Charles Barkley is serious when he says he loves the NHL playoffs
PITTSBURGH – Charles Barkley’s expertise is in the NBA and his rooting interest is in the NHL playoffs.
“Stanley Cup playoff hockey is the best thing going, and not just now,” the TNT analyst told USA TODAY Sports. “I think overtime hockey is the most nerve-wracking thing in the world. There’s nothing to compare it to.”
Barkley insists that running the playoff gauntlet in the NHL is more difficult than in the NBA.
“Let me explain it like this. Every broadcaster and sportscaster in the world knew seven months ago that the Cavs and Warriors were to going to play for the championship,” Barkley said. “There’s not a single person who had the Nashville Predators playing for the Stanley Cup championship.”
He said people knew the Penguins, their Stanley Cup Final opponent, had a chance to make a run, “but most people picked the Capitals to beat them. No one thought the Predators would sweep the Blackhawks.”
“You have an idea who can win, but anything can happen,” Barkley said. “That’s what fascinates me about the NHL playoffs.”
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Barkley said he has “pretty much watched every Stanley Cup playoff game” for the last two months. During Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, Barkley said he wanted to go back to the hotel to watch the rest of Game 7 between the Penguins and Ottawa Senators. A berth in the Stanley Cup Final was on the line and he had bet on Ottawa.
Barkley said his interest in hockey started when began following the Eric Lindros-led Philadelphia Flyers in the 1990s and grew when he became friends with Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios in Chicago.
“He’s a huge sports fan, and he knows hockey,” said Roenick, an NHL analyst on NBC Sports. “He loves the physicality and toughness of the sport. He says he could have been the perfect hockey player if he could have learned to skate.”
When Barkley is in the TNT studio for his NBA duties, he makes sure two of the studio's 20 televisions are turned to the NHL. When he’s on location, he’s been known to wander into a media center and ask for one of the televisions to be switched to the NHL.
Barkley lives in Arizona and attends five to 10 Coyotes game per season. He's also following the career of Arizona native Auston Matthews, who is a young star with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“But really I root for the guys who are great but didn’t win a championship because I’m on that list,” he said. “At the start of the playoffs, I was rooting for Henrik Lundqvist, (Alex) Ovechkin and Joe Thornton.”
With the Stanley Cup Final starting tonight, he’s rooting for the Predators because their franchise has never won. He’s also a fan of Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban.
“It’s tough because one of my best friends is (Pittsburgh assistant coach) Rick Tocchet,” Barkley said.
He said his NBA buddies have started paying more attention to the NHL because of Seth Jones. He's the son of former NBA player and long-time coach Popeye Jones.
“A lot of guys started to cross over when he was drafted. Everyone knew Popeye and you heard guys saying, 'Is Popeye’s son that good in hockey?' Give Seth Jones a lot of credit because of the way he has played.”
Would Barkley like to be on a set with Roenick and Mike Milbury someday to analyze a hockey game?
“I’m not that good,” Barkley said. “J.R., Wayne Gretzky and Tocchet have taught me enough that I’m not a casual fan. But I’m not stupid enough to go into a booth and pretend that I know what’s going on.”
Sir Charles is selling himself short, according to Roenick. “He knows sports and he always has an opinion,” Roenick said, laughing. “He would have no problem telling Mike and I what we don’t know about the game.
Roenick predicted that if Barkley joined NBC’s team for a game “it would be the highest-rated hockey program of all-time.”
PHOTOS: Stanley Cup playoffs
