The Athletic ranks the NHL local TV broadcasters - Carolina #1 - Boston #31

[Fenway]

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The 2020 NHL broadcast rankings: The best and worst markets...

31. Boston Bruins
The broadcast: New England Sports Network (NESN) carries Bruins games, with Jack Edwards on play-by-play and Andy Brickley doing colour.

30. Pittsburgh Penguins
The broadcast: AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh carries Penguins games, with Steve Mears on play-by-play and Bob Errey doing colour.

29. Minnesota Wild
The broadcast: Fox Sports North (FSN) carries Wild games, with Anthony LaPanta on play-by-play. Colour duties are split between multiple commentators: Mike Greenlay, Lou Nanne, Wes Walz and Ryan Carter.

28. Colorado Avalanche
The broadcast: Altitude Sports carries Avalanche games, with Marc Moser on play-by-play and Peter McNab doing colour.

27. Anaheim Ducks
The broadcast: Prime Ticket/Fox Sports West (FSW) carries Ducks games, with John Ahlers on play-by-play and Brian Hayward doing colour.

26. Edmonton Oilers
The broadcast: Rogers Sportsnet West carries Oilers games, with Kevin Quinn on play-by-play and colour duties split between Louie DeBrusk and Drew Remenda.

25. Calgary Flames
The broadcast: Rogers Sportsnet West carries Flames games, with Rick Ball on play-by-play and either Kelly Hrudey or Cassie Campbell-Pascall doing colour.

24. Florida Panthers
The broadcast: Fox Sports Florida (FSF) carries Panthers games, with Steve Goldstein on play-by-play and Randy Moller doing colour.

23. Detroit Red Wings
The broadcast: Fox Sports Detroit (FSD) carries Red Wings games, with Ken Daniels on play-by-play and Mickey Redmond, Chris Osgood and Larry Murphy rotating duties on colour.

22. Toronto Maple Leafs
The broadcast: It’s complicated. TSN and Sportsnet split the regional broadcast rights, and the Maple Leafs are also a fixture on the Canadian national broadcast schedule. Few hockey fans see as irregular a stream of commentators.

• Sportsnet national (“Hockey Night in Canada”): Jim Hughson on play-by-play, Craig Simpson on colour;
• Sportsnet regional: John Bartlett on play-by-play, Greg Millen on colour;
• TSN regional: Gord Miller/Chris Cuthbert rotate play-by-play, Ray Ferraro on colour.

21. Nashville Predators
The broadcast: Fox Sports Tennessee carries Predators games, with Willy Daunic on play-by-play and Chris Mason doing colour.

20. New Jersey Devils
The broadcast: MSG Plus carries Devils games, with Steve Cangialosi on play-by-play and Ken Daneyko doing colour.

19. Buffalo Sabres
The broadcast: MSG Western New York carries Sabres games, with Rick Jeanneret and Dan Dunleavy on play-by-play and Rob Ray doing colour.

18. Columbus Blue Jackets
The broadcast: Fox Sports Ohio carries Blue Jackets games, with Jeff Rimer on play-by-play and Jody Shelley doing colour.

17. Arizona Coyotes
The broadcast: Fox Sports Arizona carries Coyotes games, with Matt McConnell on play-by-play and Tyson Nash doing colour.

16. Washington Capitals
The broadcast: NBC Sports Washington carries Capitals games, with Joe Beninati on play-by-play and Craig Laughlin doing colour.

15. Winnipeg Jets
The broadcast: TSN carries Jets games, with Dennis Beyak on play-by-play and Kevin Sawyer and Ray Ferraro doing colour.

14. Philadelphia Flyers
The broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia carries Flyers games, with Jim Jackson on play-by-play and Keith Jones and Bill Clement doing colour.

13. New York Rangers
The broadcast: MSG Plus carries Rangers games, with Sam Rosen as the primary play-by-play man and John Giannone filling in as needed. Joe Micheletti does colour.

12. Vancouver Canucks
The broadcast: Rogers Sportsnet Pacific carries Canucks games, with John Shorthouse on play-by-play and John Garrett doing colour.

11. New York Islanders
The broadcast: MSG Plus carries Islanders games, with Brendan Burke on play-by-play and Butch Goring doing colour.

10. Los Angeles Kings
The broadcast: Fox Sports West carries Kings games, with Alex Faust on play-by-play and Jim Fox doing colour.

9. Chicago Blackhawks
The broadcast: NBC Sports Chicago carries Blackhawks games, with Pat Foley on play-by-play and Ed Olczyk and Steve Konroyd doing colour.

8. Tampa Bay Lightning
The broadcast: Fox Sports Sun carries Lightning games, with Rick Peckham on play-by-play and Brian Engblom doing colour.

7. Montreal Canadiens
The broadcast: The concept behind this survey was simple: to try and identify which markets were best-served by their regional broadcasts. It breaks down when a market has multiple productions, and Montreal’s bilingual status makes it most complicated of all.

Here we’re going to confine our look to the English broadcasts, undoubtedly to the disappointment of both Francophones and the various “I watch it in French. I don’t understand French” Anglophones who chimed in. There simply weren’t enough comments on the French broadcasts in this survey to offer a reasonable estimate.

That leaves two productions for consideration:

• TSN regional: Bryan Mudryk and Dan Robertson on play-by-play, Mike Johnson, Dave Poulin and Craig Button rotating on colour;
• Sportsnet national: Dave Randorf or John Bartlett on play-by-play, Garry Galley doing colour.

6. San Jose Sharks
The broadcast: NBC Sports California carries Sharks games, with Randy Hahn on play-by-play and Jamie Baker, Bret Hedican and Kendall Coyne Schofield doing colour.

5. Ottawa Senators
The broadcast: TSN carries Senators regional games, taking the same rotating analysts approach to Ottawa that they do elsewhere. Gord Miller and Chris Cuthbert provide play-by-play, while at least four different analysts have done colour: Ray Ferraro, Jamie McLennan, Mike Johnson and Dave Poulin.

4. St. Louis Blues
The broadcast: Fox Sports Midwest carries Blues games, with John Kelly on play-by-play and Darren Pang doing colour.

3. Vegas Golden Knights
The broadcast: AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain carries Golden Knights games, with Dave Goucher on play-by-play and Shane Hnidy doing colour.

2. Dallas Stars
The broadcast: Fox Sports Southwest carries Stars games, with Josh Bogorad on play-by-play and Daryl Reaugh doing colour.

1. Carolina Hurricanes
The broadcast: Fox Sports Carolinas carries Hurricanes games, with John Forslund on play-by-play and Tripp Tracy doing colour.

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[robertmac43]

Do Bruin fans actually like Jack Edwards? Or is it one of those things where even people from Boston find him over the top?

My guess is it's some where in the middle?

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

John Forslund is excellent, but Tripp Tracy drags him down quite a bit. I think the #1 team should be one whose PBP guy and color commentator are top notch.

Vegas' broadcast is atrocious. I understand they're probably not taking the sleazy commercials into account here, but even then, there's no chance in hell that they're deserving of this ranking.

San Jose's broadcast might be worthy of this ranking if it literally never featured Jamie Baker (or Kendall Coyne Schofield), but as it stands I don't even think they're in the top half of the league.

Lastly, I don't understand why Toronto and Ottawa are so far apart when they share a lot of the same guys. I'd personally have Toronto's broadcast much higher as I really like Hughson.

 

[Kcb12345]

I'd assume the Stars are only 2nd cause of the weird calls Daryl Reaugh makes

Stars board hates our broadcast team but I don't mind them although sometimes they're annoying which I'd guess is the case for any broadcast team you listen to often

Also am I the only one who doesn't like Forslund?

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

St. Louis is too high, their guys suck.

Honestly, I wouldn’t trade Ottawa’s team for anybody else’s. If they had a worse team I don’t think I would watch many games. Cuthbert is classic and Miller adds a ton of excitement.

 

[Fenway]

Do Bruin fans actually like Jack Edwards? Or is it one of those things where even people from Boston find him over the top?

My guess is it's some where in the middle?

The Athletic - Boston - Athletic poll: Bruins broadcast voted worst in NHL

NESN has been showing the 2011 Cup run and it is apparent that Jack today pales to where he was 9 years ago.

The bigger issue in Boston is the Red Sox produce the games and the entire presentation pales to most RSN's. The Bruins own 20% of NESN but Jacobs is content on just collecting his share of 4,000,000 monthly subscribers.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

I don't trust the opinions of a man with no eyebrows.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

John Forslund is the absolute best in the business in my opinion so well deserved.

Little surprised to see our guys ranked that. Most people like Panger but I always got the impression they were less enamored with Kelly outside of STL.

 

[The Merchant]

Avs are too high.

 

[thedustman]

Panthers should be higher. Moller is better than 24th.

The sabres crew has damn near put me to sleep, but maybe it’s just the last few games i saw.

don’t think STL should be that high, as i could see a lotta folks finding pang annoying or jihn kelly run of the mill... but they do have good chemistry.

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

Leafs on TSN is great. Leafs on HNIC/Sportsnet is just baaaaaad.

 

[SotasicA]

The Blues team is terrible, especially Pang is obnoxious.

I always pick Sabres feed when watching them if Rick Jeanneret is on PBP. Not sure why they are ranked so low.

 

[5cotland]

13. New York Rangers
The broadcast: MSG Plus carries Rangers games, with Sam Rosen as the primary play-by-play man and John Giannone filling in as needed. Joe Micheletti does colour.

This actually goes on to say that the poll for NYR was actually hijacked by Islander fans hence they were down to 13th.

Islanders fans represent the single largest drag on this grade. Thirty-eight percent of out-of-market fans to rate this broadcast as one of the five worst in the league listed the Islanders as their primary team, and they want everyone to know that they feel Rosen is overly exuberant in his love of Henrik Lundqvist.

 

[sabremike]

The Blues team is terrible, especially Pang is obnoxious.

I always pick Sabres feed when watching them if Rick Jeanneret is on PBP. Not sure why they are ranked so low.

When I saw how low the guy ranked the Sabres broadcasts with RJ I had the same reaction as when I saw someone in the wrestling forum claim Daniel Bryan is overrated: This person's opinion is not worth taking seriously at all.

 

[CanadienShark]

Good. Jack Edwards is brutal.

 

[tsujimoto74]

When I saw how low the guy ranked the Sabres broadcasts with RJ I had the same reaction as when I saw someone in the wrestling forum claim Daniel Bryan is overrated: This person's opinion is not worth taking seriously at all.

RJ is past his prime. He's still got some good calls in him, but he messes up or omits names pretty frequently now because he can't quite keep up, and Dunleavy (when he calls the games) is just boring. The best part of the Sabres broadcast is intermission with Marty Biron.

 

[goldenbladz1]

I agree with the posters who like Gord Miller he is great and yes Darren Pang sucks.

 

[bobholly39]

Pfft, what a cop-out for Montreal. I was curious how they'd look at the whole picture, and instead they ignored the french side lol.

Montreal has some of the better broadcasters, and some of the worst ones - so it's hard to say where we should end up (this is taking into account both languages).

 

[Spargon]

No broadcast team feels like a "Leafs regional" team, yes Bell and Rogers majority own them but they cater to a national audience but none of the broadcasters are Leafs homers or biased or anything. They will point out good or bad plays on either team and criticize when valid.

TSN with Gord Miller/Cuthbert and Ferrero is the best of the choices given.

Hughson and Simpson should live as play by play for the Sedins in their daily life. Henrik goes to the fridge, grabs the milk! passes it to Daniel! Daniel pours it on the cereal!!!!

 

[Merrrlin]

I really like Hughson.

This little tidbit is delicious, thank you

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Sens would be #1 if we still had drunk uncle Dennis Potvin doing color.

 

[txpd]

That list makes no logical sense. Jack Edwards and Brickley are national level. Not sure how Pat Foley and Eddie O are not too 5. That makes no sense. Forslund is great. Tracy sucks and with what they pay Forslund they cant afford a real analyst

 

[Voight]

The Blues team is terrible, especially Pang is obnoxious.

I always pick Sabres feed when watching them if Rick Jeanneret is on PBP. Not sure why they are ranked so low.

I've never liked Pang. I dont know what it is but I just dont like him.

 

[UnSandvich]

This actually goes on to say that the poll for NYR was actually hijacked by Islander fans hence they were down to 13th.

Cue my utter lack of surprise. The fact that they do that while supporting that idiot Butch Goring is par for the course for that fanbase

 

[BHD]

Tripp Tracey goes on tangents sometimes. Otherwise, they're great.