NBC doesn’t make much change with their broadcasters for the sake of change. This is true in the case of their football and golf coverage, and especially in their hockey coverage, where the same two broadcast crews have called the NHL’s conference finals since they took over VERSUS in 2011. That will change for this year’s third round.
Kenny Albert, Joe Micheletti and Brian Engblom will broadcast this year’s Western Conference Final. The three-man crew will make their debut on Sunday afternoon when the Chicago Blackhawks either host the Los Angeles Kings or go on the road to take on the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of their series. That’ll be a 3 p.m. ET telecast on NBC.
Though it’s the latest he’s ever called a hockey game on television, Albert is no stranger to the big stage. He has called NFL Playoff games for Fox as well as Stanley Cup Finals for NHL Radio. Micheletti, who replaces Darren Pang, has called Stanley Cup Finals in various roles for Fox and NHL International.
Part of this crew debuted last night. Micheletti and Engblom — who will be inside the glass as usual — called Game 7 of the Kings/Ducks series on NBCSN. John Forslund continued to do play-by-play for that series, as he had since it began.
Darren Pang, who has decades of experience broadcasting hockey for ESPN, TSN, Fox’s regional networks and NBC, will not be absent from your television during the conference final. Pang will appear nightly on Fox Sports Live as the network’s hockey analyst. It is unclear if Panger will stay any longer than round three.
Pang’s usage is notable because, since the start of the playoffs, Chris Chelios hasn’t appeared on Fox Sports Live. Could the show finally be uncomfortable with him consistently picking the team he’s employed by? The network hasn’t lacked for hockey coverage, as writers Dave Lozo and Harrison Mooney have done segments for FS1 all this week.
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