This year, former NHL veteran Ryan Callahan joined ESPN in its return to hockey coverage after being an analyst for NHL Network and NBC Sports for the last couple of years and he is enjoying every second of it.
Callahan was a guest on The Block Party with Seth Kushner podcast and discussed his time at ESPN so far. While he feels he still has some things to improve on as an analyst, it hasn’t taken away from the experience so far.
“I’m enjoying it… Getting into TV, I didn’t know what to expect, right?” Callahan said. “I loved doing it. I liked it. Then, obviously when ESPN called, it’s the Worldwide Leader In Sports, it doesn’t get any better than that. Even when I’m on-air and I hear the NHL entry music, it gives me goosebumps a little bit. It’s a great network. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. I’ve had the chance to do some in-games this year, which has been a lot of fun.
“I’m learning as I go. There’s things I obviously can improve on, but I like talking hockey. I feel like I know the game and no better way to do that than at ESPN.”
At ESPN, there is one thing Callahan has heard from people at the network that they want him to do. However, at the same time, they want him to stick to being himself.
“Kind of go do your own thing. Obviously, they’ll throw you suggestions here and there of things on how to present it better, how to get your point across a little bit better,” said Callahan. “For the most part, they let you go out there and run. The biggest thing is state your opinion. People are tuning in to hear what you have to say, not what they want to hear or somebody else’s opinion. I just go out there and call it how I see it really and I’ve enjoyed doing it.”
While Callahan knows there will be times on-air that he will mess up, he is not shy being in front of a camera from his days as a captain and assistant captain in the NHL and it allows him to not put too much pressure on himself.
“I think the biggest thing is I don’t put too much pressure on it. There’s going to be times where I mess things up, there’s going to be times where I say things I maybe shouldn’t have said or whatever,” Callahan said.
“I just don’t put pressure on it. I go out there and enjoy myself. Obviously, playing all the years I played and being in front of the camera, being captain of the Rangers, assistant captain of the Lightning, I wasn’t shy to interviews or cameras. That part of it didn’t bother me at all.”
