Color of Hockey: Carter, Oshie to work as analysts on NBC Olympics coverage

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles former NHL players Anson Carter and T.J. Oshie, and former professional women’s player Saroya Tinker; Carter and Oshie will be NBC studio analysts for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, and Tinker will be a studio analyst for CBC.

Anson Carter, T.J. Oshie and Saroya Tinker are looking forward to working as studio analysts for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 that officially opens Friday -- each for different reasons.

Carter, an analyst for the “NHL on TNT” is the veteran, working his third Winter Olympics for NBC Sports from their studio in Stamford, Connecticut.

Oshie will join Carter stateside to cover his first Olympics as a broadcaster for NBC after he retired as an NHL player on June 9 following 16 seasons in the League and one shining moment at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Tinker, a retired professional women’s player-turned broadcaster, will give her take on the Olympic women’s tournament for the first time for CBC.

“Whenever you get the opportunity to participate in the Olympics it’s amazing, whether it’s your first time or third or fourth or 10th time,” Carter said. “But having NHL players take it to a whole different level. The previous Olympic I covered, it didn’t limit my excitement or expectations, but having the best players in the world go at it coming off the 4 Nations last year, I think the expectations are really through the roof, and rightfully so.”

Oshie, who had 695 points (302 goals, 393 assists) in 1,010 games with the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals from 2008-24 and won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018, is anxious to see what the Olympics is like from the other side of the camera.

The 39-year-old former right wing, who is Ojibwe, played for the United States in Sochi and became a household name when he scored four goals on six attempts on Sergei Bobrovsky in a 3-2 shootout win against Russia in the preliminary round.

International rules for the shootout permit a player to take repeated attempts without limit once the tiebreaker reaches the sudden death stage following the third round.

“Honestly, it's probably going to be a little harder just to be covering it than playing,” said Oshie, in his first season as a hockey analyst for ESPN and Capitals broadcasts on Monumental Sports Network.

“I'm definitely more comfortable on the ice than I am behind the desk or in the booth. But it's so cool to know that the NHL players are back, and just to still be a part of that, obviously, the Olympics and representing USA, was one of the highlights of my career.

"So to do it for NBC, who was so great to me back in 2014, to join the team, cover the team and cover the games, (it's great to) let people know what I think is going through people’s minds and give a lot of people that don’t see your everyday NHL an insight into what I think is the greatest game in the world.”

So who does Oshie think will assume his role as the U.S.’ shootout shootist in Milano Cortina?

“Gosh, you look at that lineup and it’s kind of hard to choose one guy,” Oshie said. “I mean (Vegas Golden Knights center) Jack Eichel, his reach, I could see him going multiple times. (New Jersey Devils center) Jack Hughes, (Tampa Bay Lightning forward) Jake Guentzel is a very good scorer. I’m not sure what his shootout percentage is but I feel like every time I see him in a shootout, he’s scoring at a pretty good clip. So they have plenty of options. I'm not sure we’re going to see the shootout story this year, but how tight the tournament is going to be ... there’s definitely a good chance.”

Carter, who had 421 points (202 goals, 219 assists) in 674 NHL games with eight NHL teams as a forward from 1996-2007, never played in the Olympics but he knows the feelings of pride and pressure that comes with representing Canada internationally.

The 51-year-old scored the game-winning goal in a 3-2 overtime victory against Sweden in the gold medal game of the 2003 IIHF World Championship in Helsinki. Carter also won gold at the 1997 world championship and the 1994 IIHF World Junior Championship.

“I’m looking for how quickly teams could come together at the Olympics,” he said. “That's always the key in these tournaments. Representing Canada at the World Junior Championships and World Championships, we won gold three times because, yes, the talent was there, but we're able to come together as one cohesive group a lot faster than everyone else. That's really going to be the key to this tournament.”

Tinker, who played with Yale University from 2016-20, won a silver medal with Canada at the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in Buffalo and went on to play for New York of the National Women’s Hockey League and Toronto of the Premier Hockey Federation, forerunners of the Professional Women's Hockey League.

A 2023 Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award finalist, Tinker has been part of CBC’s PWHL broadcast crew since the league debuted in 2024. She’s also executive director of the Women of Colour Hockey Collective, a rebrand of Black Girl Hockey Club Canada.

Tinker said she’ll be watching the Canada-U.S. women’s hockey rivalry closely but also keeping an eye out for which countries could rise up and surprise the world’s two women’s hockey powers.

“I think a big reason why I want to stay involved in the game is to see that growth and see it being pushed beyond Canada and U.S.,” she said. “As great as a Canada-U.S. rivalry is, I want to see other teams give us a run for our money. I'm excited to see the development and see how the PWHL has played a part in that in preparing European players and beyond.”

Tinker said she’s also looking forward to seeing University of Wisconsin defenseman Laila Edwards’ debut as the first Black woman to play hockey for the U.S. at the Olympics.

“I am so amazed by Laila Edwards every time I watch her play, and I think that she's so deserving of being on that team,” Tinker said. “It’s historic for Black women and hockey and for herself. The level of representation she's going to provide is just going to be so impactful.

"I can't wait to see how many young Black girls get into hockey after this Olympics, simply because they watched Laila Edwards score as many goals as I expect her to.”