Ed Olczyk

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Edward Walter "Eddie" / "Edzo" Olczyk (born August 16, 1966, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) 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 the color commentator for the Chicago Blackhawks, in addition to calling games for NBC and the NHL on Versus. He played 1,031 NHL games and produced 342 goals and 452 assists for a total of 794 points between 1984 and 2000.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Amateur career

Olczyk grew up in Palos Heights, Illinois where he was a star on the Illinois midget team 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.

[edit] 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 by 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 would miss most of 1993–94 season recovering from thumb injury suffered in game vs. Florida, on January 3, 1994, however he would recover to win the Stanley Cup with the team that season. In 1995 he would be traded once again. This time he would go back to Winnipeg by for their 5th round choice (who ended up being Alexei Vasiliev) in 1995 Entry Draft. After Signing as a free agent by Los Angeles in 1996, he wouldn't even finish the season there before being traded again, this time to Pittsburgh for Glen Murray. He would finish his career in Chicago.

[edit] Post-playing career

He returned to Pittsburgh to become the color analyst for the Penguins on FSN Pittsburgh. 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. Olczyk is also the lead game analyst for The NHL on NBC, and a studio and color analyst on The NHL on Versus.

[edit] Personal life

Olczyk has two kids playing Junior A hockey in the USHL: Eddie plays for the Waterloo Black Hawks in Waterloo, Iowa and Tom, who plays for the Sioux City Musketeers. His younger brother Rick Olczyk is a former college hockey player.

[edit] Career statistics

                                            --- Regular Season ---  ---- Playoffs ----
Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1983-84  U.S. Olympic Team           Intl    0    0    0    0    0
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

[edit] Coaching Record

[edit] 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)

[edit] External link

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

[edit] See also

• List of NHL head coaches
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons
• List of IHL seasons