Eddie Olczyk, leaving Kraken telecasts after four seasons, jokes that “I’ll need to wear a name tag around the house.”
Approaching his 60th birthday, having spent one lifetime as a hockey player and a second as a TV commentator and coach, Olczyk is ready for his third act to be full-time husband, father and grandfather. “Our life is not going to be based around my schedule anymore,” he said on the 100% Hockey podcast.
Olczyk Departing Kraken TV, In His Own Words
“Usually your first instinct is the right one. It just took me 20 months to act on it. I probably knew each day from the last 20 months that it was inevitable.
“After I retired in in 2000 with the Blackhawks, I got the TV analyst job with the Penguins. I worked there for three years, but I commuted (from Chicago). I left my family at home.
“I got the coaching bug while in Pittsburgh and was there for almost three seasons. I got fired at Christmas of ’05. I worked with the Blackhawks (as their TV analyst) from ’06 into 2022.
I never thought in a million years that I would leave Chicago, but sometimes things happen. Getting a chance to (share TV duties) with (son) Nick and live together until he went off to to Utah was a big part of that decision. Now he’s doing a great job with their broadcast.
“This game can take you away from your family. When you don’t have any home games, it makes it really difficult. Three years commuting to Pittsburgh and the last four, no home games. When you’re coaching for almost three years, you don’t have a lot of home games (either) because you’re always at the office or traveling.
“I decided to go back home to Chicago. For the first time in 25 years, my family’s going to come first. I’m still going to be doing TNT (national games), but that’s once a week for the most part.
“I feel good since I let the Kraken know, and they were great about it. I’m very much at peace with the decision. I’m going to miss sitting next to Johnny (John Forslund) and for Kraken hockey, but the time is right. Johnny, there’s nobody better. I wish everybody well there.
“I’m sure the dogs will be happy. I’m not sure if my wife’s going to be overly happy with me being home more.”
Having built a reputation as one of hockey’s finest game commentators, Olczyk worked alongside a murderer’s row of legendary play-by-play voices. Nationally, Doc Emrick at NBC and Kenny Albert at TNT, and locally Pat Foley in Chicago, Mike Lange in Pittsburgh, and of course John Forslund in Seattle.
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