Pierre McGuire on NBCSN.

There’s a report out there from Rick Carpiniello (The Athletic’s New York Rangers reporter) that would represent a massive change in the U.S. hockey broadcasting landscape, with Pierre McGuire off NBC’s top NHL broadcasting team and Brian Boucher (also a long-running NBC analyst) replacing him. McGuire will still reportedly be calling other games for NBC, though.

Here are Carpinello’s tweets:

Meanwhile, John Ourand of Sports Business Journal tweeted a statement from NBC that didn’t really confirm or deny this, only commenting on their opening-night alignment (which is Emrick/Olcyzk/Boucher, with McGuire on the late game):

So we’ll see if this move actually happens for the season, or if it’s just an opening night move. But if it is season-long, that will be notable one. The 58-year-old McGuire has been a key NBC figure for over a decade, first joining them in 2006 (in a part-time role while still at TSN) and heading to the network full-time in 2011, and he’s been on the lead broadcast team with Emrick and Olczyk all that time, serving as an “inside the glass” (on the bench) reporter/analyst.

But that hasn’t always gone well. While some viewers like McGuire, there’s been a lot of criticism of him dating back to his time with TSN (and with Montreal radio station CJAD before that), with much of that continuing through his run with NBC. Particular elements McGuire has taken criticism for include awkward conversations with fellow broadcasters and athletes, dubious non-reporting, patronizing remarks, and an inexplicable devotion to telling us where everyone played junior hockey.

Here are a selection of some (not all) of the McGuire highlights over the years:

So, if this move does come to fruition and McGuire is used in a smaller role this year, that’s not exactly going to be met with a lot of disappointment from many hockey fans. Especially those who use the long-running #ShutUpPierre hashtag. But if this is just a one-night move, then those fans will have plenty of prominent  McGuire commentary to listen to in the days ahead.

[Rick Carpiniello on Twitter]

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.