Sean McDonough is the new voice of the NHL on ESPN.
ESPN announced Tuesday that McDonough, the former Monday Night Football voice who called two World Series for CBS in the 1990s, will serve as the lead voice of its NHL coverage and call next year’s Stanley Cup Final. McDonough called NHL games for ESPN during the network’s previous tenure with the league from 1992-04. He fills a role that was previously occupied by Gary Thorne.
Steve Levy, who was widely considered a co-favorite for the lead play-by-play voice position, will instead serve as the network’s primary studio anchor and call select games. Linda Cohn will continue to host In the Crease on ESPN+.
Beyond McDonough and Levy, ESPN announced its complete NHL roster on Tuesday. Other play-by-play voices include the previously reported Bob Wischusen and Leah Hextall as well as SportsCenter anchor and Frozen Four voice John Buccigross.
Analysts include Mark Messier — whose hiring ESPN announced last week — and Chris Chelios, whose hiring was first reported by the New York Post on Monday. Several of ESPN’s analyst hires have been previously reported, including NHL Network’s Ray Ferraro and Kevin Weekes and NBC’s Brian Boucher, Ryan Callahan and A.J. Mleczko. Names not previously reported include Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Rick DiPietro and Hilary Knight.
Per the New York Post, Ferraro and Boucher are expected to serve as game analysts on ESPN’s Stanley Cup Final coverage.
ESPN ten new NHL analysts join Barry Melrose, who has been the network’s lone hockey analyst since the network fired Matthew Barnaby a decade ago.
ESPN’s lineup of reporters will consist of newcomer Blake Bolden alongside the returning Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan.
As for Turner, the New York Post reported Monday that NBC’s Brendan Burke is in talks to serve as the outlet’s #2 play-by-play voice behind Kenny Albert.
