Mike Milbury is officially done at NBC Sports. The network made the announcement in a statement released to multiple media outlets on Monday.
"We are grateful to Mike for all of his contributions to our coverage for 14 years, but he will not be returning to our NHL announce team. We wish him well," the statement reads.
Milbury left the playoff bubble over the summer and did not appear on any more broadcasts after saying during a game broadcast, "Not even any women here to disrupt your concentration."
There was widespread backlash to the remark and the NHL condemned it as "insensitive and insulting." A couple days later, Milbury released a statement saying he decided to step away for the remainder of the playoffs so as not to be a distraction.
While a return for the 2021 season seemed unlikely, his departure wasn't publicly confirmed as permanent until Monday.
Milbury had come under criticism for a number of other comments in the past as well. He once called Daniel and Henrik Sedin “Thelma and Louise.” He once said then-Penguins coach Dan Bylsma “should have taken off his skirt” and confronted an opposing coach. He called P.K. Subban, one of the few Black players in the NHL, a “clown” for dancing to music during warmups. He referred to Russian hockey as “Eurotrash,” feeding into the same anti-European biases that have frequently gotten Don Cherry in trouble. He was also once charged with assaulting a 12-year-old at a pee-wee hockey game.
Earlier in the 2020 playoffs, he compared the empty arena in the bubble to a women’s college hockey game, a cheap shot that ignored the fact that women’s college games actually do draw crowds. He criticized Tuukka Rask for leaving before having all the facts of that situation. And he suggested Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin may have been faking an injury to draw a penalty call on a play that actually ended with Muzzin needing to be stretchered off the ice.
NBC on Monday also announced its team of play-by-play voices, analysts and studio hosts for the upcoming season. Longtime lead play-by-play voice Mike "Doc" Emrick retired this offseason. Among the notable additions to its studio shows are former Red Wings and Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock and former Bruins center Dominic Moore.