from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,
Ron MacLean has been frozen out of the new version of Hockey Night In Canada. Literally.
While George Stroumboulopoulos will sit in the studio chair and take the starring role that once was his – ringmaster of the most popular show on Canadian television – MacLean will be looking in from the outside on Sunday nights. And even he admits his fractious relationship with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, which saw Bettman boycott Hockey Night after one particularly contentious interview in 2010, might have something to do with it....
But as the conversation continued – and the topic turned to the belief among his broadcasting colleagues that MacLean’s on-air clashes with Bettman played no small role in his reduced role – there were hints MacLean may not be quite as sanguine about the change as it seems. MacLean and Bettman usually butted heads over labour-management issues in the NHL. MacLean consistently took the players’ side during interviews because, he said, he firmly believed the league was better off with a strong NHL Players’ Association.
“Maybe that hurt me but I would gladly fall on my sword for that principle,” MacLean said. “But I don’t know that it had anything to do with [a reduced role]. It could have.”
The Globe and Mail also has two more relatede stories on Rogers, here regarding Hockey Night in Canada and this one on the new look of HNIC.
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