The NHL will begin the 2021-22 season in just about a month with Turner Sports and ESPN as the new homes for the league after a 15-year run on NBC. On Tuesday afternoon, Turner Sports announced their in-studio and in-game broadcasts teams as the network prepares to be one of two TV homes for the league.
You can find the full press release here:
NEWS: Turner Sports bolsters NHL game and studio commentator team.
Full release: https://t.co/Atq6jFqR13 pic.twitter.com/pGviHS6DkI
— TurnerSportsPR (@TurnerSportsPR) September 14, 2021
Trying to replicate the highly successful and wildly popular ‘Inside the NBA’ studio program on TNT, the in-studio team for the NHL on TNT will be hosted by Liam McHugh with analysts Anson Carter, Rick Tocchet, Paul Bissonnette, and Wayne Gretzky. All four analysts are former NHL players with only Gretzky not having much media or TV experience in his post-playing career.
The “A Team” for the game broadcasts will consist of Kenny Albert on play-by-play and Eddie Olczyk on commentary. The “B Team” will be Brendan Burke handling the play-by-play, with Darren Pang on commentary. Keith Jones, formerly a studio analyst with NBC, will be at ice-level (also remembered as “inside the glass”) for game broadcasts. Rounding out Turner’s coverage will be Jennifer Botterill, Jackie Redmond, and Tarik El-Bashir in Contributor roles for game telecasts.
Along with the in-studio and in-game broadcast teams, Turner announced a partnership between Bleacher Report and Hockey YouTube/Social Media influencer Andrew “Nasher” Telfer to produce content on the platform’s new NHL-specific offering “Open Ice.”
The Chicago Blackhawks are part of the first broadcasts the NHL will see on Turner Sports as TNT hosts a national broadcast double-header on October 13th. The first NHL game on TNT will be the New York Rangers taking on the Washington Capitals, followed by the Blackhawks taking on the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. TNT will also be the broadcast home for the 2022 Winter Classic this season between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues, held at Target Field.