TSN made a mistake in hiring Dreger over Kypreos
When I see Nick Kypreos sitting beside James Duthie, Bob McKenzie and Darren Pang on the Olympic hockey panel, I can’t help but think that’s exactly where he belongs.
In July 2006, TSN made the curious move of plucking Darren Dreger from Sportsnet and turning him into a Bobby Mac-style Hockey Insider. Once a host who was responsible for steering hockey conversation, much like Duthie does now, Dreger suddenly became an all-knowledgeable Hockey Insider on Canada’s Sports Leader.
Despite never working as an analyst — a position usually reserved for former players, coaches and general managers unless you’ve been doing it since we were all kids like McKenzie — Dreger was able to leverage his rolodex (not that rolodex’s exist anymore) into an Insider gig at TSN.
“Darren is an established hockey expert with an abundance of contacts throughout the hockey world, ” said TSN president Phil King at the time. 
So, basically, the network signed Dreger to break trades. Trade Deadline Day is an unofficial holiday in this country and being Canada’s Sports Leader, TSN couldn’t let Sportsnet keep scooping them on trades.
And while that objective’s been met for the most part, it has come at the expense of good television. Dreger is both lifeless on the panel, showing less emotion than a toaster oven, and worthless as an Insider, rarely offering anything more than we already know.
Growing up, McKenzie’s Insider segments used to be a must-see for any hockey fan. Now, because of the internet, you rarely see either Insider discussing something you haven’t already read online. But, while McKenzie’s managed to stay relevant with his seemingly endless knowledge of junior players and international prospects, Dreger continues to amaze Canadians with his ability to stare deeply into the camera and tell you absolutely nothing for two minutes.
Dreger’s go-to move is to inform you of something you’ve already heard, like Peter Forsberg’ possible return to the NHL for instance, list the potential teams he could go to (which you’ve also already probably heard), then conclude by saying something like, “Forsberg is expected to make his decision on which team he’ll return to within the week, but he could decide to take an extra week to make his decision or choose not to return to the NHL at all. For TSN, I’m Darren Dreger.”
What?!! What did I learn there?
With that said, Dreger’s even worse on the panel. Hockey analysts are paid not just to inform you, but to entertain you with provocative opinions. Arguing with fellow analysts is exactly what makes a panel fun in the first place. Nobody wants to watch people agree with each other.
This is exactly what makes Mike Milbury and to a lesser extent, Nick Kypreos, great television personalities; they’re not afraid to mix it up.
After just two days, you can already see the difference Kypreos is making on the panel. On Tuesday, Pang said he thought Roberto Luongo “played great” despite facing just 15 shots in Canada’s 8-0 victory over Norway. While Kypreos didn’t disagree, he did disagree with Pang’s assertion that the performance could help Team Canada make a decision going forward.
“Wow, 10 shots after 2 periods, are you sure we learned anything,” asked Kypreos sarcastically. “Brodeur’s going to have to go through the same thing Thursday against Switzerland, then really, we’re back to square one in terms of who’s gonna be in net when it really starts to count.”
Then on Wednesday, when McKenzie talked about how great it was to watch old warhorses like Selanne, Jagr and Forsberg play for their respective countries, Kypreos quickly jumped in, saying, “Let’s not put Selanne in that mix yet, he’s still doing it in the NHL at a high level every night.”
Whether you agree with his points or not, at least there’s now some dissension in the ranks. Pang almost looked like he wanted to cry when Kypreos interrupted him.
Letting go of Dreger and hiring Kypreos, which TSN should have done in the first place, would also help eliminate some of the blatant fence-sitting going on at the network. When asked who won the Dion Phaneuf trade a few weeks ago, McKenzie said, “Calgary in the short-term, Toronto long-term.” Hmm, mighty convenient answer, especially when any response other than “Leafs, hands down” is retarded (sorry Sarah Palin).
Weak statements like this are becoming commonplace at TSN where both McKenzie and Dreger don’t want to risk offending any of the league’s GMs at the expense of their precious contacts. Hiring Kypreos, a guy who’s never afraid to throw some grenades, would add some much needed excitement to a panel that’s on life-support; that life support being the always funny and engaging James Duthie. 
Dreger’s a haircut, an empty suit with a Blackberry. It’s time for TSN to right a wrong and call Nick Kypreos up to the big leagues. Unlike Dreger, at least he’s been there before.
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22 Comments
When you say throw some grenades, do you mean he takes home the ugly girl, or he makes his buddy take home the ugly girl?
Oh and something about hockey.
Pauly D should’ve been in The Hurt Locker.
Get crazy…get wild…get crazy…get wild
You know how much I dislike Dreger…but the panel as a whole should not be on TV. It’s to nice, when given the choice between 4 choices each person will pick one off of the list so the whole list is picked and no feelings are hurt…it’s like short bus gym class.
Remember when Tortorella was on the panel?
“Put him in the goddamn shootout”.
*single tear rolls down his cheek*
wow your dumb
you must love maguire too
its retarded anaylst that keep hockey low brow audience like you watching.
take a lap duster nuff said
The only brutal thing is your grammar. Try not to use expressions like “low brow” until you’re ready son. You’re……as in you are. Not like “your post is retarded”.
Wham bam thank you, ma’am, my qeuistons are answered!
“its retarded anaylst that keep hockey low brow audience like you watching.”
Keep trying…you’ve almost got a coherent thought there.
Long-time reader, first-time writer….Bang on about Dreger and Duthie. The only thing about Kypreos is he’s too much of a Leafs fan, which means he rarely has anything positive to say about the Sens, but definitely a step up from Dreger. Great article.
Dreger reminds me of Butters from South Park. The poor simpleton just stares at the camera after giving us his one cent worth of knowledge.
Wow, I really hope this is a satire column because you could not be further off the mark.
Dreger only tells us what we already know? What Dreger are you watching? If anything he does a better job than McKenzie. His job isn’t to be entertaining, it’s to be informative and he does that very well.
Also, Nick Kypreos is absolutely brutal. Just another graduate of Sportsnet’s yell as loud as you can school. He looks terribly out of place with the TSN guys.
Dreger is about as informative as an American website on ‘NHL Breaking News’; simply reporting next to nothing and then re-reporting it after someone else broke the news. Get your head out of your ass ‘john’.
Again, what Dreger are you watching? He breaks the news more often than not. Can you give me one example of him trying to look like he broke it when it was someone else? No. I believe you’re thinking of Eklund.
Great site you have here, telling people who disagree with you to get their heads of out their asses. I’ll be sure to recommend it to all my friends.
Wait a sec… are you Eklund???
This editorial is bang on. Dreger is dead weight. Almost as offensive as Dreger’s performance as the Insider is McKenzie’s fence-sitting. Count the number of times McKenzie says “On the one hand…. On the other hand….”
Mckenzie’s job is to provide balanced analysis, not to prove he can yell about things he doesn’t know anything about (a la Sportsnet) and he does it very well.
I’m going to go ahead and assume you guys are Sportsnet hacks because I can’t think of any other reason for such ridiculous statements.
I am not Steve Y and therefore did not tell you to “get your head out of your ass” John. I obviously disagree with you, but unlike Steve Y, am glad you shared your opinion. Just like with hockey panels, I feel disagreement is good. That said, I am Eklund. The secret is out. Thanks for reading.
I, on one hand, feel that Dreger won’t take any chances and is late to the party with breaking news too often, but on the other hand, feel that Dreger can sometimes be okay. Wait a minute, I don’t think I really said anything there. A solid tribute to McKenzie.
Kypreos is a complete joke, Dregger has charisma prestige and class TSN is hands down the best network for hockey coverage in Canada Sportsnet should close its doors and let the professionals handle the hockey reports, Kypreos is the Greg Zaun of hockey analysis, he thinks hes far smarter than he actually is, and his incites are primitive at best . None of you truly appreciate the business behind the game which Dregger excels at and if you followed his twitter as opposed to TSN’s direct links via their website or television network you’d know he is almost always the first to break trades and free agent signings.
Gee I am all broken up for Nick Kypreos. Old Nick did not have a clue from beginning to finish. They might as well have had Russ Courtnall on the panel.
Nick Kypreos coment on friday game of the Toronto Maple leafs was the most inaccurate statement he made yet.Special teams win games.
TSN is much better than Sportsnet, the people not only present themselves better, but the people on TSN actually look better than the people on Sportsnet. Do you see the people doing the Sportnet connected shows on weekends?
He is such a nerd, even the Hockey Central panel has Jim Lang who looks like something out of an X-Men or wolf movie. They also have nerds like Rob Faulds doing their talk shows, he does not belong in Sports. TSN just has a better presentation and better looking people and better talent.