Eddie Olczyk won’t return as the Chicago Blackhawks TV analyst — and the team was ‘blindsided’ by the news

MassHavoc

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I thought this was what all the tryout stuff was about. Thought they'd both be gone last year?
 
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Only mildly surprised by this......I really doubt it was about the money. Playing up guys he knows are brutal as serviceable NHL players, his longtime partner retiring and then being forced to make excuses as to why this team is bad.....he got a taste of it for the last few seasons and now with the upcoming seasons promising to be even worse, it was time to get out of Dodge. Really, the only surprising thing is that he has a home and family here which he either has to uproot and move or spend a shitload of time away from them.
 
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Diehardfan said:
Only mildly surprised by this......I really doubt it was about the money. Playing up guys he knows are brutal as serviceable NHL players, his longtime partner retiring and then being forced to make excuses as to why this team is bad.....he got a taste of it for the last few seasons and now with the upcoming seasons promising to be even worse, it was time to get out of Dodge. Really, the only surprising thing is that he has a home and family here which he either has to uproot and move or spend a shitload of time away from them.
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The article says he's rumored to already have signed with Seattle
 
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Good voice to help build the Seattle fan base. Sad to see Eddie O go, Hawks going scorched earth and blowing everything up.
 
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MassHavoc said:
I thought this was what all the tryout stuff was about. Thought they'd both be gone last year?
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Only Foley was slated to leave officially. I don't recall anything about Eddie ever leaving; maybe that was in the works behind closed doors, but it was never made public.

Either way, this sucks. You can say what you want about Eddie and his goofiness, but he is a fantastic analyst who would have made Vosters more tolerable -- because Vosters is very mistake-prone from the small sample size I've heard and he misses a ton of shit that Olczyk always catches. Olczyk really carried Foley many times, especially last season. Now that he's gone, the Hawks better find someone who can do the same with Vosters.

I don't get why a deal couldn't get done. This just reeks of Old Regime Dollar Bill shit.
 

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Granada said:
Only Foley was slated to leave officially. I don't recall anything about Eddie ever leaving; maybe that was in the works behind closed doors, but it was never made public.

Either way, this sucks. You can say what you want about Eddie and his goofiness, but he is a fantastic analyst who would have made Vosters more tolerable -- because Vosters is very mistake-prone from the small sample size I've heard and he misses a ton of shit that Olczyk always catches. Olczyk really carried Foley many times, especially last season. Now that he's gone, the Hawks better find someone who can do the same with Vosters.

I don't get why a deal couldn't get done. This just reeks of Old Regime Dollar Bill shit.
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Reportedly short on the term Edzo asked for and the $$$ befitting his stature. Nick Olczyk ain't returning either and I wonder if Pat was really ready to retire.
 
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Granada

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HSBOB said:
Reportedly short on the term Edzo asked for and the $$$ befitting his stature.
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So essentially, they really didn't want to keep him -- that's how I read into the situation. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dragged their feet. They want "fresh" voices in the booth "that'll appeal to new fans," which is fucking stupid.

They did something similar with Foley himself. It's not like Foley had zero interest in returning, I just think he only wanted to do home games, but the org. declined it.

First they fuck up the Wiedeman decision by not hiring him for TV, then they lose both Foley and Olczyk. Fucking clown show. Guess we have Vosters and Colby now. Great.
 
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Granada said:
So essentially, they really didn't want to keep him -- that's how I read into the situation. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dragged their feet. They want "fresh" voices in the booth "that'll appeal to new fans," which is fucking stupid.

They did something similar with Foley himself. It's not like Foley had zero interest in returning, I just think he only wanted to do home games, but the org. declined it.

First they fuck up the Wiedeman decision by not hiring him for TV, then they lose both Foley and Olczyk. Fucking clown show. Guess we have Vosters and Colby now. Great.
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We can comment on Edzo's style or 'flair' in the booth all we want but his knowledge of the game is indisputable but I guess it'd only get in the way here.
 
Granada

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Eddie's been making the rounds. Kind of hard to watch, he's obviously hurt about leaving.


Let me just say this: if his departure has anything to do with Colby and/or him wanting his son Nick to be the between-the-benches guy and they let him go for that, that's such bull shit. Just speculating, but still. Nick is so much better than Colby on top of it.
 
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Granada said:
Eddie's been making the rounds. Kind of hard to watch, he's obviously hurt about leaving.


Let me just say this: if his departure has anything to do with Colby and/or him wanting his son Nick to be the between-the-benches guy and they let him go for that, that's such bull shit. Just speculating, but still. Nick is so much better than Colby on top of it.
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First off I dont blame him, however, is there a possible reason to him leaving due to him not getting a better position within the Hawks organization? Rocky low balled him, and he pretty much said fuck off I am out.
 
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Granada

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hawkinmontreal said:
First off I dont blame him, however, is there a possible reason to him leaving due to him not getting a better position within the Hawks organization? Rocky low balled him, and he pretty much said fuck off I am out.
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It could be anything. There's a rumor going around that maybe Eddie wanted to work with his son more and have him between the benches other than Chodey, but the Hawks declined. Who knows, I mean hell, they should just promote Nick, I'd be fine with that. But they won't, they'll do something fucking stupid and overthink it, like usual.
 
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This is by far the best podcast about this particular situation. I'm not going to write everything out when you can just watch it if you're interested. Very illuminating.

I'll say this: basically, Edzo felt disrespected and the Hawks evidently didn't want to pay him for a full 82 games even though Eddie wouldn't call a full 82. That, and the Hawks wouldn't give him a guaranteed contract beyond 2 years because the Hawks' deal with NBC will be up then; even though there are "current" broadcasters (probably Vosters, Chodey, etc.) who do have guaranteed contracts that go beyond 2 years.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell and I don't blame Eddie in the slightest. This was completely mishandled by the org.

 
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My God, this franchise is in free fall. This is what they'll be presenting to Hawk fans by mid season.....a terrible team, terrible announcers, anywhere from a quarter to half empty UC.....all for the 5th highest ticket in the league along with some of the highest concession prices.

Welcome, Chicago Blackhawk fans!!!!

I have to admit that they fooled me. I bought into the Rocky Wirtz thing.....apparently, the Wirtz bloodline overrides everything.
 
Granada

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Diehardfan said:
My God, this franchise is in free fall. This is what they'll be presenting to Hawk fans by mid season.....a terrible team, terrible announcers, anywhere from a quarter to half empty UC.....all for the 5th highest ticket in the league along with some of the highest concession prices.

Welcome, Chicago Blackhawk fans!!!!

I have to admit that they fooled me. I bought into the Rocky Wirtz thing.....apparently, the Wirtz bloodline overrides everything.
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I don't think I'm ready to declare the sky is falling just yet -- I mean, yeah, I'm pissed about this decision, it could have been avoided, it does seem like something the old regime would do, and it does seem disingenuous on the organization's part. The broadcasting decisions have been utterly atrocious --all they needed to do, was promote Wiedeman and Troy to TV; and have Olczyk sub for Troy when needed. That's it, it really would have been that simple.

That said, I'm still on board with what's occurring on the ice. I'm still on board with a rebuild, even if the team is absolutely terrible for the foreseeable future. Although they've made a couple of horrible decisions regarding the broadcast, I can't put it on par with what transpired under the old regime. At least not yet.

Plus, there is still a solution here. Troy, Stu, and Sharp -- you start with those three, and pray one of them wants the job. They are all good, especially the Reaper.
 
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MassHavoc

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I didn't realize this
"Of the 32 NHL teams, only six — Philadelphia, Carolina, Dallas, Arizona, Vegas and Edmonton — don’t have an organist playing during games. Vegas, the last team to join the league before Seattle, didn’t have an organist in its first year, but tried it in Year 2. With all the other entertainment that went into the game production, the organ sound didn’t fit the soundtrack of Las Vegas."

That's actually less than I would have guessed and that makes me happy. Even in a limited role, I think hockey should always have an organ in the stadium.
 
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