Hockey Hall of Famer and six-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier headlines a group of analysts and commentators who will call Amazon Prime’s inaugural “Monday Night Hockey” Canadian broadcast during the upcoming NHL season, the league and Prime Video announced Monday.
Messier “will share 10 captivating segments featuring stories from his legendary career to air throughout the season,” per a post to X from Sports on Prime Canada. A former center, Messier played 25 seasons in the NHL, including stints with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.
Lights, camera, Prime. 🎬
Introducing the broadcast talent squad for Prime Monday Night Hockey. pic.twitter.com/hlbtygMc85
— Sports on Prime Canada (@SportsOnPrimeCA) September 23, 2024
Adnan Virk and Andi Petrillo will co-host from the on-site desk each week. Blake Bolden will join them in an analyst role, as will different local guests throughout the season. John Forslund will be the play-by-play announcer while Jody Shelley, Thomas Hickey and Shane Hnidy join the crew as analysts.
Canadian fans can catch “Prime Monday Night Hockey” beginning on Oct. 14. when the Montreal Canadiens take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. ET. The program will cover “all national regular-season Monday night NHL games in English throughout the 2024-25 season for Prime Members in Canada,” per the announcement.
What the cast brings
Messier is the biggest name here, but Forslund is the biggest get for Amazon and Canadian fans. The current Seattle Kraken play-by-play man and former Hurricanes voice has emerged in recent years on both NBC Sports and TNT as a potential heir apparent to Doc Emrick as the voice of hockey in the United States.
He’s as good as it gets in the modern broadcasting landscape. We’ll see which of the trio of analysts settles into the primary color role and who ends up between the benches or in a sideline interviewer role, but Hnidy certainly has the experience edge.
Messier has been a lead studio analyst for ESPN. He has his moments, but can come across a little stiff. If Amazon is indeed leaning on him more for pre-taped segments leaning on the likely endless stories he has to tell from his playing days, it’ll be a better use of him.
Just about every ex-player is better at talking about the glory days than the current days. Virk and Petrillo are seasoned pros, and Bolden is a rising voice on ESPN’s coverage with elite professional hockey experience who also has a community role with the Los Angeles Kings.
Amazon certainly isn’t reinventing the wheel here, but it’s a smartly constructed studio that should lend the streamer some credibility as it breaks into the NHL space. The most exciting development is the “NHL Coast to Coast” whip-around show.
NFL RedZone has been a massive hit for years now, and it’s often been imitated (most recently by Peacock’s Olympic coverage) but never even close to duplicated. NHL Network has had an “On The Fly” show for years with live look-ins around the league, but a true RedZone-like channel would be a godsend for hockey fans, especially on those busy nights when nearly all the teams are playing.
American fans, alas, will have to keep waiting for their version. — Mark Lazerus, senior NHL writer
Required reading
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
