NHL faces off tonight; Full listing of voices; New networks and off-season changes at team levels

The National Hockey League’s regular season begins tonight Tuesday, October 12th and concludes next April 29th. The league welcomes a new franchise, the Seattle Kraken.

The defending Stanley Cup champs, Tampa Bay Lightning host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

These are the pertinent broadcast changes and there are a bunch, heading into the season.

• ESPN and Turner Sports are the new rightsholders for American NHL coverage, signing a seven-year deal earlier this year that commences this season, replacing NBC after it held the rights for 15 seasons. ESPN will televise a Stanley Cup Final in even-numbered years, and TNT in odd-numbered years. NBC game analysts Pierre McGuire and Dominic Moore will not return to the airwaves, with McGuire taking a management position with the Ottawa Senators.

• Announcers have been covered in previous posts, but ESPN’s top team will be Sean McDonough, Ray Ferraro, and Brian Boucher, while Turner’s will be Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, and Keith Jones.

• A number of announcers have either announced their retirement following the 2020–21 campaign, or announced their intent to do so after this coming season. At the top of the former list is Hall of Famer Jim Hughson, 65, the #1 play-by-play man on Hockey Night in Canada from 2008 to 2020. Hughson did not travel outside of his hometown of Vancouver last year.

• Legendary Pittsburgh Penguins radio voice Mike Lange, 73, (left) retired after calling a very limited schedule last year. He had been on the Penguins broadcast for 46 years in varying play-by-play capacities. His successor will be previous Pens’ radio studio host Josh Getzoff, who called the majority of games last season.

• Rick Jeanneret, 79, will retire at the conclusion of the 2021–22 season. He has been with the Buffalo Sabres since their second-ever season in 1971. He remains a beloved figure in Western New York. His heir apparent, Dan Dunleavy, will continue to call the majority of the team’s games on their simulcast, as he did last year.

• Longtime Chicago Blackhawks voice Pat Foley, 67, will also retire after his 39th season calling his hometown team. The Hawks are holding an audition for his successor, and finalists for the job are radio voice John Wiedeman, as well as NHL Network’s Stephen Nelson and Big Ten Network’s Chris Vosters and Mike Monaco. The four will call select road games on TV.

• Also in Chicago, former Boston University star Colby Cohen will replace Steve Konroyd as Eddie Olczyk’s fill-in when the latter is working for TNT.

• Joe O’Donnell wins the audition over three others and will now be the primary radio voice of the Minnesota Wild, receiving the call-up from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Iowa. Bob Kurtz, 74, the original radio announcer for the team in 1997, will still work select home games.

• The Seattle Kraken are the NHL’s 32nd team and will begin play this season. Their television broadcast will consist of John Forslund, the previous #2 voice at NBC who had a long stint with the Carolina Hurricanes before that, and recently-retired J.T. Brown, who played over 300 games in the NHL.

• The radio play-by-play announcer for the Kraken will be Everett Fitzhugh, most recently of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. Fitzhugh is the first Black full-time play-by-play man in NHL history.

• The Colorado Avalanche have added former Av Eric Lacroix to their radio broadcast team for select games.

• Sports USA has signed a four-year deal to continue as the national radio arm of NHL broadcasting. They are currently scheduled to broadcast a handful of regular season games and a larger schedule in the playoffs. Last year, their top broadcast team was John Ahlers and Joe Micheletti.

Anaheim

TV: John Ahlers, Brian Hayward

Radio: Steve Carroll, Dan Wood

Arizona

TV: Matt McConnell, Tyson Nash or Paul Bissonnette

Radio: Bob Heethuis, Lyndsey Fry

Boston

TV: Jack Edwards, Andy Brickley

Radio: Judd Sirott, Bob Beers

Buffalo

Simulcast: Dan Dunleavy or Rick Jeanneret, Rob Ray

Calgary

TV: Rick Ball, Kelly Hrudey or Cassie Campbell-Pascall

Radio: Derek Wills, Peter Loubardias

Carolina

Simulcast: Mike Maniscalco, Tripp Tracy

Chicago

TV: Pat Foley or rotating fill-in, Eddie Olczyk or Colby Cohen

Radio: John Wiedeman or rotating fill-in, Troy Murray

Colorado

TV: Marc Moser, Peter McNab or Mark Rycroft

Radio: Conor McGahey, Eric Lacroix

Columbus

TV: Jeff Rimer, Jody Shelley

Radio: Bob McElligott

Dallas

Simulcast: Josh Bogorad, Daryl Reaugh

Detroit

TV: Ken Daniels, Mickey Redmond or Chris Osgood

Radio: Ken Kal, Paul Woods

Edmonton

TV: Jack Michaels, Louie DeBrusk

Radio: Cam Moon or Jack Michaels, Bob Stauffer

Florida

TV: Steve Goldstein, Randy Moller

Radio: Doug Plagens, Bill Lindsay

Los Angeles

TV: Alex Faust or Nick Nickson, Jim Fox

Radio: Nick Nickson or Josh Schaefer, Daryl Evans

Minnesota

TV: Anthony LaPanta, Wes Walz or Ryan Carter

Radio: Joe O’Donnell or Bob Kurtz, Tom Reid

Montreal

TV: Bryan Mudryk or Dan Robertson, Dave Poulin or Mike Johnson

Radio: Dan Robertson or Sean Campbell, Sergio Momesso

Nashville

TV: Willy Daunic, Chris Mason

Radio: Pete Weber, Hal Gill

New Jersey

TV: Steve Cangialosi, Ken Daneyko

Radio: Matt Loughlin, Chico Resch

NY Islanders

TV: Brendan Burke, Butch Goring

Radio: Chris King, Greg Picker

NY Rangers

TV: Sam Rosen, Joe Micheletti

Radio: Kenny Albert or Don La Greca, Dave Maloney

Ottawa

TV: Gord Miller or Jon Abbott, Jamie McLennan or Mike Johnson

Radio: Dean Brown, Gord Wilson

Philadelphia

TV: Jim Jackson, Keith Jones or Scott Hartnell

Radio: Tim Saunders, Steve Coates

Pittsburgh

TV: Steve Mears, Bob Errey

Radio: Josh Getzoff, Phil Bourque

San Jose

TV: Randy Hahn, Bret Hedican

Radio: Dan Rusanowsky, Scott Hannan or Drew Remenda

Seattle

TV: John Forslund, J.T. Brown

Radio: Everett Fitzhugh

St. Louis

TV: John Kelly, Darren Pang or Jamie Rivers

Radio: Chris Kerber, Joe Vitale

Tampa Bay

TV: Dave Randorf, Brian Engblom

Radio: Dave Mishkin, Phil Esposito or Bobby Taylor

Toronto

TV: Chris Cuthbert, Craig Simpson or Gord Miller, Ray Ferraro

Radio: Joe Bowen, Jim Ralph

Vancouver

TV: John Shorthouse, John Garrett

Radio: Brendan Batchelor, Corey Hirsch

Vegas

TV: Dave Goucher, Shane Hnidy

Radio: Dan D’Uva, Gary Lawless

Washington

TV: Joe Beninati, Craig Laughlin

Radio: John Walton, Ken Sabourin

Winnipeg

TV: Dennis Beyak, Kevin Sawyer

Radio: Paul Edmonds, Jamie Thomas

NETWORKS

ESPN

Play-by-play: Sean McDonough (left), Steve Levy, John Buccigross, Bob Wischusen, Leah Hextall

Color: Ray Ferraro, Brian Boucher, Kevin Weekes, AJ Mleczko, Ryan Callahan, Cassie Campbell-Pascall

TNT

Play-by-play: Kenny Albert, Brendan Burke

Color: Eddie Olczyk, Keith Jones, Darren Pang, Jamal Mayers, Jennifer Botterill

Sportsnet

Play-by-play: Chris Cuthbert, John Bartlett, Harnarayan Singh, Rick Ball, John Shorthouse

Color: Craig Simpson, Garry Galley, Louie DeBrusk, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Kelly Hrudey, John Garrett, Greg Millen, Jason York