Will Shorthouse get Hockey Night in Canada call for Canucks playoff games?

Is this the year that John Shorthouse gets to call a Vancouver Canucks playoff game on Hockey Night in Canada?

It has never happened before.

Shorthouse has called countless Canucks playoff games on the radio with TSN 1040 and CKNW before that. His dragon-slayer call of Alex Burrows’ Game 7 overtime winner in 2011 lives forever in Canucks folklore.

Shorthouse was involved in Sportsnet’s playoff coverage last season alongside John Garrett, but of course, the Canucks weren’t playing. He instead called the first-round series played between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers.

The last time the Canucks made the playoffs in 2020, the longtime voice of the Canucks was nowhere to be heard, as Chris Cuthbert and Louie DeBrusk handled all Hockey Night in Canada games in the Edmonton bubble. Brendan Batchelor called play-by-play on Sportsnet 650, as Shorthouse hasn’t featured on radio broadcasts since Rogers won the Canucks broadcast rights in 2017.

With four Canadian teams in the playoffs, and all of them playing American opponents, it would seem likely that at least a pair of regional broadcast teams will get the call for Round 1.

Bet on the No. 1 broadcast crew of Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson to cover the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But who will get the Canucks series?

Sportsnet’s No. 2 broadcast crew of Harnarayan Singh and Louie DeBrusk has strong ties to Alberta, and Connor McDavid makes the Edmonton Oilers a national draw. But Vancouver is a bigger market.

If Singh and DeBrusk get the Oilers series, it would only be natural for Shorthouse to get the Canucks call. And certainly that would be well received in Vancouver, given Shorthouse’s popularity among Canucks fans.

Shorthouse has worked with a pair of colour commentators this season, with Dave Tomlinson getting the bulk of games. Ray Ferraro, who has commitments to call games on ESPN, has filled in the rest. Dan Murphy typically joins them as host.

We’ll know for sure when the NHL releases its playoff schedule on Thursday evening, the last day of the regular season. Rogers typically reveals its broadcast crews in conjunction with the television schedule the same night.

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