TJ Oshie was a natural in his ESPN debut as a hockey analyst on May 27. Sharing his insight before, during, and after Game 4 of the Western Conference Final between the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers, Oshie received rave reviews from fans and peers alike, assimilating quickly with host Steve Levy and fellow NHL players Mark Messier and PK Subban.
While he may have looked as cool as a cucumber on TV, Oshie was actually a nervous wreck. The 2018 Stanley Cup champion spoke about his ESPN appearance while being interviewed on the Empty Netters podcast this week.
“It was wild,” Oshie said. “I hope you couldn’t tell, but my leg was shaking so bad. And we’re on stools, right? So your legs are up, just like high as a desk chair, and there’s like a place to put your feet. They want you like high up. Top of my quads were like on the desk. And my leg was shaking so bad that it was shaking my whole body. So I had to dangle my left leg off of the chair. Then it could just shake on its own down in the corner.”
An avid and passionate golfer, Oshie likened his severe case of nerves to the first time he participated in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. “That’s the most nervous I’ve been since my first round of (Lake) Tahoe. 100%. Those are the only two times in my life that I’ve been that nervous.”
It was an amazing experience. But all the guys on the show made me feel really comfortable, even though I was really nervous. And the producers were great. I mean, ESPN, completely first class. And it was fun.”
What Oshie found most challenging about the job and most impressive about his ESPN cohorts was the multi-tasking.
“I have so much more respect for those guys,” Oshie said. “Because you have an earpiece in, and they’re like talking to you while you’re talking. So, if you can imagine having one ear plugged, how weird that sounds anyways. So plug one ear and talk. And then you got to like look at people. I was worried about like where my hands were. My buddy made fun of me for having a pencil instead of a pen.
“And then they’re like counting down like, alright, give it PK in 3, 2, 1 or whatever it is. Like that’s so hard to do. And everyone makes it look easy on TV. So it was a cool experience, man. So fun. A lot harder than I thought. ESPN is phenomenal.”
