Whoa, the Canucks series won’t be on CBC?
Photo Credit Jeff Vinnick/Behind the Lens

So the playoff schedule is set, and the Canucks will open their first round series against the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM Pacific Standard Time. In an interesting and somewhat surpising move, the CBC, which gets to pick the Canadian broadcast rights to the two series they want most before TSN gets their first selection, decided to pass on the Pacific Time Zone series between the Sharks and the Canucks. So the CBC picked the Toronto versus Boston series and all-Canadian Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series between the Habs and the Senators instead, with TSN happily snapping up the Canucks series. 

Read past the jump.

Here’s the full broadcast schedule per Vox.

I’m sure there are Canucks fans out there feeling slighted by the CBC on this Sunday night, but seriously don’t worry about it. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that the network would’ve faced a whole whack of scrutiny if they’d passed on a series with two Canadian teams, and two series in prime-time (for the East coast audience, at least) just made better business sense. Also it’s worth remembering that the Canucks have been a cornerstone of the network’s playoff coverage for years on end now.

Plus there’s a wicked consolation prize. Just think about it: Chris Cuthbert and Ray Ferraro in the booth for a playoff series between the Sharks and the Canucks. It doesn’t get any better than that.