Sports media: Patrick Sharp returns to Stanley Cup Final — as analyst for NBC

Patrick Sharp tried to keep his focus while appearing on camera with cheering and shouting fans mere feet away.

This wasn’t another night analyzing a Blackhawks game from the United Center concourse. This was after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in Boston, where Bruins fans celebrated a victory around a set outside TD Garden while Sharp discussed the outcome on NBC Sports Network’s postgame show.

Afterward, Sharp received a text from NBC Sports Chicago colleague Pat Boyle, who messaged that all those nights at the UC served Sharp well.

“He said the United Center is a piece of cake compared to the Final,” Sharp said. “We were there for an hour and a half, and the Bruins fans were awesome. They were screaming and chanting and going crazy. It’s tough to keep your focus in that situation, but you do it enough times, it becomes easier.”

That also could explain Sharp’s rapid rise in the ranks of NBC’s NHL analysts. Sharp, who played his last game in April 2018, already is playing a big role on the network’s coverage of the Final, which resumes Saturday with Game 3 in St. Louis on NBCSN (coverage begins with a two-hour “NHL Live” at 5 p.m.).

He looks in his element on the set, and he speaks with the authority, and without the immodesty, of having won three Stanley Cups with the Hawks.

Sharp admits he “kind of jumped into it” without the benefit of formal training. But he has collected a ton of advice in a short time from cohorts such as Boyle, and he has shown a work ethic that proves he’s serious about being a broadcaster after 15 seasons as a player, including 11 with the Hawks.

Not that his superiors needed any convincing. In fact, they saw a potential broadcasting career for Sharp before his playing career was over.

It began not long after Sharp’s last game. NHL chief content officer and executive vice president Steve Mayer contacted the Hawks about Sharp serving as a guest analyst for NBC’s first-round playoff coverage that season. Sharp was on a short list of current or recent players who the league thought could add personality and expertise to the broadcasts. Mayer received a ringing endorsement for Sharp from president and CEO John McDonough and executive vice president Jay Blunk.

“I’ve always admired Patrick’s playing ability for sure, but he always gave great sound bites and seemed like he was super intelligent,” said Mayer, a TV-production veteran who became familiar with Sharp from the Hawks’ appearances in outdoor games and content developed by the league. “All I did was make an introduction [with NBC], but he really is perfect.”

NBCSCH senior vice president and general manager Kevin Cross felt the same way. After Sharp expressed his interest in a potential job, Cross hired him in October to be a Hawks studio analyst.

“We always had been interested,” Cross said. “We always keep an eye on folks we think could have a future in doing what we do.”

Cross recalled Sharp’s dealings with the media as a player. He thought Sharp showed charisma and articulated his thoughts well. Combined with the weight of Sharp’s words in the eyes of Hawks fans, Cross thought he’d fit right in with the network’s stable of analysts, including Adam Burish, Steve Konroyd and Jamal Mayers.

But Sharp still is learning his way. He said he struggles at times, though it might not be obvious to most viewers (he said his family and close friends know the tells). He probably could write a how-to guide with all the instruction he has received, particularly from fellow NBC analysts Eddie Olczyk and Keith Jones.

“I ask a ton of questions. I’m probably annoying them,” Sharp said.

He’s learning how to be critical of players without being insensitive and to speak from experience and show viewers what it’s like to be in certain situations on the ice. He’s also learning that he can’t talk his way out of answering a question anymore.

“As a player, if you get interviewed about a controversial play, there’s a way you can get through the interview and not have to say anything at all,” Sharp said. “As a broadcaster, you can’t do that. You’ve gotta explain exactly what happened. You’ve gotta have an opinion, and it’s gotta be instant.”

Watching Sharp, it’s easy to forget that his first broadcast job was just over a year ago. But he figures to have many more years ahead.

“The difference in show No. 1 to now, the improvement is dramatic,” Mayer said. “I think that this is a guy that’s got a nice little future in the television business if he continues to pursue it.”

Remote patrol

• St. Louis won’t be a boring place Saturday night, when the city hosts Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Enterprise Center and a Cubs-Cardinals game at Busch Stadium just down the street. First pitch is 6:15 on Fox-32. Fox put together an interesting booth, pairing Cubs voice Len Kasper with former White Sox catcher and Cubs antagonist A.J. Pierzynski. The duo also will call the Cubs-Sox game on Fox on July 6 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
• The Wolves announced that every game of their Calder Cup Finals series against the Checkers will be televised. The U, Channel 26, will carry Game 1 in Charlotte at 5 p.m. Saturday. The rest of the series will air on The U Too, Channel 26.2. Play-by-play voice Jason Shaver and analyst Billy Gardner, the Wolves’ TV team for 11 seasons, will have the call.

Spinning the dial

• The Score sent “Early Odds” host Joe Ostrowski to Springfield to cover the Legislature’s vote Friday on a sports-gambling bill. He’ll broadcast his show Saturday on site for an extra hour, from 8:30 to 10 a.m.
• ESPN 1000 is carrying the NBA Finals. Personal favorite Hubie Brown is calling his 18^th Finals as a game analyst (14^th on radio). He’s joined by play-by-play voice Marc Kestecher and reporter Ramona Shelburne.