ESPN Will Have Whip-Around Coverage Of A Full Slate Of NHL Games Later This Month With John Buccigross Leading The Charge

Hockey fans, mark your calendars. We're about a week away from the puck dropping to open the 2023-24 NHL season, and ESPN has announced plans for a very special night of hockey coverage hosted by John Buccigross and Kevin Weekes.

On a conference call earlier this week, ESPN coordinating producer Linda Schulz revealed that the network has plans for a special night of puck programming on October 24.

"I have not mentioned Frozen Frenzy," Schulz said. "Frozen Frenzy is something that is going to happen October 24th. I will shamelessly plug that anyone interested in hockey should check this out on ESPN2 on October 24th. On ESPN there will be a triple header. That is the Maple Leafs-Caps, Bruins-Blackhawks, Flyers-Knights. That’s happening on ESPN."

Every team in the National Hockey League will play on October 24, which makes it the perfect opportunity for ESPN to try something new. Frozen Frenzy will feature whip-around coverage from game to game just as we've all become accustomed to with NFL RedZone, something that may truly be the best invention since sliced bread. Maybe since the moveable type printing press.

"That whip-around show, I’m sure everyone is familiar with Red Zone. This is our version of that, Schulz said,"

To facilitate this special one-night-only event (for now), the NHL has staggered the start time for games. This is why when you look at the schedule for that night you'll see goofy-looking start times on the quarter hour.

ESPN's John Buccigross and former NHL goalie Kevin Weeks will be handling hosting duties for Frozen Frenzy. (Getty Images)

John Buccigross, Kevin Weekes Will Host Frozen Frenzy

That coverage which will air on ESPN2 will be hosted by John Buccigross and former NHL netminder Kevin Weekes.

The two are TV vets through and through. But taking on the role of hockey's Scott Hanson sounds like a challenge. However, Buccigross is more than prepared to take it on and is clearly the guy for the job.

"I've been consuming and living in the institutional knowledge world of hockey and the NHL since being named host of NHL 2night in the fall of 1998. Hosting that show, writing a Column on ESPN.com for 16 years, anchoring Sportscenter for 27 years, getting my USA Hockey Card, writing a book with Flyers President Keith Jones, doing the NCAA Tournament for the past 16 years, carving a hockey space on Twitter since 2009, and so on, has resulted in me comfortably saying that I'm more well versed in the topic of hockey and the NHL than anything else," Buccigross told OutKick via email. "I'm prepared every day with five minutes notice to talk hockey"

So, yeah, if anyone's going to pull this off, it's going to be John Buccigross.

With so many games on the docket on October 24 there will be plenty of action and storylines to discuss, but Buccigross said two games in particular stick out to him. One of them is the Buffalo Sabres taking on the Ottawa Senators

"Sabres and Senators have been perennial theatre floor muck for a long time," Buccigross said. "Now they are ready to make a postseason run. So much young skill on the ice. The future of hockey in some ways."

October 24 will be a busy night in the NHL, and Alex Ovechkin's Washington Capitals taking on Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs will be one of the marquee matchups. (Getty Images)

Ovechkin, Matthews Matchup Will Be A Highlight Of The Night

While the up-and-coming teams and players will no doubt be one of the focuses, the old dudes are still worth paying attention to. Specifically that No. 8 guy in Washington.

"Alex Ovechkin prepares to break Wayne Gretzky's goal either late next season or early 26-27 season, it will be a huge SPORTS story," he said. "Baseball and hockey, I argue, care more about milestones and records more than NFL and NBA. This will be big and that night to have a guy, Auston Matthews, who has built a foundation of goal totals similar to Ovechkin, also on display is a great opportunity to trumpet the game and those two players."

16 games happening on one night should mean that at least one — probably more — will need an extra five-minute frame to decide a winner. So, does that mean that Buccigross will bring his wildly popular Bucci Overtime Challenge to Frozen Frenzy?

Well, maybe...

"We probably should take advantage of that although the game is really built for the playoffs. A five-minute overtime and then shoot-out never gives us a definitive winner every time," Buccigross said of the game that originated on Twitter and involves picking a player from each team who you think will pot the game-winning goal.

"But maybe we need to figure something out there. With gambling becoming legal in more and more states if there was a time to take the Bucci overtime challenges to a new level this is probably it."

This is currently set to be a one-time thing, and it'll be interesting to see how it goes. Although, it's hard to imagine seeing every important play from a busy night in the NHL could go wrong.

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