NHL Puck Drop 2022: NHL on TNT Returns as Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Gears Up for Stanley Cup Season
The team will produce 62 regular-season games, Stanley Cup Playoff, and its first Stanley Cup Final
Story Highlights
The puck dropped on the new NHL season last night, and a championship campaign gets under way tonight with the return of NHL on TNT for year two, one that will culminate in the Stanley Cup Final produced by the newly rebranded Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (formerly Turner Sports) for the first time in its history.
“It is going to be a special season because [crowning a champion is] not something that we get to do very often,” says Lee Estroff, director, technical operations, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports. “I think it’s going to be a unique season. Throughout the season, we’re going to be experimenting with some new technologies that will make its way into the playoffs and the Stanley Cup final, so it’s going to be exciting from a technology standpoint.”
NHL coverage on TNT begins with the Boston Bruins at the Washington Capitals (7 p.m. ET), followed by the raising of the 2022 Stanley Cup championship banner in Denver when the Colorado Avalanche host the Chicago Blackhawks (9:30 p.m.). NHL on TNT has a 62-game regular season lined up — highlighted by the NHL Winter Classic between Pittsburgh and Boston at Fenway Park — before a busy Stanley Cup Playoff, which the broadcaster will balance in sync with its coverage of the NBA Playoffs.
According to Estroff, the NHL on TNT team will come out of the gates with authority tonight, rolling out production levels comparable to its coverage of the Western Conference Final (one that the champion Avalanche made quick work of last spring with a sweep of the Edmonton Oilers). That means an expanded camera complement that includes 11 super slo-mos, a high-frame-rate camera in each net, AnkleCam (which positions a cue-ball camera behind glass in a cutout of the corner boards), and multiple robos sprinkled throughout the arenas.
Those production levels, combined with a clear commitment to the game, helped attract fans to the NHL on TNT brand in its inaugural campaign a year ago. That and a compelling and entertaining studio show — a factor for which the broadcaster draws on many years of success with Inside the NBA.
“We came out strong, and we supersized our shows,” notes Estroff. “We bring all the enhancements: the cameras, slo-mos, graphics enhancements, audio enhancements. That’s what we do, and I think it was noticed. We’re going to carry that momentum into the season.”
With a doubleheader on most nights, the primary NHL on TNT production truck for the lead production team remains NEP ND5, and the second game is handled by NEP ND6. Estroff adds that the familiar trucks add a comfort level for the production and operations teams, which include Director, Technical Operations, Chris Brown; Technical Operations Manager David Cabeza; Lead Tech Manager Eric Grossman; and Remote Engineering and Operations Manager Jeff Millet.
NHL on TNT coverage begins tonight with a doubleheader: the Boston Bruins at the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. ET and the raising of the 2022 Stanley Cup championship banner in Denver when the Colorado Avalanche host the Chicago Blackhawks at 9:30 p.m.
