ESPN has officially announced its coverage team for the National Hockey League on Tuesday, as the network prepares to begin its coverage of the league this upcoming season.
The NHL is returning to ESPN next season for the first time since 2004, with the league leaving NBC after agreeing to seven-year deals with both ESPN and Turner Sports.
It will be Sean McDonough who will be the top play-by-play voice for ESPN's NHL coverage. McDonough most notably served as the network's Monday Night Football play-by-play voice for two seasons in 2016 and 2017.
McDonough has called both NHL and college hockey games for ESPN in the past. He also called Olympic hockey for CBS in 1998. He has been ESPN's No. 2 college football play-by-play voice in recent years, and has also called MLB, NBA and college basketball games.
McDonough was the TV play-by-play voice for the Red Sox from 1988-2004 and returned to Red Sox broadcasts on the radio side with WEEI for select games each of the last three seasons.
Steve Levy will serve as the lead studio host, and will also do some play-by-play action throughout the season. John Buccigross, Bob Wischusen and Leah Hextall also feature on ESPN's NHL play-by-play roster.
ESPN's team of analysts will feature many notable names, including Hockey Hall of Famers Mark Messier and Chris Chelios. Ray Ferraro, Brian Boucher, Cassie Campbell-Pascal, Kevin Weekes, A.J. Mleczko, Rick DiPietro and Hilary Knight are among the newcomers to ESPN's NHL coverage, while Barry Melrose will continue to serve as an analyst.
Also joining the ESPN team for NHL coverage is Rochester native Ryan Callahan, who has been with NHL Network and NBC Sports as an analyst since 2019.
Linda Cohn, a longtime staple of ESPN's hockey coverage, will continue to host "In the Crease", a nightly show on ESPN+, and anchor "SportsCenter" while also contributing to NHL coverage across other shows and platforms.