Bruins play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards announced his retirement today after 17 years with Boston, opening one of the most prestigious jobs in all of hockey broadcasting. According to yyzsportsmedia, the Bruins are looking at stealing away John Forslund as their play-by-play announcer.

Forslund is simply one of the best in the business, if not the single best. When I was interning with the Colorado Avalanche radio team in the late 90s, we would talk about who the best broadcasters were around the NHL. My mentor Mike Haynes mentioned “this guy down in Carolina” and I made a note of Carolina Guy. Carolina Guy was very, very good.

Now Carolina Guy is Seattle Guy. But is Seattle Guy about to become Boston Guy?

Reasons why Forslund might want to go

John Forslund grew up in Springfield, MA, about 90 miles from Boston. When he was a kid, he would turn the volume down on Bruins games and he would do play-by-play while his dad did color commentary. Who wouldn’t at least seriously consider a job calling games for your childhood team and where you grew up?

There is also real prestige in calling an original six team. I think the original six thing is really overblown, but people like to designate Extra Special Status to those six teams (Boston, NY Rangers, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit) and they have a lot more cache than the other 26 teams. I don’t love it, but it is what it is.

And let’s face it — right now at least, hockey is much less popular in Seattle than it is in Boston. It’s just a larger market with a lot more eyeballs. Maybe in 10 years when the Kraken have won 3 Cups that might change, but for now that’s where stand.

Reasons why Forslund might want to stay

The Kraken are a top-notch, A+ organization that treats everyone extremely well. The Kraken are an exciting new organization and the city has embraced Forslund. He might not want to move again after a few years.

Seattle is also not a cheap organization, while the Bruins can be. The Bruins have cheaped out a little in the past by not sending their announcers on the road, instead having them call road games from a studio watching off a monitor. Forslund seems very particular about his craft, and I cannot imagine he would be happy doing road games in Boston calling off a monitor.

They are sending their announcers on the road again this year, but it does highlight the difference between some penny-pinching Bruins ownership and the “we will give you whatever you need at whatever cost” attitude of the Kraken ownership.

On Sunday during the pancake breakfast, he did talk about wanting to stay here in Seattle. The rumors have been swirling around this since at least March, so he’s presumably aware of this. I don’t assign a lot of weight to these types of public comments. It’s not that I think John is being duplicitous, but have you ever been happy with a situation, and then a great opportunity opens up?

It can both be true that John loves Seattle with no intention of leaving and also would take the Boston job if offered to him.