UPDATE: Jets Make TSN Deal Official; Engblom, Johnson and Hnidy Hired As Analysts

The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that the Jets will finally announce their broadcasting plans this afternoon. All the details have largely been leaked out already (check the category listing on the right for my numerous Jets stories) so there’s not much new that will probably be announced. There is one thing that’s still a mystery and that’s who will be the analysts for Jets games. The Free Press says that Shane Hnidy is being considered. Hnidy hasn’t officially retired and he has zero media experience so that would be an odd choice. We should find out all the details today as the Jets will hold a media conference at 1 PM Winnipeg time.

UPDATE: TSN and the Winnipeg Jets have finally announced their agreement to air games on a specialty regional sub-feed channel. The channel will be named TSN Jets and will launch September 20 to coincide with the first Jets preseason game. Also, as previously speculated, Bell Media’s Sports Radio 1290 will get the radio rights. In addition, TSN will create a Winnipeg bureau with Sara Olesky heading it up. The contract is for 10 years with a minimum of 60 games all being in HD on TSN Jets. The Jets broadcast territory will include Manitoba, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, the Northwestern Territories and parts of Northwestern Ontario including Thunder Bay, Dryden and Kenora. TSN will also offer pre and post game coverage of all games.

As far as on air talent goes, the play by play duties, as originally reported, will have Dennis Beyak handling the main duties with Brian Munz as the backup radio man when Beyak is doing television. We now have confirmation on the analysts and they are a bit of a surprise. On the radio side, Shane Hnidy will handle the colour duties. Hnidy has decided to retire to join the broadcast booth in an interesting decision. On TSN, Brian Engblom and Mike Johnson will join Beyak. Hnidy’s inclusion is very interesting as he has never broadcasted games at all nor do I believe has he ever even guested in a booth. It’s certainly a risk and all eyes will be on him. Johnson already works for TSN’s regional coverage of Montreal so it appears that he might be doing double duty and Engblom will do the same supplementing his current NBC Sports and Altitude Sports duties with his new TSN Jets job. 

Via the Winnipeg Free Press, here’s a link to the press conference.

Here’s the TSN Jets Broadcast Schedule

More info on TSN Jets including channel information and talent bios

 

Versus Adds “NBC SportsTalk” & Has A New Lineup

Yesterday, I mentioned that reports had Russ Thaler joining Versus and we now have the details behind that. Multichannel News is reporting that Versus will be the home of NBC SportsTalk weekdays from 6PM-7PM EST. The shows are an extension of the NBC Sports websites that all feature “talk” in their names. The block begins on September 8. In addition to the new SportsTalk block, NBC Sports has announced their new daily programming lineup on Versus which includes the new NHL Live as a replacement for Hockey Central. NHL Live will debut on October 10.

The new Versus/NBC Sports Network shows (EST):

• Monday 5-6 PM College Football Talk hosted by Liam McHugh with Ross Tucker and Roland Williams
• Monday 6-7 PM NBC SportsTalk / ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio
• Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday 6-7 PM NBC SportsTalk, hosted by Russ Thaler
• Thursday 10-11 PM NFL Turning Point
• Friday 6-7 PM NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler with Mike Florio and Peter King
• Friday 7-7:30 PM CNBC Sports Biz: Game On hosted by Darren Rovell
• NHL Live will air before and after most NHL games

Over at The Washington Post, Dan Steinberg has more details on Thaler and the new shows.
Included in Steinberg’s article is this quote from Versus president Jon Miller –

“We’re not looking to break news; we’re looking to take news and analyze it and tell you how to feel about it, what it means,” Miller said. “We want a place for people to go where they know they’re going to see good, intelligent, quality sports television.”

Steinberg notes that the shows won’t be highlight shows and it’s likely that the NHL will take over the final 30 minutes of SportsTalk on Wednesdays depending on what’s going on. Essentially, these will be “talking heads” shows but they are a definite improvement to what Versus is currently airing. They also appear to be a much more serious offering compared to what the prior Comcast regime had for original programming which included the goofy and low budget shows of The Daily Line and Sports Soup. It appears that the NHL will finally get some decent lead-in programming which should help boost their ratings.

 

Russ Thaler To Join Versus?

Here’s a quick note to mention on this Tuesday. dcrtv.com is reporting that Russ Thaler may be headed to Versus/NBC Sports Network. Up until a few days ago, Thaler worked at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic as a web correspondent and as an anchor for pre and post-game coverage of the Washington Capitals. He’s also hosted Washington Post Live and Sports Central for the network. It’s unknown if Thaler would cover hockey for Versus, but since he has in the past, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was involved in their hockey programming at some point. Versus lacks in-house hosts as only Bill Patrick and Liam McHugh are currently on their roster as regular hosts for the channel.

 

TSM: Dunleavy To Join Leafs

As I mentioned the other day, Dan Dunleavy has been brought up as a possible replacement for Dennis Beyak in Toronto. Now, the Toronto Sports Media Blog is reporting that will indeed happen . There’s yet to be any confirmation on this or the prior rumors that Jim Ralph may also be on the way out. So, the Maple Leafs broadcast carousel continues to spin around but for now, that’s the latest update and rumors.

 

Notes: Wild Move Games To Cable, MSG To Air Prospects, Mickey Redmond’s TV Career & ESPN Adds Custance

It’s Monday morning so let’s get caught up on some notes from the last few days to start off the week.

MINNESOTA WILD MOVE GAMES TO FS NORTH EXCLUSIVELY

The Minnesota Wild has been making some great moves when it comes to television. First off, there’s the terrific Becoming Wild series which has been a great summertime viewing for hockey fans. Now comes word that the Wild are taking all their local games to Fox Sports North. This is significant because in the past, KSTC-TV 45 aired a handful of games, primarily on weekends. One issue with KSTC is that their video quality was often terrible and was among the worst in the league. The Wild have also lacked high definition feeds over the past few seasons so hopefully, Fox will show some commitment and add more HD games. For such a popular team, it’s sad that the Wild still do not air all of their games in HD.

RANGERS SEPTEMBER TV SCHEDULE

HudsonValley.com is reporting that MSG will air five pre-season games during the month of September. In addition, MSG will feature live coverage of Rangers games at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament. The tourney features eight teams of prospects and is hosted by the Detroit Red Wings. MSG will air games daily Sept. 10-14. There’s no word yet if any other network will air games from the camp. Several years ago, the NHL Network aired the entire camp live but they pulled the plug on it after one season.

REDMOND ON HIS HHOF HONOR & CAREER

Detroit Red Wings analyst Mickey Redmond will receive the Foster Hewitt Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame in November. The Macomb Daily’s Pat Caputo has a column up about Redmond as he gets ready for the honor. The story features how Redmond had to retire early and how he got involved in television. It’s a great read and while many non-Detroit fans aren’t enamored with Mickey, it’s easy to forget that Mick has broadcasted nationally for several networks including CBC. He’s a true legend in the business and the award is well deserved.

CUSTANCE JOINS ESPN

And finally on this Monday, we have word that Sporting News NHL writer Craig Custance is joining ESPN. Custance will be an ESPN Insider blogger on ESPN.com and will likely fill the shoes of the now departed E.J. Hradek. Congrats to Craig as ESPN is a much higher profile than SN and it does show that ESPN is still committed to hockey with Pierre Lebrun, Scott Burnside and now Custance in its stable.

 

What’s Next For Leafs Radio?

With only a few weeks to go before training camps open, it seems like an odd time to have so many vacant broadcast jobs out there, but that is the case. Even more surprising is that the Toronto Maple Leafs are now on that list. As I mentioned yesterday, it appears that Dennis Beyak is on his way to Winnipeg. Even more interesting is that Leafs radio analyst Jim Ralph may also be on the way out. The Toronto Sports Media Blog is reporting that and they are usually right on when it comes to anything that they report.

So where does this leave the Leafs? For Beyak, the decision to leave made plenty of sense for multiple reasons. He was always playing second fiddle to lead man Joe Bowen. Even with that, being on Leafs broadcasts is one of the top gigs in hockey media and it will be attractive to many people. TSM speculates that Dan Dunleavy would make a good choice to replace Beyak. I’ve brought up Dunleavy’s name on multiple occasions on this blog before as he always seems to come up as a candidate for open jobs. Marlies broadcaster John Bartlett would’ve been an obvious choice but he just left the team to go to Montreal.

As far as replacements for Ralph, it’s probably too early to even speculate much on that. There hasn’t been any confirmation that Ralph is out. For that matter, the whole Winnipeg broadcasting rights haven’t even been confirmed yet although everything points to TSN, Bell and Beyak being involved. TSM also mentions former Leafs GM and current Fan 590 personality Gord Stellick and Anaheim Ducks voice John Ahlers, as he has ties to Leafs General Manager Brian Burke, as possible replacements for Beyak and Ralph. It’s always possible that someone will be promoted from Leafs TV as there’s plenty of possibilities there.

There’s something else that may interfere with Dunleavy or anyone else that takes the Leafs jobs. The Leafs radio rights are up after this season and very few people believe that Corus Entertainment’s AM 640 will hold onto the broadcasts. Depending on who wins the rights, they may want to make some radical changes to the broadcasts with the announcers at the top of the list. In Dunleavy’s case, he works for Rogers and Fan 590 and is the lead radio announcer for the World Junior Hockey Championships. Would Dunleavy risk his current job for only a one year gig as a secondary announcer with the Leafs? That’s an interesting risk and it’s possible that TSN would bring in their own people if they win the rights so that may not bode well for whom ever becomes Beyak’s replacement. Rogers and TSN are expected to go toe to toe for the rights and it’s sure to be an expensive win for whomever comes out on top. Either way, the Leafs broadcast silly season will actually extend well after whomever the Leafs announce as calling games during this season and it’s sure to be a wild ride when the bidding starts for the radio rights.

 

Beyak To Join The Jets

Longtime Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Dennis Beyak is jumping ship to join the Winnipeg Jets and TSN. Beyak will call games for TSN’s regional Jets coverage and on Bell’s Sports Radio 1290. When Beyak is calling games on TSN, CJOB personality and former Manitoba Moose play by play man Brian Munz will be at the helm on the radio side.

Beyak is from Manitoba so he’s a local guy so that should help ease the sting for many Jets fans as they have been hoping for a return of Curt Keilback as the team’s lead voice. Beyak has done work for TSN in the past and has also called some Edmonton Oilers games. There’s is still no word as to who will be the analyst for the Jets’ broadcasts.

 

Bartlett Joins Habs Radio Team

John Bartlett will be the new English language radio voice of the Montreal Canadiens. Bartlett will call games on Team 990 which is replacing CJAD as the Habs English flagship. Former play by play voice Rick Moffat will stay with CJAD as the voice of the CFL Alouettes.

Bartlett has worked for the AHL Toronto Marlies since 2005 and previously called games for the OHL’s Barrie Colts. He’s also done some fill in work for the Maple Leafs and hosted programs on Leafs TV. Team 990 has yet to announce if Sergio Momesso will return as analyst for the Habs radio team.

 

NHL Network Misses The Net

I know that it seems that I pick on the NHL Network a lot. This blog has only been going for a couple of months and they have been a frequent target of mine. I’ve criticized their draft coverage and lambasted their pathetic summer programming. That’s not to say that I don’t like NHLN. During the season NHLN is often my go to when I’m watching television but there is so much that they are missing or lacking. So, while I hate to keep picking on them, I have another beef to with them to write about.

 

Notes: Pens Keep Broadcasters & JR Signs For 5

It’s the day after the television schedules were releases so now, I’ll get back to mentioning a few broadcasting notes from the past couple of days.

STEIGERWALD & ERREY STAY IN PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Penguins broadcast team of Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey aren’t exactly popular around the league but they will be returning after signing new multi-year contracts. There had been rumors since the end of the season about the status of the pair but apparently Root didn’t actively search for replacements. The Post-Gazette also reports that Root Sports Pittsburgh will also have a new visual look. Root is currently using the old Fox Sports Net graphics dating back to when the network was FSN Pittsburgh. The new look is much needed and should be a good upgrade to Pens telecasts.

ROENICK SIGNS 5 YEAR DEAL WITH NBC SPORTS

Jeremy Roenick was a great addition to Versus last season and it appears that we will only be seeing more of him in the near future. In a Globe and Mail story by James Mirtle, it’s reported that JR has signed a new five year contract with NBC. The story goes on to ask if Roenick is America’s answer to Don Cherry. Many people said the same about Brett Hull who even swapped places with Cherry during the Stanley Cup Final at one point. Hull had bigger aspirations besides broadcasting but with JR signing this deal, it appears that he’s content to be one of the top analysts in the States. That’s good news for hockey fans as it’s hard to find anyone who’s more passionate about hockey on TV besides Roenick.