Ed Olczyk

Ed Olczyk
Olczyk in Pittsburgh for the final regular season game at Mellon Arena, April 2010.
Born	(1966-08-16) August 16, 1966 Chicago, IL, USA
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Center
Shot	Left
Played for	Chicago Blackhawks Toronto Maple Leafs Winnipeg Jets New York Rangers Los Angeles Kings Pittsburgh Penguins
National team	United States
NHL Draft	3rd overall, 1984 Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career	1984–2000

Edward Walter "Eddie" Olczyk (/ˈoʊltʃɨk/; born August 16, 1966) is an American former head coach for the National Hockey League Pittsburgh Penguins and former center for Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins. He currently serves as a television color commentator for NHL on NBC, NHL on NBC Sports Network and Chicago Blackhawks games on Comcast SportsNet Chicago and WGN-TV. He played 1,031 NHL games and produced 342 goals and 452 assists for a total of 794 points between 1984 and 2000. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on February 22, 2013.

Playing career

Amateur career

Olczyk grew up in Palos Heights, Illinois and went to Brother Rice High School. He was a star on the Illinois midget AAA team (Team Illinois) that won the 1982 national title against a Detroit Compuware squad that featured future NHL stars Pat LaFontaine and Al Iafrate. He then moved to Canada to play for the Stratford Cullitons junior team before joining the United States Olympic hockey team.

Professional career

Olczyk was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, first round, third overall. Olczyk was traded a number of times during his career. In 1987, he was traded to Toronto by Chicago with Al Secord for Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas and Bob McGill. He was traded again in 1990 to Winnipeg, with Mark Osborne for Dave Ellett and Paul Fenton. In 1992 he was traded for the third time in his career, this time to the New York Rangers for Kris King and Tie Domi. Olczyk missed most of 1993–94 season recovering from a thumb injury suffered in a game vs. Florida on January 3, 1994; he would, however, recover to play in one playoff game and win the Stanley Cup with the Rangers that season (although he and Mike Hartman's names were initially, and controversially, not engraved on the Cup for having not met the league's minimum playing time requirements for eligibility). In 1995 he was traded back to Winnipeg for their 5th round choice (who ended up being Alexei Vasiliev) in the 1995 Entry Draft. After signing as a free agent with Los Angeles in 1996, he wouldn't even finish the season with them before being traded to Pittsburgh for Glen Murray. He finished his career in Chicago.

Post-playing career

He returned to Pittsburgh to become the color analyst for the Penguins on FSN Pittsburgh, where he was given the nickname "Edzo" by current radio announcer and then co-announcer Mike Lange. In 2003, he moved from the booth to the bench and served as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins from June 11, 2003 until December 15, 2005. Despite adding marquee free-agents, the Penguins started the season with a disappointing 8–17–6 record, leading to Olczyk's dismissal on December 15.

Beginning with the 2006–07 NHL season, Olczyk is the game analyst for the Chicago Blackhawks television broadcasts, partnering play-by-play announcer Pat Foley. Olczyk is also the lead game analyst for NHL on NBC and the NHL on NBC Sports Network. Olczyk was also the lead game analyst for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Men's Ice Hockey where he partners with Mike "Doc" Emrick. Perhaps his most notable moment as color commentator came at the end of the 5–3 U.S. loss to Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, when he described the game as being "tremendously tremendous" after U.S. forward Ryan Kesler scored an empty-netter. The audio of Olczyk saying "This has been tremendously tremendous" was an instant hit among hockey enthusiasts and was the subject of many spoofs online.

On April 8, 2010, Olczyk returned to Pittsburgh to join more than 50 former Penguins being honored in a pre-game ceremony before the final regular season game at Mellon Arena.

On December 30, 2010, it was announced that Foley and Olczyk signed a three-year extension to stay with the Blackhawks.

On October 15, 2012, Olczyk was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame along with Mike Modano and Lou Lamoriello.

Personal life

Olczyk has three children playing hockey: Eddie plays for the UMass Minutemen, Nick plays for the U16 Midget Minor AAA Team Illinois (of which Olczyk is an assistant coach), and Tom, who plays for the Penn State Nittany Lions. His younger brother Rick Olczyk is a former hockey player for Brown University and is currently an assistant general manager for the Edmonton Oilers.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1984–85	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		70	20	30	50	67		15	6	5	11	11
1985–86	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		79	29	50	79	47		3	0	0	0	0
1986–87	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		79	16	35	51	119		4	1	1	2	4
1987–88	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		80	42	33	75	55		6	5	4	9	2
1988–89	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		80	38	52	90	75		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		79	32	56	88	78		5	1	2	3	14
1990–91	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		18	4	10	14	13		—	—	—	—	—
1990–91	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		61	26	31	57	69		—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		64	32	33	65	67		6	2	1	3	4
1992–93	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		25	8	12	20	26		—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	New York Rangers	NHL		46	13	16	29	26		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	New York Rangers	NHL		37	3	5	8	28		1	0	0	0	0
1994–95	New York Rangers	NHL		20	2	1	3	4		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		13	2	8	10	8		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		51	27	22	49	65		6	1	2	3	6
1996–97	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		67	21	23	44	45		—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		12	4	7	11	6		5	1	0	1	12
1997–98	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		56	11	11	22	35		6	2	0	2	4
1998–99	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		61	10	15	25	29		—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	Chicago Wolves	IHL		7	2	2	4	6		—	—	—	—	—
1999–00	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		33	2	2	4	12		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				1031	342	452	794	874		57	19	15	34	57

Awards and achievements

• Stanley Cup Champions 1993-94 New York Rangers
• US Hockey Hall of Fame 2012

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season							Post season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	Result
PIT	2003–04	82	23	47	8	4	58	5th in Atlantic	Missed playoffs
PIT	2005–06	31	8	17	-	6	(58)	5th in Atlantic	Missed playoffs
Total		113	31	64	8	10

International Record for Team USA

• 1984 Winter Olympics (seventh place)
• 1984 Canada Cup (fourth place)
• 1987 Canada Cup (fifth place)
• 1991 Canada Cup (second place)
• Ice Hockey World Championships: 1985 (fourth place), 1986 (sixth place),

1987 (seventh place), 1989 (sixth place), 1993 (sixth place)

See also

• List of NHL players with 1000 games played

External links

• Ed Olczyk's bio at Legendsofhockey.net
• Ed Olczyk's profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
• Ed Olczyk's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Bruce Cassidy	Chicago Black Hawks first round draft pick 1984	Succeeded by Dave Manson
Preceded by Rick Kehoe	Head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins 2003–05	Succeeded by Michel Therrien