5. St. Louis Blues
The Broadcast: Bally Sports Midwest carries Blues games, with John Kelly on play-by-play and Darren Pang doing color. Jamie Rivers fills in for Pang when Pang fulfills his national TV responsibilities.
Local ranking: 8
National ranking: 5
Last season: 4 (tied)
The results: The St. Louis Blues’ fortunes uncharacteristically sagged on the ice this past season, but the performance of their broadcast crew continued to stand out.
In our survey Blues fans lavished praise on the storytelling ability and overall quality of John Kelly’s play-by-play call. Darren Pang’s energy, positivity and knowledge were frequently cited as draws by Blues fans that participated in our poll.
“Panger and Kelly are knowledgeable, professional, honest but not afraid to be critical, and have great chemistry,” one Blues fan wrote. “A pleasure to listen to.”
While many of the responses we collected specifically cited Pang’s signature “Holy Jumpin” catchphrase, the personality that Pang brings to the broadcast received some scattered criticism. Even those who weren’t necessarily fans of Pang’s earnest, high-energy schtick expressed respect for his technical skill as an analyst and broadcaster.
“Panger’s “Holy Jumpin’” is a little goofy,” one Blues fan noted, “but he’s so knowledgable, well connected, and insightful the goofiness is worth it.”
The Blues broadcast has been a fixture in the upper third of our broadcast rankings, but has undergone a bit of change with the expansion of Pang’s national broadcasting responsibilities in recent seasons. Pang, who will be working the Stanley Cup Final for TNT, has yet to be renewed for next season.
“Losing Panger to the national broadcasts hurt a bit,” one Blues fan noted of Pang’s role, “but when he’s down on the ice, the Blues have the NHL’s best crew. Happy for Panger, and Rivers did just fine, but Panger’s enthusiasm and ability to talk about goaltending is elite.”
by STLBooze3
12 Comments
I have some choice words for those bad mouthing Panger.
Not a Rivers fan but love JK and Panger
I can’t stand Pang. He isn’t a Blues guy and he never shuts up. He’s always interrupting Kelly.
I’ve never heard a bad word about Panger and I refuse to ever hear one. That man is a national treasure.
Anyone calling Panger natural personality a “schtick” ought to be taken out back and shot
With these digital board ads, every broadcast is bad.
Blackhawks were ranked 32
Sorry but I’m not purchasing The Athletic to read the article
Where were flyers?
It does speak to Panger and JK that we are a fairly disliked team in hockey fandom (well, mostly just in the last few years), and they’re always like top 5 even in national votes.
No list? I’m curious who the other good broadcasts are.
Can’t stand JK, don’t mind Panger. Love our radio tandem though.