SVG Sit-Down: NHL on ESPN Producer Jeff Dufine Talks Stanley Cup Final, Skate Cam, and the Crazy Journey Reuniting With the NHL Colorado Avalanche on the brink as Stanley Cup Final resumes with Game 5 Friday evening By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, June 24, 2022 - 2:01 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Stanley Cup will be in the building tonight as the Colorado Avalanche take a three games to one series lead into Game 5 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at Ball Arena in Denver (8 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN+).
The series has marked the return of ESPN to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2004 and the series has enjoyed strong ratings so far with Game 4 on Wednesday pulling 4.6 million viewers and the series averaging 4.2 million viewers so far (up 67% from the 2021 Stanley Cup Final).
SVG sat down with the lead producer of the NHL on ESPN Jeff Dufine to discuss the season that was, his take on new enhancements like Skate Cam and enhanced graphics, and how this Cup Final is a special milestone in his career.
NHL on ESPN lead producer Jeff Dufine in the truck during Game 4 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. (Photo: Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)
Let's start with the historical significance of this Stanley Cup Final. We are nearing the end of the first year of this new seven -year rights deal with the NHL that has brought the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Final back to the ESPN family for the first time in nearly two decades. What's it been like for to be such a big part of the NHL's return to ESPN?
I remember the day [VP, Production] Mike McQuade called me [about a year ago] and said I want you to run our top crew and do the Stanley Cup [Final]. I was ecstatic about it. It was something that he and I talked about for probably a month or so prior.
A lot of people within [ESPN] are hockey fanatics. I'm sure you've heard that from several folks: the amount of people that approached [SVP, Production and Remote Events] Mark Gross, Mike McQuade. So many wanted to be a part of the NHL, which was pretty amazing. We were able to really collaborate with a lot of departments and put together a team that we're really proud of.
Since Mike gave me this responsibility, it has pretty much been nonstop. It's been an amazing adventure and we always circled Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final as the big moment.
What goes through your mind when you think how quickly this all came together?
It's been a pretty crazy journey. We started this thing with nothing. Well, we had one thing: we had the music.
We didn't have production teams. We didn't have any operations folks lined up. We didn't have trucks. We didn't have equipment. It has been a huge lift, but we're really proud about how we got here and the product we put on the air.
On this Stanley Cup Final, what new tools and technology do you have at your disposal and how has your arsenal increased with each round of these Playoffs?
When we started in the First Round, that's a unique time as we are sharing the building with the RSNs [regional sports networks] and [Canadian broadcaster] Sportsnet. My crew, specifically, did a few of the Boston-Carolina games and Pittsburgh-Rangers games. As big as those games were, there's limited camera positions because you're sharing the building. You work with each other and everybody worked well together and shared as much as we could, but that's the obstacle you're up against in the first round.
As we moved forward in the second round, we did the Carolina-Rangers series and added some additional cameras that were exclusive. We worked with the NHL around the buildings to basically extend our camera and tape plan, grant us some more access.
When we got to the [Eastern] Conference Final, we were pretty similar to what we were doing on ABC Saturdays [during the season]. We added our aerial cam, we added Skate Cam, ankle cameras, some additional Super-Mos on the cameras that we already had existing in the arena. There's the Libero telestrator which we used a lot on our games especially during the regular season.
Now, at the Final, we've added a second Skate Cam on the ice, ankle cameras, additional Super-Mos, all that. We have studio onsite, including the tech crew, the announcers, everything. We actually have a side set, as well, with Brian Boucher and a separate producer and technical tape room dedicated to him so we can break down more stuff in our intermissions. We've added the blimp, we've added virtual graphics, and we've added mic'd up players working with the league and NHL Studios. We have up to four players and both coaches every game mic'ed up.
Regarding the Skate Cam, what do you think about it as a resource to go to? How do you feel that has gone over the course of the entire season and how do you feel it looks?
It has been a huge effort and I applaud the league for giving us the ability to do that. That camera operator is on skates; he's moving around with this camera. He has a designated area where the league lets us go and he has somebody in his ear making sure he's aware if, say, there's a player to his left or there's an official to his right. We don't want him hitting anybody. We're being cautious with it.
It does allow us to get some really unique shots. I would say we do a good job in production of utilizing those shots out of commercial breaks. The really impactful shots that [director] Doug Holmes has been been able to get are during the National Anthem, during warmup, stuff during pregame, and anything around commercial breaks. It's pretty unique.
We feel good about it but, I would say, I still think that those cameras have a time and place. They've got to be used correctly
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
SVG Sit-Down: NHL on ESPN Producer Jeff Dufine Talks Stanley Cup Final, Skate Cam, and the Crazy Journey Reuniting With the NHL Colorado Avalanche on the brink as Stanley Cup Final resumes with Game 5 Friday evening By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
