NEW YORK — Cam Janssen said he could not stop trembling during a mock interview at the NHL Broadcast Training Camp. Janssen, who spent nine seasons in the NHL as an enforcer, appears on television in St. Louis and co-hosts a hockey podcast, but holding a microphone for a simulated interview with a stand-in Rod Brind’Amour left him shaking. “I’m shaking. I’m sweating through this,” he said afterward. “The coffee didn’t help, either.” Ashlyn Sullivan of NBC Sports Philadelphia stood in as Brind’Amour during the exercise.
The two-day seminar at NHL headquarters in early July brought eight current and former players to Manhattan for a crash course in working on television. TV personalities from ESPN, TNT and NHL Network ran participants through game broadcasts, intermission debates and in-game interviews, while network executives offered guidance on topics ranging from social-media strategy to the “temperature of their hot takes.”
Participants found on-air work could be as nerve-rattling as competition on the ice. “I thought I was going to be good at a couple of these, and I didn’t think I was. All of a sudden, I was nervous,” Janssen said. He compared the experience to playing, saying a momentum-changing play and the energy shift that follows can lift a player through adversity: “Honestly, it’s like playing a game. I turn a puck over a couple times. I get smacked around on the bench. Then I go out there, have a big hit and have an energy shift. Now everybody’s happy again.”
The previous two camps have created or enhanced several on-air talents. The program’s most notable graduate was former NHL defenseman and current ESPN analyst Erik Johnson, who attended in 2024. ESPN’s Johnson has taken on roles that include color commentary and rinkside reporting on some broadcasts while also conducting formal sit-down interviews; one example cited at the camp had Johnson getting Nathan MacKinnon to discuss a memorable moment involving a small stuffed animal.
Steve Mayer, president of NHL content and events, praised the players’ approach. “Some of the players just have a natural ability to be able to work in this business, and for others it’s going to take a little work. But what I love is the passion that they all have for being here. They’re really good students,” Mayer said. Noah Coslov, ESPN senior director for on-air talent recruitment and development, said successful transitions require understanding the work involved and “being OK with a paycheck that’s less than what they’re used to making,” and noted that players must broaden how they consume hockey to deliver it effectively to fans at home.
