Since 2013, former NHL veteran Anson Carter has been a part of the media covering the sport. First he was at NBC Sports and now at Turner Sports as part of TNT’s inaugural season covering hockey.
Carter was a guest on the most recent episode of the Drinks With Binks podcast on Fubo Sports, Julie Stewart-Binks talked with Carter about the NHL being on a different network. Carter wanted to see the same type of environment that was at NBC and the same high standard reached.
“It’s been amazing. We’ve got a tremendous amount of great, quality people that we work with at TNT. Coming from NBC Sports, the standard was so high because it was a family there as well. I still talk to a lot of my friends that I established there and worked with at NBC Sports. To move to TNT and Turner and have that same kind of environment has been amazing.”
Of course, everyone was wondering how Wayne Gretzky would do as an analyst and Anson Carter believes that Gretzky brings great value to the set because of his storytelling, but he believes more people will be drawn to something else about The Great One.
“He’s [Gretzky] so witty. That’s the first thing I have tried to bring out of Gretz…We’ve had a couple of rehearsals and listening to him chirp Biz or Tocchet or myself. He would do it when the red light goes off on the camera and I was like Gretz, what are you doing? Your one-liners are insane. You’re a savage. You can’t stop those when the cameras start.”
As TNT and Turner Sports keep establishing themselves in hockey, Anson Carter believes the studio crew doesn’t need to change what it has been doing. That is how to win over fans.
“It’s important for our group to just be ourselves. Gretzky can’t be me, I can’t be him…We’ve all been able to stay in our lane, but at the same time, be able to jump over each other if we have to. We’re not afraid to rip one another either. No one’s bigger than the game on our set and I think that’s what makes it fun.”
