Thrashers to have 2 national TV games

The Thrashers will appear twice on national cable TV in the United States this season, according to schedules the NHL released Thursday.

The Oct. 28 home game against Philadelphia and the March 16 home game agaisnt Washington are both exclusive Versus games of the week. That’s more U.S. TV exposure than eight other NHL teams will get. The Thrashers also will make four appearances on Canadian cable network TSN and four on French language network RDS. The NHL announced its schedule of games on NBC and Versus and Canadian networks CBC, RDS and TSN. (They’re available at nhl.com.)

NBC will televise the New Year’s Day game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks from Wrigley Field and the Jan. 18 game between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Its other eight matchups, all on Sundays, remain to be announced. Versus will televise 56 regular-season games, including eight each involving the Rangers, Penguins, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres and Minnesota Wild. CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada has a 69-game schedule, and the network also will show two day games. RDS carries all 82 Montreal Canadiens games plus 29 other games to be announced.

Other than the Canadiens, the teams making the most national TV appearances are the Toronto Maple Leafs (50 games on one of the five networks, including 24 on CBC and 17 on TSN) and the Ottawa Senators (31 games). The least-televised teams: the Columbus Blue Jackets, with three games, the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, with four each, and the Nashville Predators, with five.

— Mike Knobler