A few schedule observations

Just a few things that stuck out to me about this years Avalanche schedule:

• It appears that the December 7th game against the Florida Panthers will not be televised by Altitude. Since it won't be a nationally televised game, that means the only way to see it will be via the Panthers feed on Center Ice.
• The Avalanche have 14 sets of back-to-back games this year, but none of them involve consecutive games at home. As a fan who no longer lives in Denver, I would love to have the chance to come back for a quick weekend visit and catch more than one game. I'd love to see at least one Saturday-Sunday home series during the season. Since the lockout, the Avs have had 4 sets of home back-to-backs. Three of those were in the final week of the season ('06, '07, '09) and the other was a Friday-Saturday set with Carolina and Detroit last fall.
• I think it's interesting that 4 of the 5 games that will be televised on Versus are in the first 17 games of the season. The fifth is game 66 in March. Did the execs at Versus try to feature the Avalanche early in the season because they expect them to be trailing in the standings later in the season?
• I'm not at all surprised that the Avalanche did not get any games on NBC this year. NBC only broadcasts games on Sundays, and the Avs' only Sunday games in 2011 are the last two weekends of the season against the Flames and Oilers. Aside from that, NBC and ESPN have always looked for games against the Red Wings to put on national TV. The Avs last game against Detroit this year in on January 10, two weeks before NBC starts its regular broadcast schedule.

Any thoughts?

As a side note, does anyone else find it a little strange that someone (Colby Cohen) will be wearing Steve Moore's number this year? I'm not suggesting that 36 should be retired or anything like that, but it just feels weird.