The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Libel notice aside, TSN ran the board on NHL trade deadline day

Human nature being what it is, TSN will be remembered longer for airing that slanderous tweet than it will for what it accomplished on Monday.

But make no mistake about it. Outside of possibly helping rewrite the online libel and slander laws, TSN accomplished a rather significant feat during its NHL trade deadline day coverage. Despite having no national NHL presence, despite facing the multi-headed hydra that is Rogers, TSN easily dominated the most-watched hockey gabfest in the land. In fact, it wasn't even close.

Over nine hours of coverage on a Monday morning and afternoon, when most people are supposedly working, TSN averaged 206,000 viewers per minute. In itself, that's not a huge number -- but over nine hours at a time of day when getting more than 60,000 viewers is considered success -- that's amazing.

And despite Rogers' all-encompassing NHL presence, it could muster only a 76,000 average in that period.

True, TSN's audience was 13 per cent lower than it was last year, but that can be attributed to a rather dull Monday of dealings. Much of the excitement was sapped by some big blockbusters the previous week. Monday was pretty much an anti-climax.

But despite that, there's no denying the power of this homegrown phenomenon. TSN's audience peaked at 491,000 at 3 p.m. In all, more than 2.3 million Canadians tuned in at some point and another 1.9 tuned in to TSN's digital platforms during the day.

So, if Rogers has all the national games, how did TSN do this?

For one, it had a running start. TSN created this event -- and some say there's a special corner in hell reserved for them as a result -- and has dominated it since Day One. For two, hockey fans still obviously trust the TSN hockey experts.

Thirdly, it isn't really accurate to say that TSN is out of the NHL game. After all, TSN has significant ties to the NHL through its regional deals, games that keep its panels in the forefront.

But still, with all the hype surrounding Rogers and its $5 billion hockey package, TSN surprised a lot of people by running away with this one.

As for Rogers, the week wasn't all bad news. While their trade day numbers paled in comparison to TSN's, they were up 26 per cent over last year and their digital audience of 615,000 more than doubled what last year produced.

It's a continuing sign that Rogers attempts to dominate the hockey world are going to need more time. In addition, Hockey Night In Canada broke the two-million mark for the fourth straight week and Sunday's Leafs-Capitals game produced a strong audience.

In fact, it even beat out the Brier, which produced its usual solid ratings on TSN.

That likely won't be the case next week, though, when curling's playoffs and final will likely challenge the HNIC prime-time game.

Here are the most-watched sports events from the past weekend and Monday, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

1. NHL, Leafs at Canadiens, Saturday, CBC: 2,100,000

2. NHL, Leafs at Capitals, Sunday, City: 748,000

3. NHL, Sens-Sharks/Blues-Oilers, Saturday, CBC: 726,000

4. Curling, Brier Draw 1, Saturday, TSN: 680,000

5. Curling, Brier Draw 5, Sunday, TSN: 644,000

6. Curling, Brier Draw 4, Sunday, TSN: 629,000

7. Curling, Brier Draw 2, Saturday, TSN: 621,000

8. NHL, Hockey Night In Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 611,000

9. Curling, Brier Draw 3, Sunday, TSN: 565,000

10. NHL, Blues at Canucks, Sunday, Sportsnet Pacific: 450,000

11. NHL, Hometown Hockey pre-game, Sunday, City: 309,000

12. Auto racing, NASCAR Quiktrip 500, Saturday, TSN: 302,000

13. NHL, Red Wings at Predators, Saturday, Sportsnet: 272,000

14. NBA, Raptors at Knicks, Saturday, Sportsnet: 262,000

15. NBA, Warriors at Raptors, Friday, TSN: 253,000

16. PGA, Honda Classic final round, Sunday, Global: 239,000

17. NHL, Trade Deadline Day, Monday, TSN: 206,000

18. NHL, Trade Deadline preview, Sunday, TSN: 191,000

19, Soccer, Sunderland at Manchester United, Saturday, Sportsnet: 162,000

20. NHL, Flames at Islanders, Friday, Sportsnet West: 146,000

21. Auto racing, NASCAR Hisense 250, Saturday, TSN: 136,000

22. Speed skating, world sprint championships, Saturday, CBC: 128,000

23. Speed skating, world sprint championships, Sunday, CBC: 120,00

24. CHL, Guelph at London, Friday, Sportsnet: 112,000

25. Skiing, men's World Cup downhill, Saturday, CBC: 106,000

THREE TO WATCH

Saturday, bloody Saturday: MLS will get their fix starting this weekend and fans of ever-struggling Toronto FC will get a hint as to whether this season is a "bloody big deal" or another bloody big mess. TFC kicks off the 2015 season against the Vancouver Whitecaps in B.C., Saturday (6 p.m. ET, TSN4.)

Play ball: Another Toronto team trying to get back on track will be in action this week as the ever-disappointing Toronto Blue Jays get started on trying to end the Major Leagues' longest playoff-free streak. The once-again revamped Jays take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in Grapefruit League action, hoping it doesn't result in them getting squirted in the eye. Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, Sportsnet.

The big sweep: The title of Canada's best men's curling team will be decided as the Brier winds down. (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, TSN.)