AJ Mleczko is an NHL analyst for ESPN and a studio analyst on New York Islanders telecasts for MSG Networks, and she won an Olympic gold medal with the United States in 1998 before she ever held a microphone. AJ Mleczko became the most discussed broadcaster in hockey on 1 October 2026, when a joke about Jack Hughes’s injury history drew a flat reply from the New Jersey Devils forward on live television. Nine words from Hughes have traveled further than any call Mleczko has made since 2006.
| Fast facts: AJ Mleczko | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Winning Olympic gold with the United States in 1998, then becoming the first woman to work as an in-booth analyst for an NHL playoff game |
| Current role | NHL game and studio analyst, and women’s hockey analyst at the Winter Olympics |
| Employer | ESPN, MSG Networks and NBC Olympics |
| Born | 14 June 1975, Nantucket, Massachusetts |
| Hometown | Raised in New Canaan, Connecticut. Lives in Concord, Massachusetts |
| Education | The Taft School, then Harvard University |
| Previous roles | NBC Sports, NESN, Universal Sports, NHL Network, Turner Sports |
| Hockey connection | Olympic gold 1998 and silver 2002 with the United States. Patty Kazmaier Award winner 1999 |
| Name variants | Written AJ Mleczko by her employers, A. J. Mleczko in record books, AJ Mleczko Griswold in Harvard settings |
What did AJ Mleczko say to Jack Hughes?
AJ Mleczko asked Jack Hughes whether the Devils should wrap him in bubble wrap. Interviewing Hughes between periods of the Devils’ game against the Philadelphia Flyers on 1 October 2026, Mleczko said: “Let’s wrap you in bubble wrap and use plastic cutlery this year. Does that sound good?” Hughes answered, “I mean, I think that’s a weird joke midgame,” and skated away. Yahoo Sports was among the outlets that had the clip up within hours.
The joke had a target. Hughes was ruled out for eight weeks in the 2024-25 season after cutting a finger at a team dinner, which is where the plastic cutlery came from, and in February 2026 he scored the overtime goal that won the United States Olympic gold with two front teeth missing from a high stick. He settled the Flyers game as well, scoring the overtime winner in a 3-2 Devils victory, and the club posted afterward that nobody could keep him wrapped up.
The channels and streams for every Devils game are in our guide to how to watch the New Jersey Devils.
Did AJ Mleczko play hockey?
Yes. AJ Mleczko spent eight years with the United States women’s national team and won gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and silver at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Mleczko played all six games in Nagano and finished the tournament with two goals and two assists. She also took three World Championship silver medals in 1997, 2000, and 2001.
The whole 1998 squad was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame together, at a ceremony in Boston on 1 December 2009. That is why employer biographies call Mleczko a Hall of Fame member: the honor belongs to the roster, not to her alone.
Where did AJ Mleczko go to college?
AJ Mleczko went to Harvard University, where she co-captained the Crimson to the 1999 national championship and won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best player in American college hockey, only the second player to receive it. Mleczko’s final season produced 37 goals and 77 assists for 114 points in 34 games, a Harvard program record, and she finished with 128 career goals and 257 career points, fourth and fifth on the Crimson’s all-time lists according to the Harvard Varsity Club, which put her in its own hall of fame in 2014. Before Harvard, she graduated from The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut.
114 of those 257 Harvard points, or 44 percent of a four-year total, came in that one final season. Mleczko had taken the previous year out of college to play in Nagano, so the Olympic gold medal and the scoring record arrived in consecutive seasons.
What does AJ Mleczko do for ESPN and MSG Networks?
AJ Mleczko works as a game analyst and a studio analyst on ESPN’s NHL coverage, and as a studio analyst on Islanders telecasts for MSG Networks. Mleczko joined ESPN in 2021, for the network’s first NHL season since 2005, and worked ice level between the benches on the opening broadcast. Her ESPN biography also records the line that follows her everywhere: in 2018, on NBC Sports, Mleczko became the first woman to work as an in-booth analyst for an NHL postseason game. ESPN’s Leah Hextall was later the first to call play-by-play on a nationally televised NHL game in the United States. Mleczko arrived at MSG in 2018-19 on an Islanders broadcast where three of the five on-air voices were women, alongside host Shannon Hogan and fellow Olympic champion Jennifer Botterill, and the same network’s Devils studio is fronted by Rachel Herzog. The channels and streams for every Islanders game are in our guide to how to watch the New York Islanders.
| Year | Role | Outlet |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Women’s hockey analyst, Winter Olympics | NBC Sports |
| 2010s | Hockey analyst | NESN, Universal Sports, NHL Network, Turner Sports |
| 2018 | First woman as in-booth analyst for an NHL playoff game | NBC Sports |
| 2018-19 | Islanders analyst, between the benches and in studio | MSG Networks |
| 2021 | NHL game and studio analyst | ESPN |
| 2026 | Women’s hockey analyst, Milan Cortina Winter Olympics | NBC Olympics |
How many Olympics has AJ Mleczko covered?
Milan Cortina 2026 was AJ Mleczko’s eighth Olympic assignment for NBC, according to the network’s own pressbox biography. Mleczko worked the women’s tournament as the analyst alongside play-by-play commentator Kenny Albert, a pairing NBC announced on 9 October 2025. Five of those assignments have been Winter Games women’s hockey, a run that started in 2006, four years after Mleczko stopped playing.
Where is AJ Mleczko from?
AJ Mleczko was born on Nantucket, Massachusetts, and grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut.
How old is AJ Mleczko, and how tall is she?
AJ Mleczko was born on 14 June 1975. Olympedia, the Olympic results database, lists her at 180 cm, which is 5’11”, and 73 kg from her playing career. No employer biography publishes a height, so the Olympic listing is the only sourced figure for it.
Who is AJ Mleczko’s husband?
AJ Mleczko is married to Jason Griswold, and the couple have four children, according to her ESPN biography. The family lives in Concord, Massachusetts. Mleczko uses the name AJ Mleczko Griswold in Harvard and alumni settings, which is the reason her name turns up in two forms in the same search results.
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