During an appearance on First Take last week, 98.7 ESPN New York host Michael Kay was asked which New York franchise was the next champion. Chances are he had no idea his response would create backlash for the program or make the NHL angry.
After Kay said the NHL’s New York Rangers were the most likely team from the Big Apple to win a title, Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim each said that the league “doesn’t count” and they wanted an answer from the NFL, NBA, or MLB. Smith joked the only thing he knew about the NHL was “the puck is black”.
Qerim later said she made the comment because she knew Smith would be unable to analyze whether Kay’s decree that the Rangers were the most likely champion.
During The Michael Kay Show, co-host Peter Rosenberg mentioned that hockey fans were upset by the discussion. Kay revealed he had been told the league was less than thrilled with the interaction.
“By the way,” Kay said, “One addendum to that: I heard today, the NHL, red hot.”
Rosenberg then added that the response from Stephen A. Smith — where he showed support for the New York Rangers and told hockey fans to relax — was “clearly trying to make amends”.
The NHL and ESPN are in the second year of a seven-year broadcast year that sees the network pay the league $400 million per year.
