Awful Announcing
Here’s a look at the announcing assignments for the NHL’s 2025 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, with a breakdown of the matchup and the broadcasting crews. The series begins June 4, 2025. All times are Eastern.
Game 1: Wed, June 4, Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 8 p.m.
Game 2: Fri, June 6, Rogers Place, Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Game 3: Mon, June 9, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Florida, 8 p.m.
Game 4: Thu, June 12, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, 8 p.m.
Game 5: Sat, June 14, Rogers Place, Edmonton, 8 p.m.*
Game 6: Tue, June 17, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, 8 p.m.*
Game 7: Fri, June 20, Rogers Place, Edmonton, 8 p.m.*
*If necessary
In the U.S., the Stanley Cup Final airs on TNT, simulcasted on TruTV, and streams on Max. In Canada, the series airs on CBC and Sportsnet and streams on Sportsnet+.
Game commentators: Kenny Albert, Brian Boucher, Eddie Olczyk
Ice reporters: Darren Pang, Jackie Redmond
NHL on TNT Face Off (pregame, between periods, postgame): Liam McHugh, Wayne Gretzky, Paul Bissonnette, Anson Carter, Henrik Lundqvist
NHL in ASL: Jason Altmann, Noah Blankenship (an alternate telecast using American Sign Language (ASL) available on Max)
Game commentators: Chris Cuthbert, Craig Simpson
Ice reporter: Gene Principe
Hockey Central (pregame, between periods, postgame): Ron MacLean, David Amber, Kevin Bieksa, Jennifer Botterill, Elliotte Friedman, Kelly Hrudey
Game commentators: Félix Séguin, Patrick Lalime
National Radio (Sports USA): John Ahlers, Brian Boucher, Billy Jaffe
Panthers Local Radio: Doug Plagens, Bill Lindsay
Oilers Local Radio: Jack Michaels, Bob Stauffer
SiriusXM Channels: Oilers Channel 167; Panthers Channel 220; National Channel 91
Stanley Cup Final Game Night Programming:
NHL Tonight: First Shift: 4 p.m.
NHL Now: 5 p.m. (Daily)
NHL Tonight: Stanley Cup Final Pregame: 6 p.m.
NHL Tonight: Stanley Cup Final Postgame: after each game
NHL Tonight: Stanley Cup Final Edition: 6 p.m. (Travel Days)
NHL Network Stanley Cup Final Talent: Jamison Coyle, Kathryn Tappen, Brian Boyle, Jason Demers, E.J. Hradek, Billy Jaffe, Mike Johnson, Mike Rupp, Cory Schneider; Tony Luftman (Travel Day only), Ken Daneyko (Travel Day only)
This year sees a repeat of the Oilers-Panthers final from 2024 and, as a result, will likely carry many of the same ratings caveats for both the U.S. and Canada. To summarize that article from last year, a Canadian team’s involvement tends to be a positive for Canadian ratings and a negative for American ones, but not consistently to such a degree as some have claimed.
In terms of year-over-year ratings, a drop is likely this time around despite the repeat matchup, especially if this series doesn’t hit last year’s seven-game run. However, the most significant factor may be the shift from all games being on broadcast ABC to cable channel TNT. (ABC/ESPN parent Disney and TNT parent WBD trade off having the Final each year under the current media deals, which began in the 2021-22 season and run through the 2027-28 one.)
However, there are extra Canadian/American political tensions this year thanks to tariffs and “51st state” discussions. Those have seen TNT commentator Gretzky particularly spotlighted at times, including by Pablo Torre, so that could be an interesting dimension to watch. And those moments (sometimes involving Canadian player and Panthers’ media firebrand Brad Marchand, who has quite the history with the NHL on TNT crew) proved key to massive 4 Nations Face Off ratings.
While this is team-on-team (and both teams have players from the opposing country) rather than country-on-country, if some of that tension shows up here (and some Canadian media outlets are already suggesting it might), that could help juice the ratings. An interesting thing to watch will be how the ratings compare to the 4 Nations Final (an average of 9.3 million viewers on ESPN and 6.3 million Canadian viewers), and if P.K. Subban’s February comment that that new tournament could be “bigger than the Stanley Cup” holds up.
On the broadcast side, Cuthbert and Simpson are also the Sportsnet team for local Toronto Maple Leafs’ broadcasts. They (and the TSN team of Gord Miller and Mike Johnson) received a 2.97 this year in our local announcer rankings, sixth out of 32 teams. On the U.S. side, Albert isn’t currently a main local broadcaster, but has been doing substitute work for the New York Rangers, and is set to take over there from Sam Rosen (top-ranked in our poll this year) next season. Boucher and Olczyk are part of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken local broadcasts, ranked 11th and second respectively.
On the ice, many might think that a repeat Final clash shows dynastic dominance. But that certainly wasn’t shown in the regular season. Last year, the Panthers were fifth in the league with a 52-24-6 mark, while the Oilers were ninth with a 49-27-6 record. This year, Florida and Edmonton fell to ninth (43-25-3) and 10th (41-24-5) respectively. However, these teams stepped it up in the playoffs, and both won their conference finals in five games, which is why this series is starting so early.
For the Panthers, a key figure to watch is goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. He’s evolved from the old Jay and Dan joke of “the number-one cop on the force” to actually approaching that level of dominance, making his 60th straight playoff start Wednesday night. Since then, he has a 40-19 record with a 2.41 goals-against average, .911 save percentage, and six shutouts.
For the Oilers, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl remain key people to keep an eye on. McDavid has thrice won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top player, has five Art Ross Trophies as the league’s top scorer, and earned an extremely rare Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) last year despite the Oilers’ Game Seven loss. (McDavid became only the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe in a losing cause and only the second non-goalie.)
This regular season saw Draisaitl finish with 106 points (tied for third) and McDavid with 100 (sixth). McDavid then led the league with 26 points in the postseason, closely followed by Draisaitl with 25. We’ll see how this dynamic duo does in the Final.
H/T Sammy for the listings!
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.
“Do I wish I wasn’t in a position to sell three years, so we can line our rights up to 2028? The answer to that is yes.”
“I’m happy with whatever team is in the finals.”
Saturday’s match averaged just 2.04 million viewers.
The NBA Finals start tonight in Oklahoma City. ABC will have Game 1 and the entire series. NBA TV also has shoulder programming for the Finals.
“Connor is going to have to take it around the net or stop up and hit the late guy.”
“Good news, White Sox fans…”
“Do I wish I wasn’t in a position to sell three years, so we can line our rights up to 2028? The answer to that is yes.”
“I’m happy with whatever team is in the finals.”
Saturday’s match averaged just 2.04 million viewers.
The NBA Finals start tonight in Oklahoma City. ABC will have Game 1 and the entire series. NBA TV also has shoulder programming for the Finals.
“Connor is going to have to take it around the net or stop up and hit the late guy.”
“Good news, White Sox fans…”
