Rating the NHL's Best Voices

As the NHL All-Star Break continues, keep up with FanHouse's coverage of hockey's unofficial midway point.

One of my favorite hockey-related shows on NHL Network is Voices. As a hockey broadcaster myself, it is neat to watch how the best in the business prepare to go on the air, and how they interact with the best athletes on the planet.

Watching Voices made me start wondering who the best really were. With that in mind, I took advantage of a Center Ice subscription and an active remote, watching every team's local broadcast as many times as I could stomach.

I came to a few conclusions.

Mike Emrick is so good he deserves his own category. I feel bad excluding him from this list, but I do it because he's that much better than everyone. He is to hockey broadcasting what Vin Scully is to baseball broadcasting, and anyone who watches a lot of baseball knows it's pointless to try to compare any baseball voice to Scully. Kind of like how you'd never try to seriously compare an upcoming draft pick to Wayne Gretzky.

The toughest part about calling the same team's games for an entire season is telling enough stories and having enough stuff on your team to keep people interested. You can only tell the audience about Zach Parise's hockey family so many times before they just get sick of hearing it. Emrick gets it, and he also gets that the audience doesn't mind knowing things about the backgrounds of players on the opposing team.

Just don't tell them too much about Scott Gomez anymore.

I found myself getting sucked in by networks doing lots of games in high definition. Watch three or four games in HD, and then try to flip to the Center Ice feed of a Calgary game on Rogers SportsNet. It's ridiculous. Why would you want to watch the standard definition game?

The only exception to this is when they give us a Montreal game from RDS. I can't understand a word anyone says unless they're calling a player by name, but I can't turn the channel.

I tried to discount the quality of the visual presentation when rating the broadcasters, but I apologize in advance for the possibility that I became biased in favor of local broadcasters who presented a majority of their games in HD.

Canadian is better. Outside of the fact that Center Ice never gives us games from Canadian providers in HD, their broadcasts are generally so much better. CBC and TSN kick the living crap out of Versus, and I think the various Rogers SportsNet crews do very good work.

On to my rankings. Keep in mind that this top ten was compiled unscientifically, and it was based on a number of factors.

I think accuracy of the play call, enthusiasm, limited homerism (I don't mind bias, but I don't need to be told that every call against your team is terrible, either), and a good grasp of the game are good and necessary traits for an announcing crew. Those who rely too much on pre-determined storylines or suck up to Sidney Crosby too much (especially in games not involving Pittsburgh) were docked. You have to be able to call what you see, not what you expected to see.

Honorable Mention

Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin (Washington). Beninati is almost unwatchable at times on Versus, but he's very good with the Capitals. I love his enthusiasm, and one of my favorite calls of last year's playoffs was his very simple but strangely accurate "Boom!" on an Alexander Ovechkin one-timer in Game 6 against Philadelphia. Laughlin plays a bit of a straight-man, providing thoughtful analysis without going overboard.

Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe (N.Y. Islanders). These guys do very good work covering a very bad team. When the franchise player is almost perpetually injured, it can be easy to get caught up talking about how the injuries affect everyone, but Rose and Jaffe forge ahead and do a good job making the game the story.

Joe Bowen and Greg Millen (Toronto). I'm watching the Leafs get blown out one night, and it strikes me that Bowen calls the game the same way when it's 5-0 or whatever as he does when it's tied in the final minute of regulation. I tend to think this is a good quality in a broadcaster, though it can get old when your team is always getting blown out. Millen is a good analyst. I'd suggest he not try to get into front-office work using his last name.

Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey (Pittsburgh). Possibly the toughest TV job in the NHL is the one where you follow Crosby around. Oddly enough, the national media types are more concerned with talking about Crosby than Pittsburgh's guys are. Steigerwald and Errey sure do say nice things about the Penguins' captain, but they rarely go overboard. NBC should try that tact.

Andy Brickley (Boston). First off, he's a really good analyst. Secondly, he puts up with Jack Edwards. He should get an award.

The Top Ten

10. Ralph Strangis and Daryl Reaugh (Dallas). Strangis calls a great, accurate game, just like I'd expect a radio guy to. Reaugh can go overboard showing off the vocabulary sometimes, but he's a fun listen and it's clear he knows the game.

9. Steve Goldstein and Denis Potvin (Florida). Since no one watches Panther games in Florida, I take it upon myself to watch from Minnesota. These guys are rock-solid, with good chemistry and a very good understanding of the game. I have no complaints.

8. John Kelly and Bernie Federko (St. Louis). I love Kelly's "Thank you! Thank you!" line after a big Blues goal. His enthusiasm for the game is obvious whenever you listen to him, but never more than when the good guys win. It's the definition of what a homer announcer is supposed to be, and Kelly never goes overboard, like a certain Boston Bruins television announcer many of you may know.

7. Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond (Detroit). Daniels famously filled in for an ill Ken Kal in the Wings' Cup-clinching win over Pittsburgh last season. It's not hard to bring it as a broadcaster when you're calling games for a team this good, but give Daniels and Redmond credit, because they are just as consistently solid as the team on the ice is.

6. Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda (San Jose). I don't get to watch a ton of Sharks games because of the West Coast start times, but the times I have stayed up late enough, Hahn and Remenda don't disappoint. I'm not aware of any national gigs for Remenda at this point (he worked for CBC in the past), but he should have one if he wants one. He's probably the best analyst among the local broadcasters who doesn't have a national gig "on the side".

5. John Shorthouse and John Garrett (Vancouver). I couldn't wait for my first chance to catch the Canucks on Rogers SportsNet this season. It was the first time since I got Center Ice that Jim Hughson wasn't their regular play-by-play guy. Shorthouse stepped into the shoes of the second-best play-by-play guy on the planet (Hughson is with CBC as the main Hockey Night in Canada guy now) and has done a great job. Hughson isn't old enough to be called a legend, but Shorthouse's work "replacing" him has been outstanding. Most guys in his shoes would have fallen flat on their face.

4. Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale (Buffalo). Jeanneret is a legend in Buffalo, and rightfully so. I've talked to Sabres fans who want the team to win a Cup for him. He's an acquired taste, no question, but he's also leads this group in overall enthusiasm. Neale is a good compliment, as he still knows the game, even though he isn't as sharp as he used to be.

3. Sam Rosen and Joe Michelletti (N.Y. Rangers). This is a great pair. They get "it" and they always will. There's a certain comfort you get when you turn on the Rangers feed and see these guys. They're rock-solid, never put themselves above the game, and even though both have national profiles, they're not afraid to show a little bias. Rosen calls a great game. He has good genes, too. I heard his son, Matt, call a college game between Michigan and Minnesota over Thanksgiving weekend. I came away very impressed with his work.

2. Dave Strader and Darren Pang (Phoenix). When I call games and the analyst jumps my call of a play, it better be something special. If it's something special, I have no problem with it, but it becomes annoying when they do it just to get their voice on the air. I've always thought Pang towed the line very well. Since he's been working with Strader on Coyotes games, I know he's towed it well. If he ever crossed that line and became annoying, Strader wouldn't let him get away with it. This is a case of two old pros who know the game and know how to present a game on television. Coyotes fans - all 42 of them - should consider themselves lucky to have Strader and Pang around.

1. Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk (Chicago). When I heard that the Blackhawks were bringing back Pat Foley to do television, I almost wanted to throw a party. If there is a hockey voice working today who has even a chance of someday being close to what Emrick is, it's Foley. Not only does he call a great game, but he still has a childlike love for hockey. Olczyk is much better with the Blackhawks games, as he doesn't have to put up with NBC's way of putting the game on the teevee, and he also doesn't have to deal with the dude inside the glass calling him "Edzo" every 15 seconds.