George Stroumboulopoulos won’t return as host of Hockey Night in Canada next season, sources tell the Star.

His replacement will be the man he replaced. Industry insiders say Ron MacLean is expected to return to the show’s No. 1 seat just two seasons after Stroumboulopoulos was hired with much fanfare in the wake of Rogers’ $5.2-billion acquisition of NHL broadcasting rights. Prior to that, MacLean occupied the job from 1986 until 2014. Since then, he has hosted Sunday night Hometown Hockey broadcasts and worked Saturdays alongside Don Cherry on Coach’s Corner. It’s expected he will continue those roles in addition to resuming the main HNIC hosting gig — the highest-profile position in Canadian sports broadcasting.

The ouster of Stroumboulopoulos marks a strategic about-face for Rogers, which sublicenses Hockey Night in Canada to CBC. In 2014, executives remade the iconic Saturday night show while speaking of the need to bring it to a younger demographic.

Here's an excerpt from a Toronto Star article. I'll add a link when I'm not on my phone.

Quote

George Stroumboulopoulos won’t return as host of Hockey Night in Canada next season, sources tell the Star.

His replacement will be the man he replaced. Industry insiders say Ron MacLean is expected to return to the show’s No. 1 seat just two seasons after Stroumboulopoulos was hired with much fanfare in the wake of Rogers’ $5.2-billion acquisition of NHL broadcasting rights. Prior to that, MacLean occupied the job from 1986 until 2014. Since then, he has hosted Sunday night Hometown Hockey broadcasts and worked Saturdays alongside Don Cherry on Coach’s Corner. It’s expected he will continue those roles in addition to resuming the main HNIC hosting gig — the highest-profile position in Canadian sports broadcasting.

Edited June 20, 20169 yr by Jacquie

Just posted this on the NHL on Rogers thread but it must have predated the NHL forum. 

Can mods merge and bring over to this forum from the bombers one?

Thank God.

Wow, Strombo is real good interviewing celebs in the entertainment & movie industry but was like a fish out of water on the hockey broadcasts. That's where he should be. Glad to see MacLean back.

It's all about dollars and cents, Strobo was brought in to make the show hype and cool and attract young viewers he failed miserably. 

back to the CBC and drooling all over Trudeau and Suzuki in "interviews".  Oh well.  He just never fit in.  It was painful to watch, whenever I accidentally clicked on Sportsnet when he happened to be on.  I don't think the guy ever played or watched a game in his life before he was hired.

He watched a lot of games because he's a raging Habs fan, but he's definitely not a hockey guy. He never fit in at all. Great music/movies/TV/pop culture guy... Not a sports guy. 

I didnt mind him, to be honest but for sure he's no Ron Maclean.  In retrospect they should have eased Strombo into a position on HNIC slowly rather then what they did.  It came across like Rogers betrayed Ron and that offended a lot of viewers.  And Strombo became all about skinny suits and looking cool and even if what he was saying was relevant, there are many old school HNIC fans that werent going to see past that.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ...

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I didnt mind him, to be honest but for sure he's no Ron Maclean.  In retrospect they should have eased Strombo into a position on HNIC slowly rather then what they did.  It came across like Rogers betrayed Ron and that offended a lot of viewers.  And Strombo became all about skinny suits and looking cool and even if what he was saying was relevant, there are many old school HNIC fans that werent going to see past that.

Agreed, it was  like he came in trying to show up the other panelists by dressing like a Millenial even though he was in his 40's. I think had he altered his taste in clothes to be like everyone else on the panel rather than stand out like a sore thumb like he was crying, "Look at me!!" then maybe he'd have been accepted. He never was accepted.

Yeah but thats what you get when you hire him.  He is cool and trendy.  Thats why they hired him.  There should have been a period of transition if he was the future.  Rather then what they did.  If Ron was a woman, replaced by the younger better looking model, the outcry would have been even worse.  In every way that matters, Ron is better than Strombo.  But they wanted younger and better looking.  Shameful really.

The skinny suits just looked so ridiculous.  Especially when he would stand beside the older fatter retired hockey players like Kelly Hrudey in their more traditional suits. 

Yeah cuz Strombo hosting the pre-game show was the reason the ratings suck on SPORTSNET. I didn't like George at all but... to think the ratings were a disaster because of him is crazy, while i somewhat agree that his job was to bring in the young crowd and it failed miserably, I find it hard to believe that bring back Ron changes anything. The problem isn't the pre-game show, do people actually listen to that junk? The problem is the Sportsnet announcers, the Healys, The guys that kept calling Blake Wheeler Mark Wheeler, those are the real problems. Until they actually fix the actual problems, nothing will change. I'm glad we get TSN Jets here, or whatever it's called now, It's just so much better than anything on Sportsnet, i actually dread listening to games on Sportsnet, the announcers are so bland and boring and just so dull and just BORING.. did i mention they are BORING to listen 2? It's pretty bad when watching a Jets game on sportsnet or cbc for that matter that half way through what could very well be an exciting game i feel tired and bored and ready to sleep, that's the problem, the announcers calling the games, It's not some pre show BS, it's not anything else, it's garbage announcers who just suck the life right out of you 

Edited June 20, 20169 yr by Goalie

1 minute ago, Goalie said:

Yeah cuz Strombo hosting the pre-game show was the reason the ratings suck on SPORTSNET. I didn't like George at all but... to think the ratings were a disaster because of him is crazy, while i somewhat agree that his job was to bring in the young crowd and it failed miserably, I find it hard to believe that bring back Ron changes anything. The problem isn't the pre-game show, do people actually listen to that junk? The problem is the Sportsnet announcers, the Healys, The guys that kept calling Blake Wheeler Mark Wheeler, those are the real problems. Until they actually fix the actual problems, nothing will change. 

Not just pre-game, he's on throughout.  But really you're right to a degree.  But its a symptom of a problem and then became an excuse not to watch.

The real issue is 1) Canadian teams sucked 2) people hate change 3) loyalty to TSN/Ron MacLean.  Strombo just encapsulated all those issues.

2 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

The skinny suits just looked so ridiculous.  Especially when he would stand beside the older fatter retired hockey players like Kelly Hrudey in their more traditional suits. 

You have to wonder what Hrudy was thinking. Actually Hrudy would have been a much better host than Strombo. Everybody likes Kelly as he's a personable guy.

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

Yeah cuz Strombo hosting the pre-game show was the reason the ratings suck on SPORTSNET. I didn't like George at all but... to think the ratings were a disaster because of him is crazy, while i somewhat agree that his job was to bring in the young crowd and it failed miserably, I find it hard to believe that bring back Ron changes anything. The problem isn't the pre-game show, do people actually listen to that junk? The problem is the Sportsnet announcers, the Healys, The guys that kept calling Blake Wheeler Mark Wheeler, those are the real problems. Until they actually fix the actual problems, nothing will change. I'm glad we get TSN Jets here, or whatever it's called now, It's just so much better than anything on Sportsnet, i actually dread listening to games on Sportsnet, the announcers are so bland and boring and just so dull and just BORING.. did i mention they are BORING to listen 2? It's pretty bad when watching a Jets game on sportsnet or cbc for that matter that half way through what could very well be an exciting game i feel tired and bored and ready to sleep, that's the problem, the announcers calling the games, It's not some pre show BS, it's not anything else, it's garbage announcers who just suck the life right out of you 

I will take Dennis Beyak and Shane Hnidy every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Sounds like more cuts at Rogers

 

 

 

29 minutes ago, Rich said:

 

Poor Glenn, isn't he the guy who called Blake Wheeler "Mark" in the Jets final game in LA this Spring?

Have never understood the heat Healey takes from fans. Always liked the guy on air. Glad they've fixed a few wrongs and Amber being promoted is solid. He's a good host.... 

So, all we ever read about are cuts in broadcasting & print media. Bell, Rogers & Postmedia. Broadcasting & media is now a graveyard. (Sorry Noeller).

not an accurate statement, so that's alright...

 

What's really interesting is Roger's coming right out and saying "Listen, we are targeting an older demographic, because that's where our money is..." and people are SO mad about it. Keith Olbermann in the US has been irate, firing off tweet after tweet directly to Scott Moore about how they're "going back to a product that was passe in 2004".....which is just the most pretentious statement ever. 

Why is there this notion that with Strombo hosting, it's "targeting a younger demo"??? How on earth is Strombo supposed to get a younger demo? He's gotta be in his mid-40s, right? I mean, maybe 10 years younger than MacLean....he's not a kid!

Can bet there wont be any cuts to Rogers Cable/Internet/Wireless.

The whole old/young demo is sort of a red herring isn't it?  This is hockey not a soap opera. There are fans across all demos and if you present a quality program it will draw from all demos 

sure young people want cool and quick. And I see where strombo was supposed to bring that. But it's also a relevant point about how people watch hockey. Traditional mediums like television might not attract the millennials. 

I don't know.  It's fair to say ratings were way down so it's not like there isn't room to improve 

Guess Rogers is figuring out that people have other things to do that watch hockey 24/7, the only thing that will save them will be a strong Leafs team that makes the playoffs, as for Healy I always found him to be a third wheel that really didn't bring much to the broadcast but he is pretty good when he is a guest on Prime Time Sports.