from Dave Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,
Rogers Media cut a wide swath through its hockey broadcast personnel on Monday, dismissing at least six on-air personalities including Glenn Healy, who was the between-the-benches analyst on Hockey Night in Canada’s No. 1 crew.
P.J. Stock, Billy Jaffe, Chantal Desjardins, Corey Hirsch and Leah Hextall are also gone in a housecleaning prompted by a disastrous miscue by Rogers’s upper management regarding Canadians’ appetite for hockey, a mistake compounded by mediocre play from Canada’s NHL teams. And the 5 p.m. NHL pregame show on Saturdays on Sportsnet 360 was cancelled.
There was no immediate word on further job losses, although company insiders were expecting a larger number of behind-the-scenes people to be dropped as well. The bad news came just a few days after word leaked that George Stroumboulopoulos was fired as the main host on Hockey Night in Canada and would be replaced by his predecessor, Ron MacLean.
Also gone from Hockey Night in Canada is Damien Cox, who appeared in the second-intermission news and discussion segment with Elliotte Friedman. He moves to Toronto radio as Bob McCown’s permanent co-host on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Prime Time Sports. Surviving the Hockey Night purge are Friedman, Kelly Hrudey and Nick Kypreos.
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