Ahead of puck drop for the 2023-24 National Hockey League Season, the Up In The Blue Seats podcast from the New York Post made a major announcement about its future. Co-hosts Jake Brown, Mollie Walker and Andrew Harts revealed that 15-year NHL veteran and former Bill Masterton Trophy winner Brian Boyle will be joining the program each week to lend his perspectives, insights and opinions to the program.
The former NHL center garnered 252 points throughout his career – 141 goals and 111 assists – and has experience playing for several Metropolitan division teams, including the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers. Brown listed his accolades to begin this week’s edition of the show before he revealed the identity of the new co-host, who is also working with NHL Network as a studio analyst throughout the campaign.
“What former players bring to these sort of media outlets – I think that they have incredible insight [and] they see things and can talk about things in ways that you and I, the average people over here, will never be able to,” Walker said, who also appears on NHL Network as a contributor. “I’ve watched Brian Boyle throughout my childhood – when I first became a fan, he was on the Rangers. [It is a] very cool moment for me for sure, and [I am] very much so looking forward to welcoming Brian Boyle to the show.”
Walker previously hosted the program with Ron Duguay, a former MSG Networks studio analyst, 12-year NHL veteran and minor league hockey coach. Within the announcement, Brown divulged that Boyle will assist the show in booking guests, bringing on some of his former teammates from over the years. Throughout the show’s history – which started in December 2019 – it has welcomed Linda Cohn, Mike Keenan and Sam Rosen among others as guests. New York Post hockey reporter Larry Brooks, who is Walker’s colleague on the Rangers beat, also makes frequent appearances on the program.
“One of my favorite things was the Winter Classic in Philadelphia,” Harts said, “and I just remember the whole documentary going behind the scenes and what not, and I just remember him being a character. He was definitely an enforcer of the club; someone who, obviously, is not afraid of anybody on the ice.”
The podcast centers its discussion around the Rangers, with the title being an ode to the original layout of Madison Square Garden, the team’s home arena in the heart of New York City. Upon the complete transformation of “The World’s Most Famous Arena” in the mid 2010s, the blue seats made their illustrious return and currently span the 400 level of the arena.
New episodes are released by the New York Post each week, available on most major audio platforms and in video form on YouTube. The Rangers open the 2023-24 regular season against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. EST on MSG Networks.
