Search For Tomlinson Replacement Should Extend Beyond Ex-Players
The Seattle Kraken, who have prospered in so many ways through out-of-the-box thinking, should apply the same standard to hiring their next radio game analyst.
Dave Tomlinson, who filled that role during the Kraken's first two seasons, resigned this summer to take a still-unspecified job in Canada.
According to a recent article by Geoff Baker in the Seattle Times, the Kraken and flagship station KJR-FM are focusing their search on ex-players. That's such inside-the-box thinking it should get sent to the penalty box, two minutes for boring.
When hiring a broadcaster, the insight gained from playing the game should certainly be considered a bonus - just not an essential. The key word is "broadcast." We don't expect movie critics to have been movie stars, or political analysts to have held elected office. They succeed by being expert observers and communicators.
As such, priority skills for the person filling the chair next to Kraken play-by-play man Everett Fitzhugh should include:
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
- undefined
Ex-players, who can be wonderful broadcasters, often aren't scrutinized for these skills. Sometimes, they aren't required to have much radio-TV experience at all.
What former pros are prized for, understandably, is their name value. When that luster fades, though, they better have established talking skills to fall back on - because there's always another shiny new ex-player waiting in the wings.
Being pithy as a player in post-game interviews is a clue, but far from a guarantee, that a player can slip seamlessly into a major league broadcast booth. Someone who's spent their life holding a hockey stick, or a baseball bat, or a football or basketball, shouldn't be assumed to be proficient holding a microphone. How could they be?
For every TNT/Kraken TV analyst Eddie Olczyk, there are dozens of former athletes ill-suited for their radio-TV jobs. This does a disservice to fans, especially radio listeners, who depend on game analysts to paint the word-pictures and dispense commentary for what they can't see.
The dream candidate would possess all of the listed qualities, and have playing experience. The model is Dallas Stars TV-radio analyst and former NHL goalie Daryl Reaugh.
During the Seattle playoff series, Reaugh approvingly described the Kraken as "a dog that nips at you and won't let go." He's funny, insightful, and armed with a vocabulary Roget's Thesaurus envies.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch lauded longtime network broadcaster Darren Pang for his "Effervescent personality, charm, humor, and crisp analysis." Fantastic broadcaster attributes - not one of which mattered a lick in helping Pang last more than 81 career NHL games. For that matter, Reaugh played only 27.
Since Reaugh and Pang are spoken for, and there aren't many like them, the Kraken and KJR would be smart to value communication skills over puck-handling skills. Someone who would attract new fans and keep the current ones engaged, even during a lopsided midweek winter game broadcast from Raleigh or Ottawa or Sunrise, FL.
If the Kraken are lucky enough to identify an effervescent, charming, humorous candidate with analytical skills, they should hire them on the spot (or propose marriage). What that candidate needn't have had is an NHL cup of coffee. I've previously told you who checks all the boxes - except he's not a former player.