Pierre McGuire Gets Bounced From NBC's #1 Hockey Broadcast Team, And He Deserved Better
Pierre McGuire is the Nickelback of the hockey world. Which is kind of ironic considering that hockey fans are mostly Canadian and are massive Nickelback fans. But Pierre McGuire is the guy who hockey fans hate just because they love having someone/something to hate. It’s not that you actually hate Pierre McGuire, but it’s that you think you’re supposed to hate him. It’s so much easier to just say “shut up, Pierre” than to speak the truth and admit that he actually adds a nice little touch to the broadcast. Did he go overboard sometime with all of his useless knowledge for every single player in the NHL? Of course he did. I didn’t need to know the exact pro shop where PK Subban bought a stick before a game as a 10-year-old when he scored 5 goals and had 2 assists. I didn’t need to know the guys name at Tim Horton’s who once took the order of Eric Staal when he first arrived to Peterborough to play for the Peterborough Petes.
But you know what? You’re going to miss those little tidbits of information when he’s gone. You’re going to miss hearing the name of the skating instructor who used to give 4:30am lessons to Clayton Keller before he would go off to school in 3rd grade. You’re going to miss hearing about the name of the rink that Ryan O’Reilly first grew up playing at and how the Zamboni driver still keeps in contact with him to this day. And maybe it’s not because you’ll miss the actual information itself, but you’re going to miss having Pierre there annoying the everliving shit out of you and the rest of the broadcast team during each game he calls.
I understand he would chime in with useless nonsense and never knew when he should just tone it down and let the game speak for itself. And I also understand if you hate Pierre McGuire as a coach or general manager. But just know that when Doc and Edzo are on the calls this year, a little piece of you is going to wish that rat Pierre was down between the boards trying to work his way into the middle of a conversation between Crosby and Ovechkin. I’m sure that Brian Boucher will do a fine job filling in, but it’ll just never be the same again.