- Jonah Sigel reports Ron MacLean is set to return for Rogers’ Saturday night hockey broadcast
- Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa still do not have finalized contracts
- Read below for everything else changing about Saturday nights this season
Ron MacLean is not going anywhere.
Sports media reporter Jonah Sigel put out word Tuesday that the longtime Hockey Night in Canada host is coming back for Rogers’ Saturday night package, which lines him up for a 41st season on NHL television.
“Rumblings: sounds like Ron Maclean will return to Roger’s Saturday night hockey, barring the unforeseen,” Sigel wrote.
Daily Hive added that MacLean is likely to sign a two-year contract. He started with Hockey Night in Canada in 1986-87 and spent more than three decades sitting beside Don Cherry on Coach’s Corner.
Everything around him looks different now. CBC is out of the NHL business after 74 years and kept the Hockey Night in Canada trademark, so the Saturday show needs a new name. Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi was cancelled outright.
Scott Oake retired after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Kelly Hrudey learned on June 19 that his contract would not be renewed, and he broke that news himself in a video posted to his own Instagram account:
Two more panel regulars are still waiting. Sigel said neither Elliotte Friedman nor Kevin Bieksa has a finalized deal, and that one or both have talked about picking up work with Amazon.
There is somewhere for them to land. Prime Video holds a 12-year sublicensing agreement to carry Wednesday night games in English and French starting this season, part of the 12-year rights deal Rogers signed with the league.
Not everyone greeted the MacLean news the same way. The replies under Sigel’s post filled up with fans arguing the broadcast needs a fresh voice behind the desk:
Sportsnet said earlier this month it would lay out its hockey plans in September. That is when the new Saturday show gets a name, and when the rest of the panel finally gets sorted.
