Dan Patrick To Anchor NBC's Stanley Cup Final Coverage

2007: Bill Clement
2008: Bob Neumeier
2009: Darren Pang
2010: Dan Patrick

The above is a list of the people who have anchored NBC's Stanley Cup coverage over the past 4 years. Congrats on winning the annual lottery at NBC, Dan Patrick! From Puck The Media

Dan Patrick will be the studio host when NBC airs games 1, 2 and potentially 5-7 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, NBC Sports confirmed to Puck the Media over the weekend, though apparently it isn’t news, as Patrick’s been mentioning it on his syndicated daily radio show according to Ken Fang.

It’ll be Patrick’s first time hosting a Stanley Cup Final, and the fourth different studio host NBC has used in four years for the championship series (2007: Bill Clement, 2008: Bob Neumeier, 2009: Darren Pang). One presumes he’ll have Milbury and any of Pierre McGuire, Darren Pang or Jeremy Roenick beside him when he works the series.

Patrick joined NBC Sports in 2008 as a co-host of the network’s NFL studio show, Football Night in America. He’s also done some Olympic reporting for NBC during the Vancouver Olympics. Prior to that, he had been with ESPN as an NBA Host and, more famously, as host of the famed “Big Show” edition of SportsCenter with Keith Olbermann.

The way I see it this is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because Patrick has a wide appeal and can possibly draw in some more of the casual sports fans out there. And seeing as he was all over NBC's Olympics coverage, people might take kind to seeing a familiar face on hockey coverage. On the flip side, when was the last time Dan Patrick has ever given a flying fuck about hockey? I do not listen to the DP Show, but the last time he did hockey coverage was, well, aside from reading highlights on SportsCenter, there has never been such a time. If he was such a hockey aficionado, would have certainly had roles on the NHL on ABC and ESPN National Hockey Night and ESPN/ABC's playoff coverage, something he never had.

It's a good move because it could bring in people, but even though I like Dan Patrick, I fear he is going to be a fish out of water on this one.