Former Hurricanes broadcaster John Forslund lands with expansion franchise
John Forslund wasn’t without an NHL team for long. Cut loose by the Carolina Hurricanes this summer after 25 years in their television booth, the broadcaster will call all of the firsts for the new Seattle Kraken.
The NHL expansion team announced Forslund’s hiring as its play-by-play announcer for games on rightsholder Root Sports NW with a Twitter video on Tuesday. Forslund will continue to work national games for NBC, as he did while he was with the Hurricanes. The Kraken is scheduled to start play next season.
“This is an unbelievable opportunity to get a second chance to call a franchise from, really, Day 1, because I consider Hartford and Carolina different things,” Forslund told The News & Observer Tuesday. “To call it from Day 1, that’s something that doesn’t come a broadcaster’s way very often, if at all.”
In Seattle, Forslund will join Hurricanes legend Ron Francis, the general manager entrusted with building the Kraken from scratch, as well as several former members of the Hurricanes’ scouting staff who followed Francis to Seattle after he was fired as Hurricanes general manager by new owner Tom Dundon in 2018.
Contract dispute with Hurricanes
Forslund, named the 2019 North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association, became available when the Hurricanes let his contract expire this summer and would only negotiate a new contract structured around the number of games played and whether there were fans in the building. His longtime broadcast partner, analyst Tripp Tracy, accepted a similar deal but Forslund would not.
Former sideline reporter Mike Maniscalco took over play-by-play duties on FS Carolinas during the delayed 2020 playoffs in August on an interim basis and was given the permanent position ahead of the abbreviated 2021 season, with Abby Labar taking over for Maniscalco as reporter and intermission/pregame/postgame host.
It all made for a very awkward conclusion to Forslund’s long tenure with the franchise, similar in some ways to the departure of Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Chuck Kaiton after 39 years in that role two summers earlier after Dundon bought the team from Peter Karmanos.
“I always will have a huge place in my heart for the fans there, the Caniacs,” Forslund said.
Staying in the national spotlight
Since leaving the Hurricanes, he has continued to work a heavy national schedule with NBC, where he is seen as a possible replacement for Mike “Doc” Emrick as that network’s primary hockey voice. Forslund called the Eastern Conference finals for NBC for the first time last season and was on location in Edmonton if needed during the Stanley Cup finals, but the network has yet to formally anoint a successor to Emrick and the network’s deal with the NHL expires after this season, creating some uncertainty there -- and perhaps opportunity.
Forslund did not follow through on the opening with the Tampa Bay Lightning this summer created by Rick Peckham’s retirement, in part because he wanted to continue his work with NBC, but there was also appeal in starting from scratch with the Kraken. That franchise was willing to work around any of his national commitments, as the Hurricanes did.
“I’m very lucky that this has happened,” Forslund said. “My goal has always been to have that connection with a team and a fan base and also do my national work. They will welcome that.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 1:34 PM.
