From 2006 to 2008, NBC's studio show was originally broadcast out of the rink atNew York'sRockefeller Center, at the foot of NBC's offices during January and February. This allowed the on-air talent, includingcommentators forNHL on NBC, and their guests (often ex-players and youth hockey teams) to demonstrate plays and hockey skills. From April onwards, and during inclement weather, the studio show moved to Studio 8G inside theGE Building, where NBC produces itsFootball Night in America program. For theStanley Cup Finals, the show was usually broadcast on location.
Beginning in 2008, the studio show originated from the game venue. In 2012, the studio show moved to NBC Sports’ new headquarters inStamford, Connecticut. The studio show now usually goes on the road for special events like theWinter Classic,All-Star Weekend, theStadium Series, and the Stanley Cup Finals.
NBC Sports Regional Networks personnel occasionally appeared on NBCSN broadcasts during the latter part of the season and the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Hahn works Stanley Cup playoff games broadcasts onTNT
Jackson also does Stanley Cup playoff game broadcasts onTNT
For the 1966 playoffs and 1972–75 coverage, play-by-play is listed first, followed by color commentator, and studio host or hosts. "Inside The Glass" reporters were not utilized by NBC until the 2005–06 season.
During its first 2 seasons, NBC used 3 regular broadcast teams for its regional coverage of the NHL. For its first season, they brought inMike Emrick andJohn Davidson, the lead broadcast team forNHL on Fox, to be their lead announcing pair, and added popular isPierre McGuire was used as "Inside the Glass" reporter (the one who stands between-the-benches).[3]
For both broadcast seasons of theNHL on NBC, the #2 team consisted ofDave Strader,Brian Hayward, and "Inside the Glass" reporterJoe Micheletti.
For the2005–06 NHL season, the #3 broadcast team wasChris Cuthbert,Peter McNab, and "Inside the Glass" reporterCammi Granato.
For the2006–07 NHL season, the 2nd season of theNHL on NBC,John Davidson left NBC to become the president ofSt. Louis Blues, so studio analystEddie Olczyk was permanently used withMike Emrick andPierre McGuire.[4][5] The trio remained as NBC's lead broadcast team until 2020. Furthermore,Darren Pang was used due to Granato's son being born.[6]
During 2006–07, the #2 and #3 broadcast teams were mixed up, due to travel constraints. An example of this is color commentators Peter McNab and Brian Hayward often switching roles during the season and playoffs.
During the season, due to Pierre McGuire'sTSN commitments, a variety of "Inside the Glass" reporters have been used with the #1 team, including Joe Micheletti, Cammi Granato, and Peter McNab.
Due to NBC's move to flex scheduling & only broadcasting one game a week, Only the lead team of Emrick, Olczyk, & McGuire is now used. Also, NBC has scrapped the studio-based intermission show and firedBill Clement andRay Ferraro. Pierre McGuire, who continues his role as the "Inside the Glass" reporter, serves as host from the game venue. Former Boston Bruins head coachMike Milbury is the new analyst.[7] During theStanley Cup playoffs, NBC Sports reporters likeBob Neumeier andBill Patrick served as a moderator for Pierre McGuire & Mike Milbury's analysis.
In this era,Darren Pang will fill in for McGuire when he hasTSN commitments.
For the2010 Stanley Cup Finals,Jeremy Roenick returned as a guest analyst for the intermission reports. For Games 5 & 6 on NHL on NBC,Dan Patrick was the studio host. For the2011 Stanley Cup playoffs,Liam McHugh served as the host whileMike Milbury andPierre McGuire returned as analysts for the intermission reports.
In the era, after NBC purchased VERSUS and renamed it NBCSN, there was generally a sharing of talent that led to Emrick, Olczyk, and McGuire calling the Sunday afternoonGame of the Week but frequently appeared on Wednesday telecasts on NBCSN. In addition,Dave Strader andBrian Engblom called Sunday night and Tuesday night games on NBCSN.
Cuthbert returned to the network andJohn Forslund came over from VERSUS. Frequently, a mix of Emrick, Albert, Strader, Cuthbert, and Forslund led NBC's Stanley Cup playoff crews with analysts Olczyk, McGuire,Joe Micheletti, Engblom, andDarren Pang providing analysis. TSN commentators such as Cuthbert, Gord Miller,Ray Ferraro andMike Johnson also worked regular season and playoff games and especially helped out with the network's coverage of the NHL Draft once those rights transferred to Sportsnet in Canada.
At the start of the 2018–19 season, NBC rotated Pierre McGuire andBrian Boucher on the lead broadcast team withMike Emrick andEddie Olczyk. Boucher joined the lead pair forWednesday Night Hockey early games while McGuire called the late game.[8][9] McGuire, however, was still assigned to work with the lead team on single-headerWednesday Night Hockey, weeklyGame of the Week broadcasts, and the2019 Stanley Cup Finals.[10] However, as of the start of the 2019–20 season, Boucher now works with the lead team while McGuire continues to appear on other broadcasts.[11][12] In addition, NBC began usingU.S. women's ice hockey starsA. J. Mleczko andKendall Coyne Schofield as game analysts on select broadcasts, and NBC even assignedMike Tirico to call play-by-play on a few broadcasts.
Similarly, the studio show was largely a mix of NBCSN'sLiam McHugh andKathryn Tappen with analystsMike Milbury (until his firing in 2020), Roenick (until his firing in 2020),Keith Jones and later on,Anson Carter andPatrick Sharp.Mike Tirico would occasionally substitute as a host and play-by-play announcer.
Towards the end of the NBC era – and with Milbury and Roenick's departures, Engblom moving to work full-time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the retirement of Emrick, and the death of the #2 play-by-play manDave Strader – the network began cycling in new talent.Brendan Burke, who eventually became the #2 play-by-play voice of theNHL on TNT andAlex Faust called several playoff games for the network. Recently retired players likeDominic Moore andRyan Callahan were hired as color commentators and studio analysts, andA. J. Mleczko became the first woman to regularly work for an American national hockey broadcast. Former coachMike Babcock joined as a studio analyst in the network's last season.
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, NBC often had commentators call games from studios as a safety precaution, with a mix of studio and in-person work during the2020–21 NHL season and a return to largely full in-person commentary during the postseason. Occasionally, commentators would work multiple games per day from NBC's studios in Connecticut.
NBCSN broadcast one of the final games before the pandemic suspended the season, a Wednesday Night Hockey telecast on March 11, 2020 between theSan Jose Sharks andChicago Blackhawks, with the network providing updates on how thepandemic was beginning to affect the league. Emrick, Olczyk, and Boucher called the game, the last one Emrick worked in-person at an NHL arena in his career.
During the NHL's 'bubble' Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020, Forslund,Gord Miller, Boucher, and, until his firing, Mike Milbury worked in the league's Toronto bubble, while Albert and McGuire called games from the Edmonton bubble, with some commentators working from the studio or, in Emrick's case, from home. Emrick called the last of his record 22 Stanley Cup Finals from a home studio in Michigan, with Olczyk (both Emrick and Olczyk are cancer survivors), Boucher (working his first Stanley Cup Finals), and McGuire providing analysis and reporting in Edmonton.
In the 2020–21 season,Kenny Albert,John Forslund, andMike Tirico rotated as the lead play-by-play voice to work with Olczyk, Boucher, and McGuire during the regular season. Subsequently, it was announced that Kenny Albert – who had been calling the conference final that Emrick's crew did not work – replaced the retiring Emrick as the lead play-by-play announcer and would join Olczyk and Boucher to call the top semifinal. Meanwhile, Forslund worked with Micheletti and McGuire on the other. In addition, McGuire joined the lead team as an on-site reporter for the Stanley Cup Finals, making him the only person to contribute to every season NBC carried the Stanley Cup, dating back to 2006, when he was on the top team with Emrick and John Davidson. During the first two rounds, Burke and Mleckzo and Faust, and Moore were the other broadcast teams, with Cuthbert having accepted the job as the voice ofHockey Night in Canada.
McHugh hosted the studio show from NBC's home base in Connecticut with Jones, Carter, and Sharp, while Tappen and McGuire worked from a setting on-site at each arena.
The two networks combined for a final broadcast on July 7, 2021. Both McHugh and Jones in the studio and Olczyk and Albert on-site in Tampa thanked several people behind the scenes before wrapping up the post-game show. Emrick, who narrated short features for the network in his retirement, was the last voice heard on NBCSN's post-game coverage to end that year's Stanley Cup Finals.
Main commentators for NHL on NBC & NBCSN:[13]