NBC Sports Philadelphia replacing Keith Jones with Brian Boucher on Flyers coverage

Brian Boucher is a former Flyers first-round pick who played in Philadelphia for six of his 13 NHL seasons.

Former Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher will take over calling games on NBC Sports Philadelphia this season.Read moreESPN Images

Published Sep. 11, 2023, 10:00 a.m. ET

NBC Sports Philadelphia is turning to another former Flyers player to replace Keith Jones in the booth.

Brian Boucher, a former first-round pick who played goaltender in Philly for six of his 13 NHL seasons, will take over as lead analyst for the Flyers this season on NBC Sports Philadelphia, the network announced Monday. Joining him in the booth will be veteran play-by-play caller Jim Jackson, who is entering his 29th season as the television voice of the Flyers.

Boucher, 46, is also leaving ESPN to join TNT as the “between the benches” analyst on their top crew, reuniting with his former NBC colleagues Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk. That means NBC Sports Philadelphia will have to find a second analyst to fill in when Boucher is on a national broadcast.

A spot opened up for “Boosh” after the Flyers named Jones their president of hockey operations. Danny Brière was also named general manager as part of what the team hopes will be a complete turnaround of a franchise that’s missed the playoffs seven of the past 11 seasons.

“This will not be perfect,” Comcast Spectacor CEO Dan Hilferty told reporters in May. “No human organism is perfect. It will take time. So be patient with us. But know that our goal is singular, to deliver a championship or more and to be the envy of the NHL.”

The former goaltender played three separate stints with the Flyers, and was on the team during its Stanley Cup finals run in 2010. He continues to hold the NHL record for the most consecutive shutouts — five — and the longest shutout streak at 322 minutes, both set with the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2003-04 season. The closest any NHL player has come to topping Boucher’s marks was Robert Luongo, who posted three consecutive shutouts and held opponents scoreless for 246 minutes for the Vancouver Canucks during the 2008-09 season.

Since retiring in 2013, Boucher has worked his way up the broadcasting ladder, turning a studio analyst role at then-Comcast SportsNet into a national announcing job with NBC in 2015. He joined ESPN in 2021 after NBC lost its NHL broadcasting rights, and has been an analyst on the network’s NHL coverage for the past two seasons.

Boucher also had a cameo earlier this year on the Philly-centric sitcom The Goldbergs, where he played the Flyers’ general manager ahead of the team’s appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

“I just got a call out of the blue and I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll do it.’ The schedule was light in January so I went out and did it,” Boucher said on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast last month. “They called me ‘one take’ because I nailed the lines.”

Returning to host the station’s Flyers studio coverage will be Ashlyn Sullivan, who joined the network last year after spending six seasons work as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ in-house reporter. Former Flyer Scott Hartnell and longtime 94.1 WIP host Al Morganti are also expected to return as a studio analysts.

“I assume that I am,” Morganti told The Inquirer. “I’ve been on like 23 one-year deals.”

The Flyers “new era or orange” begins Sept. 25, their preseason opener against the New Jersey Devils. The Flyers will start the regular season on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 12 before returning to the Wells Fargo Center for their home opener against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 17.