Andi Petrillo, Blake Bolden, and Stan Bowman (L to R) on Prime Video's "Monday Night Hockey." Andi Petrillo, Blake Bolden, and Stan Bowman (L to R) on Prime Video’s “Monday Night Hockey.” (Awful Announcing on X.)
By Andrew Bucholtz on

One of the most-criticized things a broadcaster can do is downplay a serious situation that takes place away from the playing surface. The latest case of that comes from broadcaster Blake Bolden on Amazon’s Canadian NHL coverage. And that came in a desk intermission interview with Edmonton Oilers’ GM Stan Bowman during Prime Video’s Monday Night Hockey broadcast of the Oilers’ home clash with the New Jersey Devils Monday.

There, about one minute into a larger interview with Bowman, Bolden discussed his return to a NHL executive role. That came this summer when he was named Edmonton’s GM, three years after he resigned as the Chicago Blackhawks’ president of hockey operations in the wake of an independent investigation that found the organization mishandled reports of sexual assault from former player Kyle Beach against former video coach Brad Aldridge. And Bowman got the Oilers’ job only shortly after the NHL reinstated him. But Bolden’s approach to Bowman’s past was quite mild, to say the least:

As noted there, Bolden asks “You’ve taken a little bit of time off, three years to be specific, and now in your new role as a GM, how have you had a new outlook on this role?” And this does actually get a notable response from Bowman.

“I think sometimes when you have some time away you can reflect and try to look at things that you can do differently and do better. And I had a chance to grow a little bit. And the big thing I focused on was trying to improve the culture of the game.

“And I had a chance to work with some great people, and we did some fun things with junior teams, and some college teams. We brought that this year to our team in Bakersfield, in the American league [the AHL], trying just to make sure that the environment is a positive one where these players can show up and be themselves and be welcomed by the team.”

The response there from Bowman certainly isn’t going to impress everyone, especially with the lack of specifics on what he’s learned. But Bolden’s question did get him to comment on this in some fashion, and there is some merit to having his comments on the record.

However, the specific way Bolden avoided why Bowman had that time out of the NHL (and was not just unwanted by teams during that period, but was actually barred by the league) and painted it as his decision to take “time off” was far from great. And that drew a lot of flak. Here’s some of that.

Bolden, a former NWHL and CWHL player and a scout with the Los Angeles Kings, started a broadcasting career with ESPN last year. She was then named to Prime Video’s star-studded new Canadian Monday Night Hockey team this fall. So she is relatively new to broadcasting, but does have some experience in that particular field, and certainly has a lot of experience around hockey. But the way she approached this particular question to Bowman drew a lot of criticism.

[Awful Announcing on X]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz