NEWSLETTER
On Thursday morning morning, the Chicago Blackhawks announced their new color voice in the television booth this coming season: Darren Pang.
This past season, the Blackhawks used a hybrid approach to their television crew with Patrick Sharp and Troy Murray swapping time next to Chris Vosters, the lead play-by-play voice. Chicago was moving forward with a rebuild in the booth as well, departing from the duo of Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk.
Panger, despite being 5-foot-5, appeared in 81 games as a goaltender for the Blackhawks back in the 1980s. He’s been with TNT this season and has worked on St. Louis Blues home broadcasts, and was previously on NBC’s broadcast team.
I remember back when the Blackhawks were terrible before Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane arrived, when they used to have alumni sign autographs in the concourse between periods, Panger was one of the invited former players. His line moved the slowest of any I can recall because he had no problem talking to fans for as long as they would let him before moving the line along.
I love love love the move for the Blackhawks. Pang brings an infectious enthusiasm to his broadcasts and will be a lot of fun to listen to in the booth.
There have already beeen more changes to the overall broadcast team for the Blackhawks. Colby Cohen tweeted that he’s leaving the Blackhawks and NBC teams on Wednesday morning.
This does raise the question of how Sharp fits into the overall picture; I mentioned previously that there have been whispers Turner might look to him as a potential replacement for Keith Jones, who is leaving to become the president of the Flyers after the Stanley Cup Final. Now that Turner is losing both Jones and Pang, that might be a more likely reality.
