Current Game Analyst Dave Tomlinson Leaving For Canadian Gig
The Seattle Kraken are in the market for a new radio partner to accompany play-by-play man Everett Fitzhugh.
The current occupant, former NHL player Dave Tomlinson, is headed for an unspecified hockey broadcasting job in Canada. The Province and other media outlets have speculated that Tomlinson is returning to Vancouver, where he covered the Canucks from 2010-2019.
To give you context for my pick to fill the radio analyst's chair, we must first return to the most entertaining moment in Seattle sports broadcasting history.
The ridiculously on-the-nose prediction came in 2009. Mariners announcer Mike Blowers not only correctly forecast that Matt Tuiasosopo would hit a home run (his first in the majors!), but on which at-bat, on what count, and on what type of pitch.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjBfsCWgTv8[/embed]
While Blowers' prediction was absurdly specific, the best sports analysts call on a lifetime of insight to clue fans in on what will happen, before it happens.
Which brings me to Rob "Simmer" Simpson, who's been providing that kind of hockey insight for five decades, on television, in print, and online.
During Game 3 of the Kraken-Colorado Avalanche playoff series, Jamie Oleksiak had just scored to bring Seattle within a goal at 3-2. Simpson boldly told pressbox colleagues that the Kraken were going to score again, "and it won't take long." The words had barely escaped Simmer's mouth when Matty Beniers tied the game 17 seconds later.
It's not like this was an isolated incident. Simpson, who has done TV work for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, among others, has an uncanny ability to deconstruct the game. Equally valuable, he does it in a way that's easily understandable to his audience.
What's more, while Simpson takes the game seriously, he finds humor in almost every situation. When you're broadcasting a midweek December game from New Jersey, an entertaining touch is arguably more worthwhile than x's and o's breakdowns.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEHziB8JXto[/embed]
Although Simpson is half-a-foot taller and still has a full head of his own hair, he does share one trait with the legendary Howard Cosell: he tells it like it is. That's a blessing for listeners, and for the ratings of the stations airing the games. However, such candor isn't always welcomed by the teams who employ the broadcasters.
If Simmer will agree to modulate his on-air commentary just a bit - if not in what he says, then in how he says it - his filling the Kraken radio analyst role would be a big win for the Kraken and their fans.