NHL Broadcast Training Camp helps players prepare for life after hockey

NEW YORK -- Cal Clutterbuck admitted he didn't immediately say yes to attending the NHL Broadcast Training Camp held at the League's Manhattan offices Wednesday.

But after going through the program with seven other former NHL players, he's happy to have done it.

"It's been a really good experience," Clutterbuck said. "I would probably come again. It's a fun day and a half to just sharpen the tools a little bit.

"I think the best thing is getting in the room with some of the legendary talent that's here, and just to be able to sit at dinner with them last night and converse with them, or sit during the modules today, or you're at lunch. You're always picking up little tidbits here and there. So I think it's a valuable thing."

Clutterbuck, who last played with the New York Islanders in 2023-24, spent last season as an Islanders television analyst on MSG Networks.

He used the Broadcast Training Camp as a chance to enhance his skills through various modules headed by TNT play-by-play voice Kenny Albert and analysts Eddie Olczyk and Jody Shelley, ESPN studio host Steve Levy, and NBC Sports Philadelphia studio host Ashlyn Sullivan.

"Just to have conversations with the likes of Eddie Olczyk and Jody Shelley, they're so willing to give the information to us that we can feel a little more comfortable moving forward," Clutterbuck said. "Obviously I've made a choice to try and pursue this professionally so it's been a good experience."

Shelley, who shifted into broadcasting after he retired in 2013, relished the opportunity to showcase his profession to a new group of players.

"It's an honor," he said. "I remember being in those shoes, when you finish your career and you're wondering what's next, you think that there's going to be a lot of opportunities, and to realize quickly that you have to be proactive. I was part of one a long time ago in Toronto, and it was great for me to kind of go through that and now to be on this side and be with these players and see how they get nervous, how they're interested and have great questions. It's a good feeling for me to be in this position to be able to help out and answer some of their questions."

Joining Clutterbuck were Matt Cooke, Landon Ferraro, Cameron Gaunce, Aaron Johnson, Brendan Perlini, Rob Schremp and Nate Thompson.

It was the second time the NHL held the Broadcast Training Camp, which is part of the League's ongoing commitment to off-ice player development that began with the 2013 creation of the NHL/NHLPA Player Orientation Program.

The NHL has off-ice player development directors with all 32 teams who help administer the League's resources, which include support for the Learn To Play program, career and education advisement through AthLife and the NHL Visiting Player Program, as well as placement assistance for the Fanatics Athlete Immersion Program and the NHL Coaches' Global Clinic.

The League also has a partnership with Syracuse University to provide current and former players the opportunity to continue or complete their college degrees at a significant price discount.

"We as a league have believed it's quite important that the players are provided with off-ice education and resources in order to begin to prepare them for life after hockey, and to present the opportunity to get experiences and knowledge that will serve them well as they make the transition to being regular people," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "... It's a great life when you're a hockey player, but what comes next is equally important, because there's a lot more runway than the opportunity that you've had to have an NHL career. And the better players are prepared for what comes next, the easier the transition."

Thompson attended last year's Broadcast Training Camp. After doing television and radio work for the Los Angeles Kings and TSN, he was eager to return to sharpen his skill set.

"You're really trying to work on your craft," he said. "Coming here, learning from, I think, some of the best in the business, hearing how they prepare, the things they go through, the stories that they have, they tell, all those things, you kind of try to just grab little tidbits from them and work that into your own craft."

New this year was the opportunity to call a few minutes of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers alongside Albert. There also was a telestrator demonstration from Olczyk.

ESPN senior director of on-air talent development and recruitment Noah Coslov said he could use the camp as a scouting session.

"To be able to have a partner in the League say ... 'We're hosting this broadcast training camp, please come over and take a look at the guys,' that's invaluable," he said. "That's not just a broadcast partner, it's a true partnership, which goes a long way."

Coslov said the most important thing he told the players was to make sure their on-air and off-air personalities match.

"Don't try to be what you think a broadcaster should be like," he said. "Because if you're trying to go into any one of those roles and say to yourself, 'Well, I have to speak like this, I have to act like this, have to present myself like this,' then you're in your own head and then you're not yourself, and now you're almost playing a part. You almost become an actor who is playing the part of an analyst instead of just being yourself.

"You have the interest in doing it, a network might be interested in you for what you did on the ice and your personality, but then if you get into the booth and now all of a sudden you're a different person, then everybody would be looking at each other thinking, 'Well, where did that guy go?' So you do have to be yourself."

Perlini, who played five seasons in the NHL and will play for Lugano in Switzerland this season, said seeing a video of last year's Broadcast Training Camp made him want to come to this year's event and will have him first in line to return next year. And he'll let his friends in the game know how useful it can be.

"I've played with so many guys ... Shane Doan, Jonathan Toews, these very well-known, educated guys within the game that always said, 'Keep one eye on other things to do outside of hockey, hobbies. You're a human first before you're a hockey player,'" he said. "So I think this is something all guys should at least look into and have the possibility to come and be involved in it. ... I definitely recommend it for every player."