Edmonton Oilers Broadcast Crew Gets Inexplicably Shafted in Calgary

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Liam McCormick
November 3, 2024 (8:31 PM)

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The Edmonton Oilers visited the Calgary Flames tonight for a great battle of Alberta matchup, but for some reason, the Oilers broadcast crew isn't along for the game.

At the moment, the Oilers are a much bigger team than the Calgary Flames by every metric. The Oilers were just named as a top ten valued franchise in the NHL and they're a perennial playoff team, while the Flames were in the bottom half of league values and are in a rebuilding year. Oilers analyst Alan Mitchell noticed this disparity, and wondered why it's the Flames broadcast crew instead of Edmonton's.

The Calgary Flames are an important NHL team too, but at the moment the Oilers would be the team that deserves national priority for the mentioned reasons.

Fans also called out the lack of a real customized intermission panel for a big rivalry game like the Battle of Alberta. It could be entertaining to have rival team reporters on, like Bob Stauffer and Eric Francis, but Sportsnet can't manage that either.

Edmonton won the game 4-2 on a three point night from Leon Draisaitl, but the broadcast chose Anthony Mantha as the «player of the game» after scoring a tip goal. Really, what's that?

The Oilers have a beloved local broadcast crew that always seems to get the short end of the stick with national broadcasts. Jack Michaels is absolutely electric as the Oilers play by play caller, and his chemistry with colour commentator Louie DeBrusk has been a great combo for Oilers fans for years. Oilers fans were noticeably missing their usual broadcasters for a big rivalry game, but honestly, it's noting they're not used to at this point.

Oilers announcer Jack Michales himself even knows this, and suggests fans to synch up their radios with their television to hear the call from the local crew. Hardcore Oilers fans may have even tried this before, especially for playoff games.

For years Oilers fans have petitioned Sportsnet to switch the playoff broadcast crew to be Jack Michaels, and it's also national games like these that Oilers fans just want to hear their usual hyped up commentator. Hopefully at some point in the future, the networks finally give the fans what they want. It may help the declining ratings.