Wrapping up his fourth season of the NHL on TNT, Bissonnette’s repeatedly lost deskmates to NHL coaching jobs—Tocchet to a three-year stint in Vancouver and Craig Berube for a short shift in 2024 between jobs in St. Louis and Toronto—but has watched NHL fixtures like Vezina Trophy winning former goaltender Henrik Lundqvist take their place.
He said the space given to announcers and their treatment by TNT Sports has helped create a strong hockey culture that was at its best this season when Gretzky relinquished his career scoring title to the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin.
“Now you get to cover it. They fly you in; they put you into the Four Seasons—sounds like a pretty sweet gig, doesn’t it?” he said. “Then, when the Finals come around, the Stanley Cup, being a hockey player who maybe thinks he left a little bit on the table in a sense of a career, I get to establish a second one and try to work hard and thrive in this one.”
