NESN's Bruins broadcast team has long been one of the most polarizing in the NHL, and a new ranking confirms that is still the case.
In a survey conducted by The Athletic of the league's 31 TV broadcast teams, NESN's duo of Jack Edwards (play-by-play) and Andy Brickley (color) finished dead last.
The survey collected feedback from both local viewers and out-of-market viewers, with voters asked to rank broadcasts on a 0 (being "very poor") to 4 (being "very good") scale.
Jack and Brick finished with the lowest out-of-market score, falling between "poor" and "very poor." As would be expected, their in-market scores were better, placing them between "average" and "good," although the result was still a 27th-place local ranking. The combination of the two rankings landed them 31st overall.
The survey notes that Brickley "generally gets positive reviews in and out of market," but that "no other figure in NHL broadcasting attracted the same level of vitriol" as Edwards, who is widely considered the most biased play-by-play man in the league.
The survey also says that the most common complaint locally was NESN's presentation, with the dreaded ticker at the bottom of the screen coming up in numerous responses.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Hurricanes' Fox Sports Carolinas team of John Forslund (play-by-play) and Tripp Tracy (color) finished first, with the highest scores among both local and out-of-market voters.
Elsewhere, some other broadcasts with local ties did pretty well. The Vegas Golden Knights' AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain broadcast, which features former Bruins radio play-by-play voice Dave Goucher and former Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy, finished third. Alex Faust, a Northeastern alum who used to call college hockey games for NESN, and his Fox Sports West teammate Jim Fox finished 10th for their Los Angeles Kings broadcasts.
You can check out the full ranking and read more about the results here (subscription required).
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