In a seismic event in the Chicago sports market, the Blackhawks and TV analyst Eddie Olczyk are parting ways.
Olczyk won’t return as a color commentator for Hawks games on NBC Sports Chicago, the team confirmed in an email statement. The Athletic first reported the expected split Monday.
“For 16 seasons, we were fortunate to have legendary broadcaster Eddie Olczyk bring Chicago Blackhawks hockey into the homes of our fans,” the team statement said. “We are going to miss him as much as our fans will. Though we are disappointed to learn today that he has decided to go in another direction, Eddie will always be part of the Blackhawks family. We appreciate his many contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
According to The Athletic, “negotiations stalled” before the Hawks could officially renew Olczyk’s contract, which expired June 30.
Olczyk could not be reached for comment. According to several media reports, he has agreed to join the Seattle Kraken’s broadcast team.
A Hawks source said the team believed it had given the former Hawks forward an “above-market offer” on a multiyear contract extension that “significantly” increased his salary per game.
Team officials thought they had reached a verbal agreement weeks ago and were awaiting Olczyk’s signature, the source said, and they were “blindsided” by Monday’s development.
Under his old contract, Olczyk was paid for a full 82-game schedule, though each year he would bow out of local games on occasion to work for TNT and other national hockey broadcasts as well as to handicap horse racing for NBC.
The new wrinkle was the Hawks wanted to switch to a per-game rate, though they sweetened the offer for each game. According to the team source, “Eddie still would have been one of the highest-paid broadcasters across the league.”
The Hawks hadn’t been calling possible replacements for Olczyk, the source said, but exploring fill-ins for those occasions when he would be assigned to national broadcasts.
The Hawks already faced a ratings headwind going into next season.
After a modest spending spree in free agency last summer, the team positioned itself as a dark-horse playoff contender but instead set a franchise record for longest winless streak to start a season (0-7-2) and fired coach Jeremy Colliton in November after going 1-9-2.
Now the Hawks have launched a full-fledged rebuild and traded one of their most bankable stars, Alex DeBrincat.
In October, the Hawks’ image took a beating when a team-commissioned independent investigation found that management in 2010 covered up former prospect Kyle Beach’s sexual assault allegation against then-video coach Brad Aldrich. Stan Bowman, the general manager in 2010, stepped down from his position as president of hockey operations and GM amid the fallout.
During the Hawks’ slog to a 28-42-12 finish under interim coach Derek King — the league’s sixth-worst record — viewership also took a dive. Hawks games averaged 72,000 viewers per minute last season, according to Nielsen data. During the abbreviated 2020-21 season, Hawks games averaged 105,000 viewers per minute.
Olczyk had been the Hawks color commentator since the 2006-07 season, when he was paired with Dan Kelly.
But it was the combination of Olczyk and Pat Foley, who joined him in 2008, that became synonymous with Hawks broadcasts.
Foley stepped away from his play-by-play duties after last season’s farewell tour. Despite speculation that he was pushed out, both Foley and the Hawks said his exit was amicable.
Chris Vosters was named Foley’s successor and now will need a new partner.
