Ryan Callahan will not be back on ESPN for the network’s hockey coverage this season.
The former beloved Ranger announced on social media that he was “taking a step away” for the season after four years as an analyst on the Worldwide Leader, revealing the decision on Tuesday, just hours before the Blueshirts were set to open their season against the Penguins at the Garden on ESPN.
“It has been a great four years with the worldwide Leader in Sports,” Callahan wrote on X. “I’m going to miss working with all the great people there, but I wanted to spend more time with my young family. Excited to tune in tonight to see the start of what should be another great NHL season!”
The writing had appeared to be on the wall when the Disney-owned sports network announced a number of contract extensions for its on-air hockey talent on Monday and Callahan was not among them.
Several ESPNers reacted to the news of Callahan’s departure on Tuesday night, which included play-by-play broadcaster Bob Wischusen and hockey reporter Greg Wyshynski.
“I’m going to miss this guy!” Wischusen wrote on X.
“You rocked Cally. Thanks for all you did to make the thing good,” Wyshynski wrote on X.
Callahan, 40, retired from the NHL on Dec. 30, 2020, after 13 seasons in the league, which he spent with the Rangers (eight years) and Lightning.
The New York native was part of two Olympic teams, representing the United States in 2010 and 2014.
He first started in broadcasting in 2019 on NHL Network and joined ESPN in 2021 when the Worldwide Leader returned to covering hockey.
He had also been an analyst on NBC’s NHL coverage.
The former Rangers captain didn’t say definitively that his broadcasting career was over, but for now, it seemed that he won’t be heard on the airwaves for a bit.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
