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Ron MacLean returning to HNIC

herman said:
Mike Johnson has parted ways with Rogers Sportsnet, apparently of the company's volition.

Idiots.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.  Seriously, what are they thinking?  He is such an outstanding analyst.  I really thought the Healy firing was a good sign from Rogers, but this is a giant step backwards.
 
Fry-Im-Shocked-Futurama.gif


Nik the Trik said:
I get people seeing a big change to a bad product as reflexively a reason for optimism but anyone who thinks that a major problem with the show was the non-traditional cut of the suits the host was wearing probably isn't going to be making interesting choices going forward.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
herman said:
Mike Johnson has parted ways with Rogers Sportsnet, apparently of the company's volition.

Idiots.

Unbelievable, this makes no sense.

I think in order to see this as "making sense" or at least holding to an internal logic you have to ask, in retrospect, if it ever figured that the reason they moved on from Healy was for the reasons we tend to not like Healy.

In light of this, and the Strombo decision, it's clear that they're basically just moving on from anyone who falls even a little outside the norm of a traditional hockey broadcast. Healy represented the bad side of that equation but, in his forced hot takeness and attempts to be provocative, he was in his own way outside the norm.

We're going to be getting a conventional broadcast with conventional announcers giving conventional opinions wearing conventional suits.
 
On the one hand, I'm happy he is free to go somewhere that won't be hard to watch. On the other hand, most of our hockey games are on Sportsnet.
 
Not a big Mike Johnson fan. Like most of them he added very little.

The problem is that when one of them does try to express an opinion that is other than the accepted drivel, people want him fired. Agree or disagree with him at least Healy had an independent opinion. That is what makes things interesting. The same old patter is no less tedious than player "we need to take it one game at a time" soundbites just because it comes from a former player wearing a suit reading from a teleprompter according to  prearranged scripting.

Also, I honestly don't get the love for the overpaid and banal Ron MacLean. They have brought back mediocrity and tossed aside Strombo for being too "out there" after hiring him for exactly that quality. I was not particularly a Strombo fan but he was more interesting than the daily gruel that passes for hockey analysts.

I mean John Shannon? Really?

He is a TV director/ producer from the back of a truck. End of story.
 
Kind of an interesting tidbit from the SI Media podcast. Elliotte Friedman was the guest this week and in the middle of talking about the difference between HNIC on CBC and HNIC on Sportsnet he sort of casually mentioned that the CBC's relationship with The NHL was pretty frayed, particularly Bettman and MacLean.

Bettman, apparently, refused to be on HNIC if MacLean was hosting after some of their contentious interviews and the inference I got was that may have had something to do with why MacLean was replaced.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Kind of an interesting tidbit from the SI Media podcast. Elliotte Friedman was the guest this week and in the middle of talking about the difference between HNIC on CBC and HNIC on Sportsnet he sort of casually mentioned that the CBC's relationship with The NHL was pretty frayed, particularly Bettman and MacLean.

Bettman, apparently, refused to be on HNIC if MacLean was hosting after some of their contentious interviews and the inference I got was that may have had something to do with why MacLean was replaced.

David Shoalts brought that up in his article on MacLean's return as well:

Their history of contentious interviews, particularly during labour negotiations, became legendary as MacLean unapologetically took up the players? side of the debate. It culminated when Bettman was said to have vowed after an angry exchange during the 2010 playoffs that he would never come back on Hockey Night as long as MacLean was the host. MacLean said the fractious relationship likely played a role in his departure.

I posted it in the first Saturday night GDT, but it's a pretty solid article on the topic if anyone missed it: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/hockey-night-in-canada-resurrection-of-ron-maclean-nhl-rogers-hnic-don-cherry/article32350559/
 
That's funny, Friedman in an unrelated moment talked about how he got some serious splashback from the league for being too "pro-player" during the lockout.
 
Nik the Trik said:
That's funny, Friedman in an unrelated moment talked about how he got some serious splashback from the league for being too "pro-player" during the lockout.

I'm sure that's partially why a majority of fans are very pro-owners in CBA talks and player contract negotiations. The media has a lot more to lose being pro-player than pro-owner. That trickles down.
 
KW Sluggo said:
Not a big Mike Johnson fan. Like most of them he added very little.

Same thoughts here. I know a lot of people here liked him, but to me he seemed to specialize in pointing out the obvious, and added no real insight.

I really liked the TSN coverage of the Leafs/Panthers game the other night. The panel brings insight and credibility, and I'll admit that even O'Neill has grown on me a little bit as an analyst. If Friedman jumped ship and joined, that would be just about perfect.
 
Captain Canuck said:
One of my posts from a year and a half ago:

You can count me as one of those who has no interest in listening to Blundell do sports, as I tired of his juvenile humour long ago on the Edge.
In some ways it is like Strombo doing HNIC.
I will say both men are very good at their schtick, but they both have no business in sports media, nor do I care what they have to say on sports-related matters.
Dean go back to poop jokes and George go back to more intellectual matters.


Had Strombo pegged right from the get-go!  ;)

Blundell too!!  ;)
 

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