Best play by play teams?

[RoyIsALegend]

My team(Colorado) has to be one of the worst.

Marc Moser(play by play) and Mark Rycroft(color) are complete corporate shills who just push anything Altitude want them to. There’s an agenda and it’s painful to listen to.

I enjoy:

St. Louis
Detroit
Carolina

Off the top of my head.

 

[Johnny HFBOARDS]

Krak PBP guys were good vs Jets

 

[Guttersniped]

The New York Islanders arguably have the best young(ish) PBP guy in the NHL w/ Brendan Burke but there’s some negatives: 1) Grampa Goring can ramble at times w/ the color 2) it’s the Islanders.

 

[RedRocking]

Surprised by the Caps love in here. Joe B is awesome on the booming “SCOOORE - Alex Ovechkin!” calls you hear in all the promos.

Locker, OTOH, really annoys me at this point. His whole folksy “gee, isn’t hockey neat!” gets boring and repetitive. But, that probably happens to anyone you’ve listened to for 20+ yrs. Together, they’re an enthusiastic, professional team.

Off the top of my head
Like:
- Florida (let’s go home bay-bee!)
- Rangers (it’s a power play goal!)
- Carolina (solid team, tho Tripp Tracy sounds like he wants to fellate the Canes players)
- Detroit (cool old school vibe)
- Oilers (he might try to axe-murder you, but damn if Jack Michaels doesn’t crack me the f*** up)

Dislike:
- Toronto (sounds like Cuthbert is doing a weird SNL bit pronouncing names: out in front! It’s NEEEE-lander! Mitch mARRner, he’s out in front!)
- Avs (sounds like a bad 80s sports movie)

 

[pb1300]

I do not know names, but I wish the 2nd pairing for ESPN did the Finals, I think the final minutes and seconds would have sounded so much better.

 

[howkie]

If Jets just could change the color guy.........
I like Red Wings, Blues,
Pittsburg still as bad as before? I mean they were Avs bad, but maybe has changed?
I actully liked a certain Boston guy (wont say his name), beacuse I listen to him like I listen to your old drunk uncle at a party

 

[Else Ermine]

My team(Colorado) has to be one of the worst.

Marc Moser(play by play) and Mark Rycroft(color) are complete corporate shills who just push anything Altitude want them to. There’s an agenda and it’s painful to listen to.

Yeah, Avs broadcasts seem like propaganda-fests from start to finish, both in the studio and during the game.
It's more than just biased takes on refereeing decisions. Moser does the same inert and lifeless "scores" for opposition goals as Mike Haynes did before him; Avs players shooting right into the goalie's crest counts as them being robbed; Avs star players are the best in the world, or if not they're the most underrated, and so on. Honestly, it's weird as an outsider to watch because it's all just so constant. Surely it has to be a policy of Altitude to be that way?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Avs are bad
Wings crew is bad - Redmond the most

 

[jani]

So far this season: Jets good, Avs bad

 

[SJSharksfan39]

Surprised by the Caps love in here. Joe B is awesome on the booming “SCOOORE - Alex Ovechkin!” calls you hear in all the promos.

I've always enjoyed Joe Beninati, going back to his days with Versus/NBC Sports. I just think the chemistry is fun, in a "he lifts up Locker" kind of way.

I do not know names, but I wish the 2nd pairing for ESPN did the Finals, I think the final minutes and seconds would have sounded so much better.

Bob Wischusan and AJ Melysko I'm thinking. Yeah, Bob Wischusan should be the head guy. He is ESPN's best commentator for hockey.

I know this is an unpopular opinion on this board, but I've never liked Cuthbert. I just find the voice too raspy and nasally for my tastes, and considering he does all the Maple Leaf games pretty much, sometimes it makes me miss Jim Hughson.

 

[DeltaSwede]

Feels like most fans will enjoy their guys. Evidently by the posts in this thread. Canucks fans have been spoiled over the years. Both Hughson and Shorthouse should be in some hypothetical broadcasting hall-of-fame.

Jim Hughson 2000-2007
John Shorthouse 2007 onwards

Tom Larscheid did many years a long side Shorthouse and that combo was spectacular.

John Garrett has been both Hughsons and Shorthouses color guy up until 2022/2023. Since then it's been split between Dave Tomlinson and Ray Ferraro. Hoping Ferraro takes over fully.

Legends.

 

[RedRocking]

I've always enjoyed Joe Beninati, going back to his days with Versus/NBC Sports. I just think the chemistry is fun, in a "he lifts up Locker" kind of way.



Bob Wischusan and AJ Melysko I'm thinking. Yeah, Bob Wischusan should be the head guy. He is ESPN's best commentator for hockey.

I know this is an unpopular opinion on this board, but I've never liked Cuthbert. I just find the voice too raspy and nasally for my tastes, and considering he does all the Maple Leaf games pretty much, sometimes it makes me miss Jim Hughson.

Remember the ECF when Malkin was going berserk on the Canes, and scored some crazy backhand goal and Joe B said “OH MY WORD!” That was so funny and great.

I agree that Wischusen is def ESPN’s best pbp guy.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

So I was out of country and watching a live stream of the wings and leafs game. But it was the wings feed and I started to really like listening to their play by play team.

At first it was strange because I’m used to different voices but in a 2-3 periods I learned a lot of little anecdotes and stories about the wings and their players. It was HHOF night so there was cool Datsyuk stories as well.

One was how Datsyuk would be in the gym right after the games and how powerful his legs were.

I think you guys have a great crew to listen to in Detroit. Does your fan base like them overall?

What other teams have really good play by play teams that standout ?

Yes Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond are beloved by Wings fans. There's some homerism as they're a local crew but it's not too bad. And as a former player in the 70s Redmond is biased against refs more than anything.

For the last few years they've been the only good parts of games for long stretches. They've been calling Wings games together since 1998 and before that it was Redmond with Dave Strader on play by play, who was also fantastic. (RIP)

 

[SladeWilson23]

Bon Wishusen is amazing.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Jim Jackson for the Flyers has a great voice and can call a good game, but he's incredibly insipid and aggrieved. Gorilla lust for BIG HITS and FIGHTS, yet never acknowledges any of the game's subtleties. Every close offside call is presented as a suspicious slight to the team and he sugarcoats every f***up. With no knowledge you'd think the franchise was a constant victim of cruel fortune. Brian Boucher sparsely brings charisma or insight to the table, Jackson is really the dominant voice. Really bad broadcast overall, next to no analysis or context because every stoppage is devoted to a corporate tie-in.

Which is unfortunate, because Jackson is excellent on the occasional national broadcast he gets...liberated from having to carry water for the home team, he's a superb broadcaster.

I'm waiting to find the NHL's equivalent of the New York Mets broadcast booth...incredibly funny, incredibly insightful. I learn more about baseball from a single Mets game than I do in an entire season watching my own team.

 

[barkovcanfinnish]

The Red Wings have always had a solid broadcast team. Sucks that they’ve had to call one of my most hated teams for my entire life () but they do a great job.

San Jose is usually pretty good too, but it’s been lacking in recent years. Might also be that the team itself has been really bad.

Nashville’s play by play guy is pretty good. I like his energy.

Colorado would be better if they weren’t so disgustingly biased haha

 

[broncoitis]

Mike Maniscalco has had the unenviable task of following Forslund for the Hurricanes broadcasts. He has grown into it very well.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Pierre Houde and Marc Dennis , sadly it's the end of an era of French broadcasting in quebec , TVA sport is a joke

 

[NYRfan85]

Sometimes, depending on the opponent, I'll watch the other team's feed when they play the Rangers, just because I enjoy their PBP/commentary (Sam Rosen is a legend, but I like to switch it up sometimes).

My top 5, in no particular order:

- Ottawa (Gord Miller is awesome, love when he called games for NBC)
- San Jose (Randy Hahn has great energy. His calls during the Game 7 comeback vs Vegas are incredible)
- Washington (Joe Beninati really gets into it)
- Carolina (I like Mike Maniscalco's energy. Can do without Tripp, but Mike makes up for it)
- NY Rangers (my team, Sam Rosen is a legend, especially when he was paired with John Davidson)

It's also no contest that Colorado's team is the worst in the league. I cannot stand listening to Mark Moser whine and cry over every Avs penalty or goal allowed. He's such a homer in the worst way.

 

[OldCraig71]

Brian Mudryk has to be at the bottom of the pile. He must be doing games for free for TSN; there's no other explanation. It is bearable only when Mike Johnson is paired with him.

Dan Robertson is probably the best that few have heard of outside Montreal, he was the TSN radio announcer and did some TV for TSN Habs before getting the gig in Winnipeg. That guy is good.

 

[GRob83]

Joe Beninati is superb. He covers a lot of lacrosse games and has been on Orioles and Wizards games before as well.

 

[John Price]

caps TV crew is exceptional

 

[knuck]

Caps = best
Avs = worst

They're really polar opposites in how they call games. Caps crew make the game more exciting and lack bias in how they call games, but I've noticed that completely changes when Wilson is involved.

Avs crew is just terrible in general. Unprofessional when the other team scores or is winning and give almost no commentary on the other teams playstyle, players or how they're doing on the season.

I hate the PBP guy so much. When Mack scores he screams his name across continents but when the other team scores he sounds like he just woke up and saw it's cloudly outside. Just barely any reaction.

 

[Enga Olly]

Cuthbert/Simpson are fine
Miller/Johnson are good
That Monday Night Amazon crew are good

that Avs crew - don't know the names, ruin the game, makes the games unwatchable unless you mute the tv. So unprofessional

My favorite being a Leafs fan is the untouchable Joe Bowen. Why oh why can't we have a separate channel that shows all the Leaf games with Joe and Ralph calling the games - it's what LeafTV should have been. But strictly subscription based so all the Leaf haters wouldn't get to hear the gold that Joe and Ralph lay down every night.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

This might be an unpopular opinion or bias showing but I think hockey has some of the better broadcast teams compared to other sports. There are only a handful of local broadcast teams that I really can’t stand. ESPN also has some ass crews, unfortunately.

Really going to miss Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti calling Rangers games. Sam is a legend and I can’t explain why but there’s something comforting listening to him call a game.