NBC Sports Group will have a guest analyst for this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs -- Florida forward Shawn Thornton, a two-time Cup winner and veteran of over 600 NHL games.
He will be part of NHL Live on Thursday and Friday.
Thornton, 37, just wrapped the first of a two-year deal with the Panthers, scoring five points in 46 games while accumulating 50 penalty minutes. The veteran tough guy had previously spent time in Chicago, Anaheim and Boston, hoisting Lord Stanley’s Mug with the Ducks in 2007 and the Bruins in 2011.
Long known as one of the league’s toughest customers, Thornton was an extremely popular figure during his seven years in Boston, appearing in the movie Ted (starring Massachusetts native Mark Wahlberg) and the music video for the Dropkick Murphy’s Going Out In Style.
On most nights of the first round, NBC Sports Group will produce two versions of NHL Live (one for NBCSN, one for USA Network/CNBC).