Here's what could add some life into Sportsnet's dull Hockey Night In Canada show
Despite the limitations in Game 1, Bieksa was able to stand out as the broadcast sprawled into Thursday and nearly to a second overtime session. In the intermission prior to OT, he correctly touted Leon Draisatl to net the game winner, based on the way that he was playing and a lighter workload in ice time. In the post-game show, his analysis of how a sequence of four quick passes between Corey Perry, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid freed up room in front of the Panthers net where he buried the winner behind goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Even with his limitations, as it stands now, Bieksa is the closest thing Sportsnet's hockey coverage has to a star. He took to the craft quickly and has steadily improved. Like he was on the ice, the former defenceman isn't afraid to poke the bear on the panel, even if it occasionally gets lost in puns and inside jokes that are too often the verbal currency of MacLean.
For our money, Bieksa and TSN's Jeff O'Neill stand above the rest in their craft and not by a small margin. Both are insightful. Both are able to inject personality into their analysis. They may not be Barkley level of entertainer, but at least they bring an element of it to their craft.
However, if Bieksa is going to flourish into the go-to voice any broadcast needs to captivate viewers, he'll need to be allowed to do so. Kevin Bieksa on the Sportsnet broadcast for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 4, 2025.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman may be known most for the 'insider' content he brings, but he brought the sharpest analysis to the first period goaltender interference challenge the Oilers made on a Sam Bennett collision with their goalie, Stewart Skinner. 'It was a huge call in the first period of Stanley Cup Final Game 1 … you know the league doesn't want to take goals off the board,' Friedman said of the denied challenge, a pivotal early play. 'Both goalies are going to tell their players if you feel contact, go back towards the crease because that's OK.' … While clearly a fan of the physical game, Bieksa cautioned that the series won't necessarily be settled by whoever punishes the most. 'It's not just about who plays harder, but who plays smarter,' Bieksa said, noting the Oilers ability to score off the rush and free up space at they did on the game winner … One of our bigger beefs with the Hockey Night show is its annoying tendency to get too cute. That opening, with each member of the panel reading a movie's name off a cue card, was a long-winded and confusing way to get to the point that the Final was a sequel of last year's matchup. 'I wasn't clever enough to piece all that together,' co-host David Amber told MacLean after the dragging bit mercifully concluded. Amber wouldn't have been alone on that island … Having the studio crew on site for championship round games is standard operating procedure in all the sports, but it can be awkward/annoying when panels have to yell to be heard.
The indignation of Oilers supporters when their familiar crew Jack Michaels and analyst Louie Debrusk were lifted for Sportsnet's top dogs of Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson for the Western Conference final was both familiar and comical.
Did anyone really think that Sportsnet wasn't going to put its top crew on the biggest series once the Leafs were eliminated? Did anyone really think that the network was trying to foist more Toronto on Western Canada?
No and no are the correct answers.
Such as fandom and attachment to home-team broadcast crews, Michaels and Debrusk were never going to work beyond the second round once the Leafs were ousted.
Whether those complaints, as outlined by Postmedia's David Staples, were a factor or not, Oilers fans did get one of their men for the final, with Edmonton's own Gene Principe justly getting the rink reporter assignment for the Final.
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