Ray Ferraro

ESPN and Turner are continuing to build NHL staffing ahead of their debut seasons this fall. Turner reportedly agreed to terms with NBC’s Kenny Albert and Eddie Olcyzk as their lead broadcast team last week, and that week also saw ESPN making rumored pitches to TSN’s Ray Ferraro, NBC’s Kevin Weekes, and former NHL legend (and current wine/beer/whiskey entrepreneur and Edmonton Oilers’ alternate governor) Wayne Gretzky. However, as per a report from Andrew Marchand of The New York Post Monday, while Ferraro will be heading to ESPN (and so will NBC’s Brian Boucher), Gretzky will not be, choosing instead to only consider an offer from Turner. Here’s more from that piece:

The future sound of the Stanley Cup is coming into focus as ABC/ESPN has made two new hires. ABC/ESPN has signed Ray Ferraro to be one of its top analysts when its coverage begins next season, The Post has learned. Ferraro will be part of its Stanley Cup coverage and...

With the NHL’s national U.S. rights heading to ESPN and Turner next year, there’s been a lot of discussion about who will have on-air roles for those networks. Turner made a couple of additions on that front Wednesday, reportedly tapping Kenny Albert and Eddie Olzcyk (both currently working on NBC’s NHL coverage, plus SiriusXM in Albert’s case) as their lead broadcast team. And Sean Shapiro of The Athletic has some news on who ESPN’s been chasing, including NHL legend Wayne Gretzky:

Get ready for a laugh. On the latest LA Kings Legends Series, Eddie Olczyk and Ray Ferraro joined the Voice of the Kings, Nick Nickson, for a long chat, reminiscing about their time as teammates in Los Angeles during the 1996-97 season. Some really, really funny stories in there. When...