Legendary NHL analyst John Garrett suddenly passes away during playoff series, tributes pour in
Published about 19 hours ago • 8 min read
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Famed hockey analyst John Garrett passes away at 74 amidst Golden Knights-Mammoth series
Prominent hockey broadcaster John Garrett. (@NHLPR on X.)
The sports broadcasting world has lost a legend with the sudden passing of John Garrett. Garrett, 74, had been calling the first round of the Vegas Golden Knights-Utah Mammoth Stanley Cup Playoffs series for Canadian TV (Sportsnet and CBC) alongside Harnarayan Singh, but Monday's Game 4 of that series surprisinglyonly aired on Sportsnet's channels and only used a simulcast of the U.S. (ESPN feed). Sportsnet didn't provide a rationale at that time, but announced Garrett's passing Tuesday morning:
Garrett had a significant playing career as a goalie across 12 seasons in the NHL and WHA following his 38th-overall selection in the 1971 NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues. He played a couple of seasons in the minors in the Blues' organization, then jumped to the WHA in 1973 with the Minnesota Fighting Saints. He'd play with them until that team folded midseason in 1975-1976 (earning his famed "Cheech" nickname from teammate Rick Smith along the way, with that nickname given for Garrett's resemblance to Cheech Marin from the Cheech and Chong comedy duo), then joined the Toronto Toros for the rest of that season, followed them to Birmingham as the Bulls the next year, and played there until the final WHA season of 1978-79. He was traded to the New England Whalers that season, then stayed with them as they became the NHL's Hartford Whalers. He was then traded to the Quebec Nordiques in 1981-82, was sent to the Vancouver Canucks the next season, and finished his career with them, playing his final NHL games in the 1984-85 season and then playing a few AHL games in 1985-86 before retiring.
It was in the broadcasting realm where Garrett made an even larger impact, though. Curiously enough, that almost didn't happen; Harry Neale (the then-Canucks' head coach and general manager, who'd go on to his own remarkable broadcasting career) offered Garrett a role as the team's assistant general manager pending his retirement, but that went away when the team fired Neale in April 1985. So Garrett went to play in the AHL for 1985-86, but then quickly picked up a chance to work on CBC's famed Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts. He'd work for them through 1998, then jump to the then-CTV Sportsnet (which lost its CTV connections a couple years later in a divestment after CTV acquired TSN) and work there for the rest of his career, including as the Vancouver Canucks' primary local TV commentator from 2002-2023 (I wrote about the end of his tenure in that role at that time) and as a voice on their national broadcasts.
Garrett's broadcasting career brought in an incredible array of tributes, from everyone from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman through broadcasting and media colleagues through fans. Here are some of those:
We lost a gem in John Garrett.
Always smiling, always ready with a joke - on you or himself. He always made time for people.
I’ll miss the texts, the laughs, and the chats about life in North Delta.
My deepest condolences to John’s family & friends 🙏🏽
Rest easy, Cheech. https://twitter.com/canucks/status/2049138914469028107
Garrett will truly be missed. Over the decades, he brought not only thoughtful analysis, but also a great sense of (often-self-deprecating) humour. That was evident even as a player, as Patrick Johnston of The Province detailed in this lovely 2023 lookback at a famous Garrett moment 50 years later:
After emerging as the winning netminder in the Canucks’ 10-9 victory against the Minnesota North Stars on Oct. 7, 1983, John Garrett announced to the assembled post-game reporters that he had good news and bad news.
“The bad news,” he said, “is my goals-against average is nine. The good news is I’m undefeated.”
Along similar lines, Garrett was involved in what looks to be one of the strangest media voting moments in history. As with many games, the 1983 NHL All-Star Game saw a MVP vote amongst assembled media before the conclusion of the game; the rationale for that is that most media have immediate post-game responsibilities, but this often leads to strange votes that don't consider the game's final moments. And Garrett was only in that game representing the Canucks thanks to an injury to primary goalie "King" Richard Brodeur, and thanks to his mid-season trade, he'd only played two minutes for them before the All-Star Game (but, as coach Roger Nielson, who would go on to be another famed broadcaster and humourist, noted, "they were a good two minutes"). He then took over goaltending for the Prince of Wales Conference (bring those names back!) halfway through the second period and pitched a shutout for that frame with a number of remarkable stops, which led to teammate Lanny McDonald making several comments to Garrett that Garrett would win the MVP.
Famed broadcaster Jim Robson (another Canucks legend who passed away earlier this year) also referenced the Garrett-for-MVP talk on the broadcast, especially as Garrett started the third period strong and only wound up allowing one goal. But his teammate Wayne Gretzky scored four goals in the final 10 minutes (more goals than any player had hitherto scored in any All-Star Game overall) and was given the MVP. (There are a wide variety of internet sources saying this came from a specific revote, but there doesn't seem to be a clear indication that actually happened; the Wiki citation for it is a 2017 Iain MacIntyre Vancouver Sunarticle that doesn't make that specific claim. However, the revote discussion was around long before then, and referenced in many things on Garrett, such as a 2010 Pension Plan Puppets article.) At any rate, Garrett took it well, as detailed in this 2013 Canucks Army piece on the game from L. Ron Sedlbauer:
He was all smiles following the game as he continued to show off the trademark sense of humour that made him such a fan favourite as as colour commentator several years later: “It was great goaltending that won the game!” He shouted to reporters afterwards.
Garrett would carry that humour and self-deprecation forward throughout his broadcasting career. And he'd become one of the most-beloved NHL analysts along the way. He'll certainly be missed: our thoughts go out to his friends, family, and colleagues, especially those who now have to figure how to go on broadcasting this series without him.
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