Sean McDonough out for USA-Finland game due to flu

ESPN’s hockey coverage has looked a bit different so far this season due to the absence of one play-by-play announcer.

Sean McDonough, ESPN’s lead NHL play-by-play voice, has yet to call a game this season despite being scheduled to work several. And he will be absent once again on Thursday night as ESPN prepares to broadcast a USA-Finland game in the Four Nations Face-Off.

On Thursday morning, ESPN changed its schedule to indicate Bob Wischusen would handle play-by-play duties alongside analyst Ray Ferraro for the United States Four Nations debut. When reached by Awful Announcing for an explanation, ESPN explained that McDonough is battling the flu, and he’s taking the game off to get his voice back to 100% for Saturday’s game between the USA and Canada.

McDonough’s absences have certainly raised eyebrows in the hockey community, however. According to Braylon Breeze, who runs a Substack focused on NHL media news, McDonough has been scheduled to call Saturday games on ABC each of the past two weekends but was later replaced by Mike Monaco both times. He was also scheduled to call an Opening Night game but couldn’t make it due to Hurricane Milton impacting his travel plans.

NEWS: Bob Wischusen has replaced Sean McDonough and will now call tonight’s USA-Finland game at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Previously—in addition to tonight’s game—McDonough had been scheduled to call an ABC Hockey Saturday game in each of the past two weeks but was replaced by Mike…

— Braylon Breeze (@Braylon_Breeze) February 13, 2025

This type of situation isn’t all too unfamiliar for Sean McDonough. Just last season, the announcer missed Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals due to illness, and was noticeably sick during his Game 3 call of the Stanley Cup Final.

Hopefully, the veteran play-by-play man will be back at 100% for Saturday’s game.