Mike Peca, New TSN Analyst, Draws Ire of Flames for Doing His Job

by Bruce Ciskie

Filed under: Flames, Western, NHL Media Watch

Over his NHL career, Mike Peca developed a reputation for being a pest. He was a hard-nosed, two-way center who could score (four 20-goal seasons), but was more likely to irritate the opponent and create havoc on the forecheck.

Now retired, Peca has taken a role with Canadian network TSN as a studio analyst. Tuesday night, the TSN studio panel was discussing the Calgary Flames. The topic turned to the defense, where Darren Dreger mentioned the club may look into moving Robyn Regehr to help create more salary-cap room.

From there, the group started talking about Jay Bouwmeester. A celebrated free-agent signing in the summer of 2009, Bouwmeester never really rounded into form with the Flames. After scoring 15 goals and 42 points during his final season with the Florida Panthers, Bouwmeester slipped to just three goals and 29 points last season.

Peca pounced on a player he had some experience playing against, and his comments clearly irritated the Flames, who dispatched their team president to a local radio station to respond Wednesday.

 

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