Major changes coming to Hockey Night in Canada; Ron MacLean, others reportedly out
Rogers and the NHL reached a 12-year agreement worth $5.2B that began during the 2014-15 season and will end at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season. Since Rogers and Sportsnet became the national distributor of NHL games, fans have not been overly pleased with how things have been produced. From the lack of actual game analysis in intermissions, to broadcasting the same game across all 7 of their Sportsnet channels, to the host and panel, there has not been overwhelming support for any one thing from fans.
We have seen a number of media personalities lose their jobs recently thanks to studio closures and show cancellations by both Bell and Rogers and with how poorly things have gone since Rogers obtained the national broadcast rights. Now, there are reportedly expected to be major changes coming. According to Toronto reporter Howard Berger, only Elliotte Friedman will continue to be present on Sportsnet's broadcasts. It doesn't really come as a surprise given that Sportsnet lost its only other "insider" Chris Johnston to TSN. That means the likes of Ron McLean, Jennifer Botterill, Kelly Hrudey and the only fan favourite, Kevin Bieksa will not be returning to the panel for the upcoming season.
Berger mentioned that it has not been confirmed if some or all of them will no longer be with Sportsnet when the new season starts, but did state that if they weren't, it is due to cost saving measures. A positive from this that some may not agree with is that we will no longer have to listen to McLean's opening poems or terrible transitions between topics and segments. McLean has been urged by fans for years to retire and those urges came to a head following the Don Cherry debacle in 2019.
Not having Botterill or Hrudey likely won't raise too many arms, but with reports that Bieksa may not be returning, social media has gone into a frenzy. Bieksa joined the panel in 2020 and quickly became a fan favourite with his personality, jokes and understanding of the modern game. He was often the reason people tuned into the intermission and pre-game shows over the past few seasons.
Personally, I haven't watched a pre-game or intermission show on Sportsnet in years because of how terrible they have been so maybe some "new blood" and focusing more on analysis of games and overall entertainment value rather than telling stories that very few are actually interested in will help bring back viewers.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 13 | 3870 ANSWERS Major changes coming to Hockey Night in Canada; Ron MacLean, others reportedly out If you could have one member of the current panel carry on, who would it be? | ||
| Ron MacLean | 645 | 16.7 % |
| Jen Botterill | 242 | 6.3 % |
| Kevin Bieksa | 2541 | 65.7 % |
| Kelly Hrudey | 442 | 11.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
