NHL SCHEDULE CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE; SEASON STARTS OCTOBER 1

          The NHL released its schedule for the '99-2000 season,
     and the CP's Bill Beacon writes the league will open a week
     earlier than a year ago, with a tribute to Wayne Gretzky in
     Edmonton in one of two games scheduled for Opening Night on
     October 1 (CP, 7/15). In Edmonton, Terry Jones wonders why
     Gretzky's tribute isn't the only game on the schedule for
     Opening Night: "Was it too much to ask?  A stand-alone game
     at the start of the season to honour Wayne Gretzky? ... It
     tells you where Edmonton, and Canada for that matter, really
     fits in to the NHL's big picture."  The Rangers-Oilers is
     joined with the Penguins-Stars.  NHL COO Steve Solomon: "In
     the U.S., discussions with a certain number of TV entities
     resulted in the opinion that, as important as the Edmonton
     game was, they'd follow it as a news event.  They felt that
     two U.S. teams, one featuring the player Gretzky threw the
     torch to, Jaromir Jagr, and the Stanley Cup champions, was
     what they wanted on opening night."  Jones: "Blame ESPN? 
     Blame the NHL!" (EDMONTON SUN, 7/15). 
          JUGGLING THE SCHEDULES IN THE AIR: CBS SportsLine's
     Michael Happy examines the NHL schedule-making process, and
     VP/Broadcasting Glenn Adamo says, "At one point, we were
     working on three schedules simultaneously. From the time
     that we found out Pittsburgh was staying, we were about 70
     percent through the schedule.  And we had to finish the last
     30 percent -- probably the most critical 30 percent -- in
     pretty short order" (CBS SportsLine, 7/15). 
          TV: ESPN's 27-game NHL schedule will kick off on
     October 1 with the Penguins-Stars.  The schedule will
     feature 22 exclusive regular-season telecasts.  ESPN2 is
     increasing its NHL coverage by 33% by broadcasting 102
     regular-season games, beginning October 5.  ABC's NHL
     coverage begins with the 2000 All-Star Game from Toronto on
     February 6 (ESPN).  Predators President Jack Diller was
     upset with one national TV appearance on ESPN2 for his team:
     "I think absolutely we expected more. ... The NHL has taken
     great pride in what's happened here, and it seems pretty
     stupid not to expose the rest of the country to it."  But
     ESPN spokesperson Dan Quinn noted the team's 7:00pm CT game
     time "doesn't fit naturally" with the net's schedule and
     added the team "is a very young franchise. ... It's going to
     take some time, and maybe some playoff wins, before they get
     more of a national following" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 7/15).