NBC needs to fire Mike Milbury immediately after offensive comments

Mike Milbury has said a lot of stupid stuff as an analyst for NBC. But his latest comments on women should be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

There are certain traditions hockey fans can rally behind. Watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Plopping down on the couch on New Year’s Day and watching the Winter Classic. Making fun of NHL on NBC analyst Mike Milbury because he says silly things. The problem with Milbury is he also says a lot of hurtful things that make hockey look bad.

During the broadcast of Game 5 between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals, Milbury had this to say when discussing the NHL’s bubble situation.

“…not even any women here to disrupt your concentration.”

This comment alone is pretty darn bad for several reasons. First of all, if women are a “distraction” to men, guess what? It’s not the women’s problem. To me, it sounds like a problem the men who are distracted by women need to deal with.

Secondly, hockey has a deep, rooted history of discrimination. Comments like this from Milbury are doing nothing to help solve the problem. If anything, those comments allow discrimination to continue to exist. And in case you thought the NHL doesn’t share those concerns, they had to release a statement about him.

Even if this was the only offensive thing Milbury has ever said, it would be pretty bad. But nope. Milbury has a long history of making questionable at best statements. Earlier this postseason, he criticized Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask’s decision to opt out of the postseason and return to his family.

Before that, Milbury questioned if Jake Muzzin was really injured after he got cross-checked in the back and he suffered a potentially dangerous head or neck injury.

Even before questioning if Muzzin was just milking an injury, Milbury compared the bubble environment to that of “beer league and college women’s hockey” because of the empty arenas. He also once complimented Sidney Crosby for cheap shotting P.K. Subban, saying “he had it coming”. Milbury must not like Subban because he also called him a “clown” for dancing and said then-Nashville Predators head coach should “give him a rap on his head”.

Milbury also called the CN Tower in Toronto the “Space Needle”. No, that’s not offensive, I just thought it was funny.

For the record, NBC Sports has addressed the comments with him and Milbury issued his idea of an apology.

He didn’t even really apologize to anyone. That’s a pretty pathetic apology and it’s as hollow as a carved-out Halloween pumpkin.

There are so many better analysts out there than Mike Milbury. Patrick Sharp provides outstanding analysis and he doesn’t need to say controversial things to stay relevant. Heck, Cory Schneider was a guest analyst for NBCSN during the play-in round and he had far more interesting and intelligent things to say than Milbury.

When an active player can come in and be more insightful than one of your flagship analysts, it’s time for that flagship analyst to go. Milbury’s departure from NBC would be welcomed by hockey fans.

If Milbury was a good analyst, I’d at least understand why NBC tolerates his offensive and hurtful comments. I wouldn’t agree with it, but I’d understand. That’s not the case with Milbury. He’s an objectively awful analyst. Milbury brings nothing to the table that other analysts can’t.