Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the voluntary departure of Ray Ferraro from TSN.
This is Year 2 of the new U.S. TV deal. ESPN had the Stanley Cup finals last season so TNT covers the Stanley Cup finals in 2023.
As far as we know, the TNT on-air package remains the same. The TNT intermissions were more interesting than the NBC version and occasionally dealt with the game at hand.
As a reminder: Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, and Keith Jones as the primary team with Brendan Burke and Darren Pang as the backup team. Liam McHugh leads the studio crew with Anson Carter, Rick Tocchet, Paul Bissonnette, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky. Jennifer Botterill (Rogers Sportsnet), Tarik El-Bashir, and Jackie Redmond (Canadian) also contribute to the TNT package.
Here is the TNT schedule involving Canadian teams. Schedule is subject to change.
November 8 Edmonton @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
November 16 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
November 23 Ottawa @ Las Vegas, 10p
November 30 Edmonton @ Chicago, 9:30p
December 14 Vancouver @ Calgary, 10p
December 21 Edmonton @ Dallas, 9:30p
January 11 Nashville @ Toronto, 7:30p
January 25 NY Rangers @ Toronto, 7p
January 25 Columbus @ Edmonton, 9:30p
February 15 Chicago @ Toronto, 7p
March 8 Anaheim @ Vancouver, 10p
March 15 Colorado @ Toronto, 7p
March 22 Arizona @ Edmonton, 10:30p
April 5 Edmonton @ Anaheim, 10p
April 12 San Jose @ Calgary, 10p
Calgary gets 2 games while Montréal has 0 games. TNT discovers Ottawa has a team but won't show them in Canada. Toronto and Edmonton dominate the schedule. Vancouver has 2 games.
The TNT schedule has mostly Wednesday doubleheaders with some Sunday games and a Tuesday game on the U.S. midterm election night.
ESPN acquires primary U.S. NHL package in new 7-year deal
ESPN goes without the Stanley Cup finals in 2023.
Like TNT, the ESPN lineups should pretty much be the same. The regular season package is on ESPN and ABC. Canadian teams have more ESPN appearances than last year. You might recall ESPN and ESPN+/Hulu refused to show any NHL games on Canadian soil last season: the 2022-2023 season have a single game on Canadian soil. How did ESPN get so afraid of being in Canada.
The ESPN+/Hulu games are exclusive within the local markets. The ESPN play-by-play people are Sean McDonough, Steve Levy, John Buccigross, Bob Wischusen, and Leah Hextall (Canadian). Colour analysts include Ray Ferraro, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Brian Boucher, Kevin Weekes, A.J. Mleczko, Hilary Knight, and Ryan Callahan. Studio analysts include Mark Messier, Chris Chelios, Rick DiPietro, and Barry Melrose.
ESPN has reporters: Blake Bolden, Emily Kaplan, and Greg Wyshynski. Linda Cohn will host In the Crease for ESPN+ and contribute to NHL coverage.
Here is the ESPN and ESPN+/Hulu schedule involving Canadian teams. Schedule is subject to change.
October 28 Winnipeg @ Arizona, 10:30p ESPN+/Hulu
November 6 Toronto vs. Carolina, 5p ESPN
December 1 Edmonton @ Minnesota, 8p ESPN+/Hulu
December 6 Toronto @ Dallas, 8:30p ESPN+/Hulu
December 30 Edmonton @ Seattle, 10p ESPN+/Hulu
January 12 Toronto @ Detroit, 7p ESPN
January 23 Columbus @ Calgary, 9:30p ESPN+/Hulu
February 7 Edmonton @ Detroit, 7:30p ESPN+/Hulu
February 19 Toronto @ Chicago, 6p ESPN+/Hulu
February 21 Toronto @ Buffalo, 7:30p ESPN+/Hulu
February 23 Calgary @ Las Vegas, 9p ESPN
March 9 Edmonton @ Boston, 7:30p ESPN+/Hulu
March 21 Toronto @ NY Islanders, 7:30p ESPN+/Hulu
March 28 Edmonton @ Las Vegas, 10p ESPN+/Hulu
April 4 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10:30p ESPN
April 11 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7p ESPN
April 11 Edmonton @ Colorado, 9:30p ESPN
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
Gord Miller did some first-round playoff games for ESPN. The schedule didn't allow him to do too many games. We expect Miller to concentrate on hockey on TSN.
ESPN+, not to be confused with ESPN+/Hulu, carries every game not aired on TNT, the ESPN family, and the NHL Network. Those games are subject to local blackouts. ESPN has a new name for those games: NHL Power Play. So cute.
Our monthly NHL updates will feature ESPN+/Hulu games.
Experiencing Hometown Hockey in Windsor, Ontario
Hometown Hockey suffered a bit with the pandemic and the move to Monday nights last fall. Rogers has canceled Hometown Hockey after 8 seasons. The program ran on Citytv in the first season (2014-2015) and Rogers Sportsnet for the next 7 seasons.
Tara Slone as well as key people behind the scenes lost their jobs at Rogers. They told some really great Canadian stories. This was the exciting part of Rogers bid to carry NHL national games. The program would likely still be around if it wasn't for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ron MacLean will continue to host the early games on Saturday nights David Amber hosts the late games on Hockey Night in Canada.
The NHL Network didn't carry any Hometown Hockey footage this past season, even when carrying the Hometown Hockey game. The loss also deprives Canadians to get a flavour of small towns in their own country. Still Standing does this in a different way on CBC.
Jim Hughson concludes marvelous baseball and hockey announcing career
Going to miss this guy! Massive part of our Habs on TSN team! So happy my guy @JohnLuTSNMtl gets to go back home to Winnipeg for the Jets gig. @djpoulin20 said he will step up his suit game in John’s absence. Much love buddy ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ObkCywRQX0
— Bryan Mudryk (@BryanMudryk) September 27, 2022
Winnipeg Jets fans have only known Dennis Beyak on TV (and some radio) play by play in the 2.0 version. Beyak will still do amateur hockey for TSN but cut back his overall schedule.
Long-time Montréal radio voice Dan Robertson replaces Beyak as the new TV voice for the Jets on TSN3. Robertson called the Canadiens games on TSN 690 for 8 years, occasionally filled in on the TV side for the Habs on TSN2. Robertson was impressive in the few times your humble narrator saw him on TSN2.
Obvious suspects had been Brian Munz, who shared the Jets radio call with Beyak on TSN 1290 until the start of the 2021 season, or Paul Edmonds, who has been calling Jets radio since 2021 on 680 CJOB.
John Lu, who worked the NHL and CFL in Montréal, returned home to Winnipeg to replace Sara Orlesky, the only host in the history of the Winnipeg Jets 2.0, left TSN to work for the Jets content team as a senior host/producer. There is talk of postgame content on the Jets social media outlets and more interviews about the players without the helmets.
Bell Media isn't big on press releases so we may have to monitor how TSN 690 handles the Canadiens radio changes. Robertson called the Canadiens with former Habs player Sergio Momesso. Sean Campbell was Robertson's backup on radio when Robertson was filling in on TV. Campbell also does play by play for the Laval Rocket and Montréal Alouettes.
Kenzie Lalonde replaces John Lu in Montréal to cover the NHL and CFL.
1/2 Want to thank @TSN_Sports for an unforgettable 14 years. I needed to find some balance in my life – I’m giving up some work to spend more time with my 4 boys, 2 grandkids and of course Cammi. Looking fwd to yr 2 on @ESPN and hope to pop on once in a while here in the future
— Ray Ferraro (@rayferrarotsn) October 11, 2022
The rest of the TSN lineup does not follow what we saw last season. Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro had been the most excellent team on Maple Leafs games on TSN4. Ferraro is staying with ESPN. Maybe Miller and Ferraro can call playoff hockey on ESPN. The team isn't just about people great at their jobs. Their chemistry was stellar, an adjective your humble narrator does not use often.
Miller and Jon Abbott with Jamie McLennan (mostly) on Senators games on TSN5; Robertson and Kevin Sawyer on Jets games on TSN3; and Bryan Mudryk (mostly) with Mike Johnson, Dave Poulin, and Craig Button on Canadiens games on TSN2.
The 3-headed analysts for the Habs will likely work the Leafs games with McLennan perhaps in the mix. Abbott should also see action filling in on Habs games when Mudryk is covering the world of curling.
No changes on the Rogers Sportsnet side on the local telecasts: Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson continue as the Sportsnet combo for local Toronto Maple Leafs telecasts with Greg Millen in the mix.
Corey Hirsch announced he was leaving Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, presumably including Canucks colour analysis. Hirsch says he is moving full time into his mental health initiatives. We only found out recently that the Vancouver Canucks will be back on Sportsnet 650 this season.
Jonah from YYZ Sports Media is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs radio crews won't go on road trips.
2022 NHL preseason schedule
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
On the U.S. side, Eddie Olczyk flips from Chicago to Seattle. Olczyk with work with John Forslund and J.T. Brown on the Seattle Kraken TV coverage. Olczyk will stay with TNT on national games.
Chris Vosters is the new Chicago play-by-play person on TV. Vosters won the competition to replace Pat Foley, who started calling Chicago games in 1981.
We know Olczyk's brother Ricky is an assistant general manager for the Kraken. We also think Olczyk made a smart call. The Hawks coverage has been more rah-rah lately and Olczyk would have been in the way with the new direction. He also doesn't have to pay state income tax in Washington state.
Troy Murray and Patrick Sharp will replace Olczyk, who spent 16 years doing colour analysis in Chicago.
Dan Dunleavy is the sole play-by-play voice for the Buffalo Sabres. Dunleavy had shared the microphone with Hall of Fame announcer Rick Jeanneret. The Sabres had done a radio/TV simulcast in part because of the legacy of Jeanneret.
photo credits: NHL on TNT; NHL on ESPN
logo credit: Hometown Hockey/Rogers Sportsnet
Twitter capture: @BryanMudryk; @rayferrarotsn
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