“Got some blood in the game” – Eddie Olczyk joins Seattle Kraken broadcast team after stint at Blackhawks

“Got some blood in the game” – Eddie Olczyk joins Seattle Kraken broadcast team after stint at Blackhawks

Eddie Olczyk

Former Chicago Blackhawks TV colour analyst Eddie Olczyk joined the Seattle Kraken broadcast team as a television analyst on Thursday. The 55-year-old made this after 15 seasons as he had been associated with the Blackhawks games since 2006-07.

“It’s been a long process, two months to be pretty much exact, and I just appreciate the patience and also the support of TNT for having to navigate through a couple of potholes throughout a couple of weeks,” Olczyk said, as quoted by NHL.com. “Without their help, this certainly wouldn’t be possible today. 

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“I’m just very excited to be a part of this franchise, and obviously I’ve got some blood in the game with the Kraken. I’ve mentioned my brother, Ricky, assistant general manager, and my oldest son, Eddie, has been an amateur scout there the last couple of years. We’re adding another Olczyk to the Kraken organization and I’m certainly very proud and excited.”

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“Eddie joining us is awesome”

Eddie Olczyk
Eddie Olczyk

Olczyk, who will continue to appear on national game broadcasts for TNT this season, was earlier diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in August 2017. The Illinois native went on to broadcast his first game since then when the Blackhawks took on the St. Louis Blues on October 18 of that year. Luckily, he announced he was cancer-free on March 22, 2018.

Selected with the No. 3 pick in the 1984 NHL Draft, the former NHL centre played five seasons for the Blackhawks (1984-87, 1998-2000). The veteran ice hockey player had 794 points (342 goals, 452 assists) in 1,031 NHL games against his name for the Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs at the time of retirement. 

“We’ve had a lot of dreams here, but this is another day of a dream coming true,” Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said. “We’re still building, but we’re pretty good builders, but having Eddie join us is awesome.”

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