As you know, ESPN is going to be the National Hockey League’s primary broadcasting partner following this season.

There was recent bidding for a secondary TV package, but it looks like NBC is out of the game entirely, with Bob McKenzie reporting that TNT is the winner:

The NHL on TNT? That sounds super weird. Gonna take some time to get used to.

But listen, NBC did an admirable job with the league over the past 15 years, right? We’d all say that their coverage was good enough, and that the product was good, outside of whenever Mike Milbury’s annoying ass would show up on screen. I personally cannot remember any specific gripes about the way the network handled the broadcasting in that time frame.

If we’re going forward with TNT, what we really need now is as much Charles Barkley/hockey crossover as we can get: