Erika Wachter is a host on NHL Network, where she fronts the highlights show On The Fly, and she works for MLB Network as well. Erika Wachter spent six seasons as the New Jersey Devils host on MSG Networks before the network declined to renew her contract in June 2024, a decision that sent Devils supporters to a petition website. She returned to air in New York 72 days later.
| Fast facts: Erika Wachter | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Hosting Devils coverage on MSG Networks for six seasons, and NHL Network’s On The Fly |
| Current role | Host, NHL Network. Also hosts for MLB Network |
| Employer | NHL Network and MLB Network |
| Previous roles | New Jersey Devils host, MSG Networks, 2018-19 to 2023-24. Host of Honda SportsNite on SNY |
| Hockey connection | None as a player. She reached hockey through studio hosting |
| Also written | Erika Wachter Barnes, which is how she signs her own accounts |
Who is Erika Wachter?
Erika Wachter is a studio host who works across two sports. On NHL Network she hosts On The Fly, the nightly highlights and news show, and the network named her on its 2026-27 on-air roster on 24 September 2026 alongside Alexa Landestoy, Tony Luftman, E.J. Hradek, Jamison Coyle and Adnan Virk. She has also hosted for MLB Network for years. Before either, Wachter was the face of Devils coverage.
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Why did Erika Wachter leave the Devils?
She did not choose to. MSG Networks declined to renew her contract, and Wachter announced it herself on 19 June 2024, writing that MSG had decided not to renew and that the network was moving in a different direction. Awful Announcing reported the reaction four days later: a supporter started a petition asking the network to reverse the decision, and it gathered three thousand signatures in a weekend. Wachter thanked the fans publicly and said she was simply blown away.
She had hosted Devils coverage for six seasons, from 2018-19 through 2023-24, joining MSG as an intermission host. The channels and streams for Devils games are in our guide to how to watch the New Jersey Devils.
Who replaced Erika Wachter on Devils broadcasts?
Rachel Herzog. MSG Networks announced her as host and analyst for Devils coverage on 12 September 2024, less than three months after Wachter said her contract would not be renewed, and Herzog came to the job from a local television station in Fargo, North Dakota.
Wachter’s own route through MSG went the other way. She arrived in 2018 as an intermission host, a role that puts someone on air for a few minutes between periods, and grew into fronting the coverage. Six seasons later, the network went in a different direction and hired someone at the start of her own first chapter.
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What is Erika Wachter’s career?
| Year | Role | Outlet |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Intermission host, then Devils host | MSG Networks |
| 2024 | Host, Honda SportsNite | SNY |
| Ongoing | Host | MLB Network |
| 2026 | Host, On The Fly | NHL Network |
Does Erika Wachter have a Wikipedia page?
No. Searches for her name include a direct request for the page, which doesn’t exist; instead, the results show her X account, a Cameo profile, her talent agency’s listing, and a set of biography sites that cite nothing.
What is On The Fly?
On The Fly is NHL Network’s nightly highlights and news program, and Wachter is one of its hosts. It stitches an evening of games into one sitting: comebacks, first hat-tricks of the season, shootouts, and the day’s contract news, in the order a viewer who missed it all would want them.
It is also a different job from the one she had in New Jersey. A club host carries one team through a season and is judged on the relationship with that audience. A league host covers every team on the schedule and has to be equally fluent in all of them.
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Does Erika Wachter cover baseball?
Yes. Wachter hosts for MLB Network as well as NHL Network, and the baseball work has run alongside the hockey work rather than replacing it. Her own posts switch between the two in the same week, and she once had to correct herself publicly after writing the wrong network name while promoting a baseball show.
Two sports, two leagues, two studios. It is a schedule, not a career change, and it is the reason her name turns up in baseball searches as often as hockey ones.
Who is Erika Wachter’s husband?
Erika Wachter’s husband is Sam Barnes. They got married in August, 2020.
How old is Erika Wachter, and how tall is she?
Erika Wachter was born in May, 1990.
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