I want Walz nowhere near the color position. He never shuts up, coaches from the booth, and is worse than Greenlay with his pauses/stutters/umms. I like him as the intermission commentator. He can share his knowledge and breakdown plays then. His style feels more like a football announcer than a hockey announcer. Hockey just doesn't have the breaks in action for him to diagram the things he like to talk about.
I also think Greenlay has improved this year, he's taking the homer glasses off more and more. Lapanta does have some homerism, but he's employed by the team so it's to be expected. But he speaks clearly, succinctly, and can name the players from each team during the coarse of game action. It's pretty sad that the bar is that low, but I've watched too many random games where I never know who's on the ice for the "away" team.
It's weird, but I can tell when the Wild are on the Armed Forces Network. Lapanta calls a pretty non-biased game then (other than his goal call for/against the Wild).
There are a few teams that are unwatchable for me with the straight homer glasses the commentators wear.
