Articles in Hockey Media

Trade Deadline Plans For The NHL Network

03/07/2024 at 10:02am EST

via the NHL PR department,

NHL Network™ today announced it will air 11 consecutive hours of live NHL Trade Deadline coverage tomorrow, March 8. A simulcast of Sportsnet’s Hockey Central will begin the coverage at 10 a.m. ET, followed by a seven-hour trade deadline edition of NHL Tonight™ at 2 p.m. ET. Live analysis, interviews and updates from hosts Jamison Coyle and Jamie Hersch, and analysts Brian Boyle, E.J. Hradek, Mike Kelly and Dave Reid will be featured throughout the day. Trade Deadline content will be highlighted across NHL Network’s social media platforms tomorrow, including clips from NHL Tonight.

In addition to its NHL Trade Deadline coverage, NHL Network’s live game schedule, including four NHL Network Showcase™ telecasts presented by SAP will air throughout the rest of March. E.J. Hradek and Mike Johnson will call an NHL Network Showcase game presented by SAP next weekend, with the Buffalo Sabres at the Detroit Red Wings Saturday, March 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Kathryn Tappen Returns To The NHL Network

03/05/2024 at 10:02am EST

SECAUCUS, NJ (March 5, 2024) – NHL Network™ today announced that Kathryn Tappen has rejoined NHL Network as a studio host and reporter appearing across its programming. The veteran sports broadcaster will make her season debut on NHL Network’s NHL Now live at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 6 alongside Mike Rupp and Kevin Weekes.

Morning Line -Helene Elliott

02/27/2024 at 11:51am EST
When economic forces hit The Times hard enough for management to lay off more than 90 people and offer buyouts to others, I knew it was time for me to get off the merry-go-round, step back, and take time to heal. After 47 years as a sportswriter, the last 34-plus of those at The Times, I have taken a buyout. My last day will be Tuesday.

-Helene Elliott of the LA Times, where you can read more from Helene...

Jack Edwards On His Speech Issues

02/22/2024 at 8:56am EST

from Chad Finn of the Boston Globe at Bostondotcom,

The irony of his circumstances has not eluded Jack Edwards.

“The way I see it, two things work to my disadvantage,” says Edwards, who has been calling Bruins games on NESN since 2005 and as the exclusive play-by-play voice since 2007.

“The game is speeding up all the time. And I’m slowing down all the time.”

Anyone familiar with the work of the 66-year-old Edwards, particularly over the past couple of seasons, should understand his reference immediately.

He has sounded different in recent seasons. Slower. His speech is sometimes slurred. Certain words, unpredictably, require elongated enunciation.

Hockey is regarded by broadcasters as the most challenging sport to call, largely because of its rapid pace. Edwards, who has called hockey since his days at the University of New Hampshire, can sound as if he is stuck in a neutral-zone trap when he should be on a verbal breakaway.

It’s impossible not to notice, and it’s magnified if you have recently experienced the contrast of watching one of those vintage Bruins broadcasts — before Edwards’s speech pattern changed — that NESN often shows.

Edwards hasn’t discussed the change publicly until now. In part, he says, because his doctors remain mystified about what has happened.

continued

Watching The Stadium Series

02/21/2024 at 2:38pm EST

Video- Do You Miss This Voice?

02/20/2024 at 9:20am EST

An Alternate Broadcast

02/14/2024 at 9:55am EST

from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

On Wednesday night — for one night at least, with TNT televising the Panthers-Penguins game — those worlds will collide and create a new frontier for the podcast. Bissonnette will walk off the NHL on TNT set at the network’s Atlanta headquarters, stroll over to the Inside the NBA studio next door and take part in the first-ever Spittin’ Chiclets “altcast,” with Whitney, R.A. and sports betting expert and former hockey player Matt Murley.

Spittin’ Chiclets podcasts are known for R-rated language and conversations more fitting of a stereotypical NHL locker room than a national TV broadcast. Because of the language, in particular, for the live altcast on truTV and Max, there will be a Chiclets-specific seven-second delay, just in case things go off the rails.

As the game proceeds, the hosts will offer their takes on everything happening on and off the ice during the game while welcoming special guests throughout the night.

“It’s Chiclets’ version of (ESPN’s) ManningCast, but we’re kind of in our own little lane,” Bissonnette says.

more ($)

The Story Of Jesus Lopez, The Spanish PxP Voice Of The Vegas Golden Knights

02/12/2024 at 10:07am EST

from Amalie Benjamin of the NHL's website,

In the snippet of video, shaky and shot diagonally and not entirely in focus, the voice comes through loud and clear and full of emotion.

“That’s my dad,” Jorge Lopez yells on the crowded Las Vegas Strip with his phone trained on a passing bus. “That’s my dad right there.”

Jesus Lopez, the Spanish language play-by-play broadcaster for the Vegas Golden Knights, has unfurled a Mexican flag atop the bus and is shaking it as his son hits record. It is days after the Golden Knights captured the Stanley Cup last June, besting the Florida Panthers in five games in the best-of-7 Final, and earning the franchise’s first title six years into its existence.

“It’s as if he had a second life,” Jorge said, marveling at who his father is, at what he’s done.

It’s as unlikely a story as there is in hockey, that of the Golden Knights and that of Lopez, whose background in hockey was nonexistent when he came to the United States from Mexico, when the threats and violence, which he believes came from La Familia Michoacan, a Mexican cartel, altered the course of his life and his family.

continued

Afternoon Line -Stan Fischler

02/01/2024 at 2:14pm EST
"Hockey motivates me, I am (a) 14-year-old disguised as a 91-year-old."

-Stan Fischler. Steven Scheer of Reuters has more on The Maven.

Video- Call To Duty

01/18/2024 at 10:08am EST

via the NHL's YouTube page,

Watch all the best moments from the NHL on TNT desk crew's emergency game-call for the Detroit Red Wings vs Florida Panthers.

Amazon Prime Will Stream Some NHL Content

01/17/2024 at 10:50am EST

via the Sportico piece,

Amazon will make a minority investment in the company as part of the proposal. It will use its Prime Video platform to offer direct-to-consumer access to MLB, NBA and NHL games, including pre-game and post-game content of its various RSNs on a local basis. The size of the investment and other details have yet to be disclosed.


Watching The Winter Classic

01/03/2024 at 6:36pm EST

from Braylon Breeze of The NHL Zone,

The city of Seattle appeared to have loved hosting this year’s Winter Classic, but for the rest of the country, another all-time low was hit in the viewership department.

Monday’s Winter Classic was between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken. These are of course the two newest teams in the NHL, and both come from places that have long been accustomed to not having a team in the National Hockey League. Meanwhile, we also aren’t accustomed to this kind of viewership for the game as the 2024 Winter Classic averaged 1,110,000 viewers across TNT (1.03M) and truTV (76K).

For the third consecutive year, TNT would air the game exclusively on cable, and this time the event would have a later start time with the game being on the West Coast with a 3:25 p.m. ET puck drop. With this, the third period of the Winter Classic would go head-to-head against one of the most-watched college football playoff games in history, the Rose Bowl.

Per Sports Media Watch, this year’s Winter Classic peaked at 1,400,000 viewers right before the Rose Bowl kicked off.

The 38% decline from last year’s game, which was between the Penguins and the Bruins, will result in this year’s Winter Classic not being the most-watched regular-season NHL game of the year for the first time in the history of the event, as the Blackhawks-Bruins averaged 1.43 million viewers on ESPN’s opening night.

continued

Agreement Reached Between The Diamond Sports Group And The NHL

12/20/2023 at 11:26pm EST

from Aaron Portzline of The Athletic,

The NHL and Diamond Sports Group reached an agreement that would allow for Diamond’s regional sports networks, known as Bally’s, to continue broadcasting uninterrupted through the end of the 2023-24 season.

The deal, revealed in court documents filed Wednesday, impacts 11 NHL franchises: the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning. It also ends those clubs’ agreements with Diamond, some of which extended to 2030, at the end of this season.

“It’s a resolution that we are comfortable with in light of the totality of circumstances,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic in an email exchange. “It ensures that all our teams will be able to continue to broadcast their games to local fans throughout the balance of the season. That has always been our top priority.”

continued ($)

Video- The Story Of Stan Fischler

12/20/2023 at 11:32am EST

via the YouTube page of the NHL on ESPN,

Stan Fischler has covered hockey as long as anyone. Upon his pseudo-retirement, he moved to Israel to be closer to his family. Stan lives near the northern border of the country and has continued to contribute sportswriting for numerous American outlets, all the while staying vigilant to the war around him. Jeremy Schaap will sit down with Stan Fischler to talk about his story and his life.

Watch below.

Stan Fischler War Correspondent

12/18/2023 at 10:23pm EST

via David Kolb at The Hockey News,

After writing four stories about living through a war while covering hockey, ESPN sent a crew to Northern Israel to visit Stan Fischler.

"The Hockey Maven" will run tomorrow evening on The Point on ESPN 2. The Point begins at 6PM.

The feature will likely be available online afterwards airing and then will most likely be shown again in February as part of Outside The Lines.

The story focuses on Stan's life in Israel and how staying immersed in the sport of hockey has helped him cope with living in a country at war.

It features interviews with Stan, his son Simon, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, former Ranger great Mark Messier, and ESPN NHL host Steve Levy.

Watching The NHL

12/12/2023 at 4:29pm EST

from Braylon Breeze of The NHL Zone,

Through thirty-two nationally televised games, the NHL is averaging 468,000 viewers across the networks of ESPN, TNT, and TBS. This is up 30% vs. the same point in the 2022-2023 NHL season (359K). With this, the NHL is currently on pace to have its most-watched regular season under the current TV deal.

ESPN, which has the “A” package for the NHL, has currently aired twelve games on its linear network with an average of 551,000 viewers. This is up 27% vs. the same point in the 2022-2023 season (399K). Obviously, a major player in this increase is with the NHL’s opening night audience between the Blackhawks and Bruins, which averaged the largest indoor regular season audience ever for the NHL on cable, 1.431M viewers.

TNT, which has the “B” package for the NHL, has currently aired nineteen games with an average of 426,000 viewers. This is up 31% vs. the same point in the 2022-2023 season (325K).

continued

RSNs Are Dying

12/06/2023 at 8:45am EST

from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times,

Fast forward three decades, and it’s all imploding, with TV viewers deserting cable in favor of streaming and leaving teams and RSN operators scrambling to find a future. One option increasingly eyed by teams — especially NHL squads such as the Kraken in search of broader audiences — is what’s been likened to a “Back to the Future” approach of showing games on free channels as in the 1980s and prior.

The difference now being, instead of one or two weekly games, it would be the majority freely accessed. Sounds great, right? Well, there are obstacles. But right now, the current RSN model is unsustainable and as sports fans you should be very concerned.

Here in Seattle, we’re seeing the not-so-pretty ramifications of RSN model demise on two team fronts with ROOT Sports Northwest.

With the Kraken, who are paid an annual TV rights fee by ROOT Sports said to be within the standard $15 million-$30 million for NHL teams, they haven’t grown their product as well as they’d like. We’ve mentioned previously that Kraken ticket demand has lagged on online resale exchanges, reflecting a lack of demand that goes beyond a poorly performing team.

A great way for any new team to increase interest is through television. But with fewer people willing to pay for packages that include ROOT Sports, the “eyeballs” on Kraken games haven’t been there.

more

Watching The NHL

11/05/2023 at 2:21pm EST

from Braylon Breeze of The NHL Zone,

Through four weeks, the 2023-2024 NHL season is averaging 535,000 viewers across the networks of ESPN, TNT, and TBS, up 13% compared to the same point last season (472K).

For the previous week, the NHL’s national action began on Sunday with the 2023 edition of the Heritage Classic between the Flames and Oilers. On TBS, this game averaged 271,000 viewers, which is the second lowest viewed game to start the season, but the game also went head-to-head with NFL competition. Previously, the 2022 edition of the Heritage Classic between the Sabres and Maple Leafs averaged 348,000 on a Sunday in March.

continued

All Christine Simpson

10/30/2023 at 9:35am EDT

from Jolene Latimer of The Score,

TheScore: How has the way you tell hockey stories changed from the beginning of your career to now?

Simpson: So much of storytelling comes out of the preparation that you do for the interview. I would say that is one area that has changed so much from when I began. Keep in mind, I started at Sportsnet in 1998. So if I were, for example, heading to California to do a story on one of the Los Angeles Kings, it's not like I could Google the player.

Back then, research started by looking up who is the beat reporter for the L.A. Kings and phoning them. Or, if I knew anyone from that player's past, like a junior coach where they played, a good friend, someone in their world, I would get a hold of that person. That would be kind of the only way that you could do research....

It seems like many athletes today are also concerned about saying something controversial that could become a distraction.

A lot of teams media-train their players. In my experience, that teaches them how to say something without actually saying anything at all, which is why it is so refreshing when a player does open up or even says something controversial, which people can jump on them for. But in my mind, you can't jump on a player. All we want is for them to show more of their personality or to say exactly how they feel.

more on each of the above plus additional q & a...

Barry Melrose Today

10/27/2023 at 9:38am EDT

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

About three years ago, Melrose, who happens to be a cousin to Wendel Clark and Joey Kocur, knew something wasn’t right with him. The simple pleasures in life — lighting a cigar, opening a can of beer, pouring a drink for friends, reading a book — were suddenly challenging and difficult. His hands started to shake. Some days were better than others. Sometimes the words he wanted to say — as someone who had become the voice of hockey in America on ESPN for almost 30 years, its Don Cherry without the crazy clothing — weren’t coming out as intended.

Still, Melrose pushed on because that’s what he’s always done. He kept working, kept trying, he wasn’t going to let anything defeat him.

But Parkinson’s Disease has a mind of its own. Parkinson’s had taken over too many of his days. And when this hockey season began, one of Melrose’s closest friends at ESPN, John Buccigross , announced that Melrose would not be on television any longer because of the affliction.

“I feel fortunate,” Melrose said on the phone from his home in Florida. Those aren’t the words you would expect from someone with Parkinson’s, but Melrose has made a living saying what no one would, or could, say.

more

Watching The Frozen Frenzy

10/25/2023 at 7:08pm EDT

Frozen Frenzy Review

10/25/2023 at 9:36am EDT

from Nick Ashbourne of Yahoo,

If you're an NHL fan, the concept of "Frozen Frenzy" is undoubtedly appealing.

Getting a chance to dedicate a night to keeping tabs on all the best action around the league the way NFL fans get to enjoy football each Sunday is a beautiful idea.

Unfortunately, trying to reproduce the near-perfect entertainment product that is NFL RedZone was never going to happen for the NHL. That has nothing to do with the quality of the sports involved, but rather how they're structured.

With football it's easy to pinpoint which moments are going to be exciting in advance. With a flow sport like hockey, that's far more difficult to do.

RedZone also has the benefit of polished and minimalist host Scott Hanson — who understands his assignment to a tee — as well as a firm no-advertisement policy.

Without those ingredients, Frozen Frenzy never had a chance to live up to its NFL equivalent. But it's worth asking if it held up on its own merits.

What worked

ESPN Analysts Kevin Weekes and John Buccigross brought plenty of energy to the proceedings, giving a convincing impression that they were excited about the action — and the viewer should be too.

continued

Watching ESPN

10/19/2023 at 10:52am EDT

from the NHL's website,

The 2023-24 NHL season continues to deliver record viewership on ESPN.

The Buffalo Sabres' 3-2 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday averaged 525,000 total viewers and 246,000 between ages 18-49, up 11 percent and 14 percent respectively from last season's comparable games.

The second part of ESPN's doubleheader on Tuesady, a 4-1 win by the Colorado Avalanche against the Seattle Kraken, averaged 513,000 viewers, including 260,000 from 18-49, up 51 percent and 55 percent from last year's comparable games.

On Oct. 10, the season's opening night, ESPN aired a tripleheader, which included the Chicago Blackhawks at the Pittsburgh Penguins, its most-viewed regular-season game on record. Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, got his first point in the 4-2 win by Chicago.

continued

Video- Hockey Night In Canada Opening

10/14/2023 at 7:15pm EDT

All The Best To Barry Melrose

10/10/2023 at 2:32pm EDT

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