Anton Kox

The production quality of the broadcasts are the brightest spot, with the audio, camerawork, and graphics being above-average to excellent. The score bug might need to be updated, being from 2015 and lacking info such as SOG (Shots on Goal) that the opposite Canadian broadcasts feature, but it is still relatively sleek. Could also use more thoughtful film features during the pre-game and intermissions, as well as more "teases" before big games such as in the playoffs to make them feel more important, as seen in other sports. The rest, however, kind of drops off from there. The matchups are fatiguing, with a hierarchy of northeastern teams receiving the majority of attention no matter their performance, specifically the Bruins, Rangers, Flyers, Penguins, Capitals, and Blackhawks (which is the only geographical exception). The commentary crews are also mediocre to highly questionable. Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk have still got the ability to call games at a high-level, well deserving of the #1 team, but who they are partnered with are not so much. Pierre McGuire is downright annoying, and Brian Boucher (the other rinkside analyst/reporter often partnered with them) is extremely vanilla, even for game analyst standards. Meanwhile, the secondary crews are in further disarray, with moves such as NBC forcibly removing experienced announcers such as Chris Cuthbert, Joel Micheletti, Gord Miller, and Ray Ferraro down the list in favor of inexperienced announcers, like Brendan Burke too quickly up and the quality of the broadcast suffers. However, the wide consensus is that the biggest issue by far is the studio personalities. Mike Millbury comes off as an old grouch whining about the modern game, Jeremy Roenick is too dry, and while good at sports broadcasting, the hosts in Katherine Tappen and Liam McGugh are not casual enough to use these personalities in a light that could make the show entertaining, like a show such as "Inside the NBA" thrives at. So, the show instead becomes either a robotic bore or an insufferable trainwreck. Overall, it still could be much worse. However, there is still much room for improvement, which does look like is being at the very least attempted.