturday’s game will mark the Blackhawks’ fifth regular-season game on CHSN without carriage on Comcast.
CHSN has been taking its negotiations to the public more than it had been. CHSN was pretty quiet about all carriage negotiations when the network first launched and left fans largely in the dark about what deals were likely to be done. Just recently, CHSN has been open about the unlikelihood of YouTube TV being a carrier. Earlier this week, Blackhawks chairman Danny Wirtz voiced his disappointment with the lack of a Comcast deal. In an even more aggressive tactic Thursday, CHSN posted to X all the ways fans could reach out to Comcast and express their desire for the network to be on the cable carrier. That probably didn’t go as CHSN hoped, as a majority of the replies just criticized CHSN.
It’s unclear how this will all play out. CHSN is also negotiating with Fubo and Hulu. Getting those deals done would help, but Comcast is the largest carrier in the Chicago area. CHSN could push forward its direct-to-consumer app and make that available soon. CHSN’s original plan was to finalize carriage with Comcast and then launch the app.
Could the Chicago Bulls’ upcoming regular-season opener motivate CHSN further? The Bulls play their first game Wednesday. Time will tell.
For now, the network is available on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, U-verse TV and Astound TV. The network is also available for free over the air in Chicago and other regional markets.
You may not have taken much notice of Landon Slaggert’s two-year contract extension Friday. For one, he is playing in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs. Also, the contract’s annual cap hit of $900,000 isn’t going to largely impact the Blackhawks’ future cap situation.
SLAGS IS STAYIN’
📰 ➡️ https://t.co/8zYnW4mzDA pic.twitter.com/QTLuXlHPi3
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 18, 2024
But Slaggert’s extension does have some significance. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is continually projecting his future NHL lineup, and there are indications Davidson is hopeful Slaggert is in it. You can point to the IceHogs’ lineup for one. Slaggert has been playing on the IceHogs’ top line along with Frank Nazar and Brett Seney. Slaggert likely isn’t a staple on the first line in the NHL, but the Blackhawks do envision him as a winger who bounces around the lineup because of his defensive reliability — and he also possesses some offensive ability.
Slaggert’s early extension is also of sign of Davidson’s optimism about Slaggert’s potential. Davidson was willing to give him one-way money in both years. The tradeoff for that is that Davidson essentially extends Slaggert’s entry-level contract, and it keeps Slaggert at a low cap number for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, both of which Slaggert may spend in the NHL, and puts off future negotiations and potentially arbitration until Slaggert is 25 years old.
While Davidson has thrown around a lot of silly money and agreed to questionable contracts to ensure the Blackhawks get to the cap floor in recent years, he has seemed to be on point on the deals that matter to the Blackhawks’ future. Alex Vlasic’s six-year extension is the most notable example, but he also did well with Arvid Söderblom and Lukas Reichel.
The next major contracts for Davidson to work on will be for Philipp Kurashev and Wyatt Kaiser. Kurashev declined the Blackhawks’ contract offer last time around, went to arbitration and won a two-year contract with a $2.25 million cap hit. Kurashev’s production this season will likely determine how much more he can get on that number, but it’d be surprising if Davidson didn’t attempt to lock him up for longer. Kaiser’s negotiations will probably be easier because he doesn’t have arbitration rights.
There are a number of signs the Blackhawks are playing better hockey than a year ago. But the more simplistic and most important may be that Connor Bedard has the puck more and is spending more time in the offensive zone.
According to NHL Edge data, the puck was in the Blackhawks’ offensive zone 42.4 percent of the time Bedard was on the ice last season. That placed Bedard in the 62 percentile. This season, Bedard is in the 90th percentile with the puck being in the offensive zone at 46.2 percent.
Sportlogiq posted Friday on X that Bedard’s 2:28 offensive zone possession time in Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks was the highest in a game this season.
Bedard’s 2:28 of Offensive Zone Possession Time last night is the highest in a single game this season 📈🏒 https://t.co/n9VvkJhH4G
— Sportlogiq (@Sportlogiq) October 18, 2024
Those are all encouraging signs that Bedard, his line and the Blackhawks are heading in a positive direction.
(Photo of Connor Bedard: David Banks / USA Today)
