NHL analyst Kevin Weekes, 51, is a former goaltender and a three-time Emmy nominee for television and broadcasting work in sports. But after all these years of amazing work on and off the ice, he still has fans acting more like detractors in the world of social media.

When one of those fans, named Nik (@NikLynam), criticized his reporting style on X, Weekes fired back at him like there was no tomorrow.

“Hey Nik, I’m with our family, having dinner, about to do bed bath time with our kids, while hosting friends for July 4th long weekend. It’s not my job to make trades for teams, I report the news as it evolves- not as you want it to be. Watch your tone “Nik,” wrote Weekes in response to the fan while quoting their X post on Sunday, July 5.

Notably, Nik, the fan, was calling out Weekes for the “Connor Hellebuyck debacle” from last month regarding hinting at a pending trade for the Winnipeg Jets goaltender, but nothing has come out of it yet.

He actually posted about it in the comments section of Weekes’ X post from July 3 about Anaheim Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov's status as a restricted free agent (RFA).

“With @AnaheimDucks being loaded with talent up front and on the back end, I’m told “several teams are crunching numbers and checking in on D Mintyukov as well,” Weekes wrote on the social media platform.

Nik also mentioned that Weekes was “about 3 hours behind multiple people” in connecting the dots about Mintyukov’s situation.

Just a couple of days later, on Sunday, July 5, it was announced that the 22-year-old Russian agreed to a five-year, $36 million contract with Anaheim, an average annual value (AAV) deal of $7.2 million.

With this, it can be said that the Ducks didn’t want any other team to get their hands on the young defenseman, who extended his tenure with them into the prime years of his career.

Moreover, some might even say that the Ducks acted on what Weekes stated about Mintyukov within days instead of letting him go elsewhere.

Kevin Weekes’s NHL career as a goaltender before he transitioned into a broadcaster and analyst

Kevin Weekes was selected as the No. 41 pick in the 1993 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers, but he had to wait for more than four years to make his debut. The first game in the goaltender’s NHL career was for the Panthers on October 16, 1997, against the Dallas Stars.

Weekes had to wait for nearly two years and 22 games to win his first game in the league after leaving the Panthers. During his second season with the Vancouver Canucks in 1999-00, he did it at the expense of the New York Rangers on October 2, 1999, with a 2-1 scoreline at home.

After that, Weekes played for five more teams in the NHL, namely the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and the New Jersey Devils. He had moderate success in his NHL career, which lasted for 11 seasons and 348 regular-season games until 2009, with a 105-163-6 record with 33 ties.

Despite that, Weekes had a very reasonable .903 save percentage and 2.88 goals-against average with 19 shutouts in those regular-season games, as per NHL.com.

He also played in nine Stanley Cup Playoff games with a 3-3-0 record, including a .927 save percentage, 1.93 goals-against average, and two shutouts.

Following his retirement from the sport in September 2009 after playing for 11 seasons in the NHL, he transitioned into a broadcaster and analyst over time.

Moreover, the 51-year-old earned his first of three Emmy nominations in 2021 for playing his part in the viral video essay called “Enough.” In 2024, he got the other two for a live-action animated broadcast named "Big City Greens Classic"and the exclusive one-on-one interview called "GR8TNESS" with Alex Ovechkin.

Is Kevin Weekes right in firing back at the fan for criticizing him after what he has achieved in the sport? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason