Good Morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans and people who enjoy creepy pictures of Mickey Mouse in the Stanley Cup.

The news we’ve ben expecting officially came out yesterday: The NHL and Disney have inked a huge seven year deal to give EXPN and ESPN+ broadcasting rights for the next seven years at $400 million per season.

NHL’s ‘unprecedented’ deal with ESPN has sharp precedent in multibillion-dollar Rogers deal

NBC Sports Network has announced it’s shutting down and they were the national broadcaster for the NHL in the United States, so moving back to ESPN was a natural move. This gives them a bigger reach in the US as ESPN is in almost every household where NBCSN was still a fringe network, even after the third rebranding from Outdoor Life to VS to NBCSN.

A quick summary:

  • 25 Regular season games on ABC
  • Four Stanley Cup Finals on ABC
  • 75 National game son ESPN+
  • ESPN+ takes over streaming NHL games in the US and NHL.tv shuts down
  • Games will also e available on Disney streaming service Hulu./

The door is also open for other broadcasters to snag national games so some could remain on NBC as well. Regional networks like Altitude TV, MSG, and Fox Sports will still have local broadcasts.

Just moving to ESPN is a big enough deal for the league, but making sure they still have games and playoffs available on over the air channels was a must have. There’s jsut one question left:

With Disney back in the picture can Anaheim go back to being the Mighty Ducks now?

Just up the coast from the Disney HQ in Burbank, the San Jose Sharks are working with Evander Kane to terminate his contract.

Report: Evander Kane, Sharks mulling contract termination in bankruptcy court

Kane has some financial problems happening with now - he filed for bankruptcy, listing almost $27million in debts against only $10 million in assets. With $29 million left on his deal it seems like working out a payment deal would be easiest but...all I know about financials is I get paid and then it’s all gone to bills. The good folks at Yahoo! sports explain it up there in that link.

Moving from the Bay Area to the desert, in Las Vegas it looks like the Golden Knights will be without Alex Pietrangelo for a while after the defender got hurt blocking a shot.

Pietrangelo out for 'foreseeable future' for Golden Knights

In happier news goaltender Joseph Woll has been sent down to the Toronto Marlies. Why is this happy? Well it means Jack Campbell is ready to stay on the roster, and is a possible sign that Wayne Simmonds is on his way back to the team as well. Hurrah!

Now, some other news.

The Edmonton Oilers got the vaccine to defeat the sicko Sens, beating them 7-1 with reigning Hart Trophy winner Leon Draisaitl leading the way scoring 5 points.

Game Recap: Edmonton 7, Ottawa 1

The only other North Division game last night saw the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1. See Maple Leafs? This is how you take care of bottom feeder teams.

Canadiens @ Canucks game recap: Montreal steals Vancouver’s lunch money

Artemi Panarin has returned to practicing with the New York Rangers, after stepping away for some time.

Artemiy Panarin Returns to Practice

Nashville Predators Dante Fabbro was suspended two games for elbowing Hurricanes Brock McGinn.

And that is that.

Enjoy your day everyone, it’s supposed to be a hot one!

From The Branches