| TSN Hockey | |
|---|---|
 The TSN Hockey logo, used since 2014. | |
| Also known as |
|
| Genre | Sports |
| Starring | Various |
| Opening theme | "The Hockey Theme" |
| Composer | Dolores Claman |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Production | |
| Production locations | CFTO Studios,Toronto |
| Original release | |
| Network | TSN |
| Release | 1987 (1987) – present |
| Related | |
TSN Hockey (formerly theNHL on TSN andThe NHL Tonight on TSN) is the blanket title used byTSN's broadcasts of theNational Hockey League.
After holding the Canadian national cable rights to the NHL from 1985 to 1998 and again from 2002 to 2014, it was announced in November 2013 that TSN and Bell Media had lost these rights toRogers Communications andSportsnet as part of an exclusive, twelve-year media rights deal that took effect in the2014–15 NHL season.[1] In August 2014, following its loss of national NHL rights, TSN split its singular national feed into fourregional channels (itself an imitation of the structure of Sportsnet),[2] allowing the network to air its regional NHL games on the main TSN feeds, still subject toblackout, rather than on part-time channels.[3] With these changes, TSN will only broadcast regional NHL games for the foreseeable future; however, its regional coverage expanded in the 2014 season—while losing theMontreal Canadiens to Sportsnet, TSN added regional coverage of theOttawa Senators andToronto Maple Leafs, alongside its existing rights to Winnipeg Jets games.[3]
TheTSN Hockey name is used primarily as a blanket title for TSN's regional NHL coverage, and national segments featuring its analysts, and not used as the on-air title of the broadcasts themselves, which are branded asLeafs on TSN,Sens on TSN,Jets on TSN, andHabs on TSN respectively.
TSN began airing Toronto Maple Leafs games regionally, presented byMolson asMolson Canadian Leafs Hockey, in the1998–99 season, when they first lost the national contract. The package was originally for 30 games, but reduced to 17 once TSN re-acquired the national rights in 2002. Ten of those games were ones that TSN acquired from the NHL to air nationally. The other seven, TSN acquired from the Maple Leafs as regional games. However, TSN eventually came to an agreement with the other five Canadian clubs to air these games nationally.[4] OriginallyJoe Bowen andHarry Neale called the regional Leafs telecasts in the booth, withGlenn Healy serving as ice-level reporter from2005–06 to2006–07 season, when their deal expired, and from the2007–08 season through 2013–14, every Maple Leafs game on TSN was broadcast as a nationalNHL on TSN game.
Beginning in the 2014–15 season, owing toBell Canada's ownership stake in the Leafs' owner,Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and the loss of TSN's national cable rights, TSN began to air 26 regional games per season, split withSportsnet Ontario, and aired byTSN4.[3][5]
On January 29, 2014, theOttawa Senators announced a new, 12-year regional broadcasting deal with Bell Media that took effect in the 2014–15 season;TSN5 began to air regional Ottawa Senators games beginning in the 2014–15 season. The deal also included an extension of Bell's radio rights withCFGO, and French-language regional television rights forRéseau des sports.[6][7][8]
Upon their return to the city, TSN began broadcasting regionalWinnipeg Jets games beginning in2011, under a 10-year media rights deal with Bell Media that also included radio rights for co-ownedCFRW.[9] Winnipeg Jets games not televised nationally by the NHL's national broadcast partners are broadcast byTSN3, and are available in Manitoba,Saskatchewan,Nunavut, theNorthwest Territories, and parts ofNorthwestern Ontario.[10]
Regional Jets games were previously carried by TSN Jets, a part-time multiplex channel of TSN exclusive to the Jets' market. The TSN Jets channel was a subscription-based premium service, costing $9.95CAD per-month during the NHL season, but was available on a free preview basis for the start of the inaugural season. Despite the fee, representatives from bothMTS andShaw Cable stated that "thousands" of their customers had subscribed to the Jets channel.[11] On August 18, 2014, TSN officially confirmed that the TSN Jets feed would be discontinued, and that regional Jets games would be moved to the new TSN3 channel for the 2014–15 season.[10]
TSN's previous deal with the Canadiens ran from2010 through2014. They were broadcast on a part-time TSN feed available to digital television services in the Canadiens home market, withDave Randorf on play-by-play, alongsideDave Reid. Bell Media declined to renew its English-language rights through the 2013–14 season, althoughTSN Radio stationCKGM still owns English radio rights, andRéseau des sports replaced its national French-language rights with regional rights for the 2014–15 season.[3][12] English-language television rights to the Canadiens were acquired bySportsnet East under a three-year contract.[13]
Prior to the 2017–18 season, TSN announced that they had reacquired the English-language rights to broadcast Canadiens games, replacing Sportsnet, and now airing onTSN2.[14]John Bartlett, who handled play-by-play for Canadiens games on Sportsnet East, also moved to TSN, but returned to Sportsnet the following season.[15] Soon after, long-time TSN talentBryan Mudryk took over play-by-play duties.[16]
TSN owned the national cable rights to the NHL in Canada from1987 through1998, after which what was then calledCTV Sportsnet purchased the national cable rights to NHL games. Prior to this, TSN's NHL coverage was sparse as they only acquired gamesa la carte. From 1987–88 to 1997–98, they usually showed games twice per week through the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs they provided extensive coverage of series not involving Canadian-based teams. TSN was the first ever holder of cable rights to the NHL in Canada, although the task of acquiring these rights were complicated by contradicting statements by CBC that it did own the cable rights to the NHL, along with the involvement of competing beer companyMolson in Canadian NHL rights at the time (TSN was founded by its competitor,Labatt). With the help of a Molson employee who was a friend of TSN's founder Gordon Craig, a deal was reached between TSN, Molson, and the NHL.[17]
TSN's most recent period as national rightsholder lasted from2002 to2014. During this period, TSN usually televised three or four games per week during the regular season, with its flagship broadcast,Wednesday Night Hockey, airing on Wednesdays. In some cases, TSN took the American feed of the game (i.e.ESPN/ESPN2, NBC, OLN, Versus or the US RSNs) if it didn't involve a Canadian team.
Starting with the2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, TSN had third, fifth, seventh, and eighth choices of first-round series, third and fourth in the second round, and second in the Conference Finals. These changes allowed TSN to broadcast playoff games involving Canadian teams,[18] such as at the2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as TSN televised theCalgary Flames' first-round series against theChicago Blackhawks, the2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs when theMontreal Canadiens defeated theWashington Capitals in seven games, and the2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs when theVancouver Canucks lost in four straight games to theSan Jose Sharks.
In January 2015, after it was announced that the NHL-organizedWorld Cup of Hockey would be revived in 2016, Bell Media attempted to make a bid of nearly $32 million for its Canadian broadcast rights during a blind auction. However, broadcast rights to the tournament were instead awarded to Rogers; although Bell Media representatives refused to elaborate, the company believed that Rogers' national rights to the NHL had contained provisions allowing the company to match outside offers for such events.[19]
The1986 Canadian coverage of theNHL All-Star Game was to be provided byCTV. However,CTV had a prior commitment to carry aU.S. miniseries.[20] As a result, TSN took over coverage of the game inHartford.
James Duthie serves as the lead in-studio host with analysts includingBob McKenzie,Darren Dreger, andPierre LeBrun. Laura Diakun is a secondary studio host, primarily working on Canadiens games.Craig Button,Dave Poulin,Mike Johnson, Glenn Schiiler, andAaron Ward also contribute periodically in the studio. Mark Masters (Maple Leafs), John Lu (Jets), and Kenzie Lalonde (Canadiens) serve as in-arena hosts.
Gord Miller doesplay-by-play for both Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators regional games.Mike Johnson primarily works Maple Leafs games whileJamie McLennan andDave Poulin serve as colour commentators for a majority of Sens games.[21] In some instances where both the Maple Leafs and Senators eitherplay each other or were assigned a game on TSN on the same day, Miller would call the Maple Leafs game while either Matt Cullen or Kenzie Lalonde would call the Senators game.[22][23] On Winnipeg Jets broadcasts, Dan Robertson does play-by-play andKevin Sawyer provides colour commentary.[24] For Montreal Canadiens regional games,Bryan Mudryk work play-by-play duties while colour commentary is rotated between Dave Poulin,Frank Corrado, Mike Johnson, and Craig Button.
Miller,Dennis Beyak, Johnson, and Button are also assigned to work theWorld Junior Championships in January. During their absences, McLennan and an alternate play-by-play announcer would work both Maple Leafs and Senators games, with Mudryk substituting on occasional Senators games. Sean Campbell would replace Mudryk on its television broadcasts.[25]
The studio hosts wereJim Van Horne (1985–1994),John Wells (1989–1995), andGord Miller (1995–1998), withBob McKenzie providing studio analysis. Lead play-by-play broadcasters were Wells (1985–86),Jim Hughson (1987–1994), andPaul Romanuk (1994–1998). Color commentators wereHowie Meeker andBobby Orr (1985–86),Roger Neilson (1987–1989), andGary Green (1987–1998). Meeker was also often part of the game-night crew, providing highlights and analysis with thetelestrator.
When TSN re-acquired the national cable rights to the NHL in 2002,Pierre McGuire was hired as its lead color commentator.[26] After the2011 NHL Draft, it was announced McGuire had taken a full-time position as a reporter forNBC Sports, effective as of the 2011–12 season. McGuire still makes occasional appearances as an analyst during TSN's hockey coverage and onTSN Radio.[27][28][29]
Other broadcasters used by TSN include play-by-play announcersDan Shulman (1994–1998),Pierre Houde (1996–97),Vic Rauter (2002–2003),Dave Randorf (2002–2014), andChris Cuthbert (2005–2020); and colour commentatorsRyan Walter (1993–1998),Randy Gregg (1994–1995),Glenn Healy (2003–08), andRay Ferraro (2008–2022).
After the NHL announced that it had accepted Rogers' bid over TSN's to take over national cable rights, news sources such as theToronto Star[30] and theNational Post[31] speculated on where TSN's hockey personalities (such as James Duthie, Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Chris Cuthbert, and Gord Miller) would end up. Initially, Rogers was only able to lure Dave Randorf and Mike Johnson among TSN's major personalities. However, Mike Johnson re-joined TSN in September 2017 after being terminated by Rogers Media on August 10, 2016, and would later make appearances on American television forNHL Network and NBC Sports.[32] Despite getting offers from Rogers, Duthie instead signed a long-term contract with TSN.[33] In addition, not only did McKenzie, Dreger, Cuthbert, and Miller also decide to stay with TSN, but all four started to appear on a regular basis south of the border on NBC's hockey coverage (McKenzie, Dreger, and Cuthbert officially joined NBC, while Miller, who did occasional play-by-play work for NBC since 2011, saw an increased role).[34][35] Cuthbert moved to Sportsnet in 2020.[36]
AfterESPN (a part-owner of TSN) reacquired the American NHL national rights in 2021, the network added Ray Ferraro as one of its lead analysts (alongside former NBC talentBrian Boucher). Ferraro continued to work on TSN's Maple Leafs broadcasts while appearing concurrently on ESPN until 2022.[37][38][39]
In June 2008, CTVglobemedia acquired the rights to "The Hockey Theme" after the CBC failed to renew its rights to the theme song. A re-orchestrated version of the tune, which had been thetheme song ofHockey Night in Canada for forty years, has been used for hockey broadcasts on TSN and RDS since the fall of 2008.[40]
TSN announced on the September 24, 2008 edition ofSportsCentre the debut date for the song. It began on October 14, when theColorado Avalanche visited theCalgary Flames.
| Preceded by none | NHL English network broadcast partner in Canada 1987 -1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | NHL English network broadcast partner in Canada 2002 -2014 | Succeeded by |
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