Convincing Gretzky, arguably the game’s most celebrated player, to join was no small feat. The network is aiming for hockey and culture to intersect inside the studio show where the analysts Carter, Gretzky, Rick Tocchet and Paul Bissonnette join the host Liam McHugh.

The goal is to expand and improve the experience of watching the sport by using smart technology, showing different points of access and presenting the game more authentically - like faster, sharper cuts and better camera angles - similar to how it is presented on television in Canada. They know the devoted hockey fan will tune in. Turner Sports holds the rights to televise up to 72 national games each season of the agreement, including the annual Winter Classic around New Year’s Day, half the playoffs and every other Stanley Cup finals starting in 2023.įor Craig Barry, the executive vice president and chief content officer for Turner Sports, the network’s first priority is not necessarily growing the audience.

The networks are making a large and lucrative bet that fans will continue to watch live professional sports and that hockey remains an untapped source of interest in the United States. with ESPN following NBC Sports’s longtime run as the national carrier in the United States. Turner Sports’s exploration into hockey remains in the early stages after WarnerMedia reached a $1.575 billion, seven-year deal to split the television rights for the N.H.L. “Do you ever go into a game saying, ‘I only want one point tonight and I’m going to take it easy?’ or do you go in thinking: I’m a savage. So I just felt like I’m going to follow their lead and I’m going to be the guy that kind of plays off of them.”Ĭarter, a veteran analyst who played 10 years in the N.H.L., offered Gretzky some advice after one of their first tapings. “It’s kind of like being a rookie your first game,” Gretzky said of his first night in studio. His lifetime Gucci tab, eternal devotion to sweater vests or even when he will appear on set again can all be points of discussion for dissection, roasts and jokes.

ATLANTA - Without fail, Anson Carter’s face hurts from laughing each week while filming “The NHL on TNT.” It started the first week, when the crew cracked jokes until a few seconds before the red light flashed and Wayne Gretzky interrupted the banter to ask, “What are we talking about now?”Įven the Great One is not immune from the chirping, as the crew calls it in hockey slang.

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