Eddie Olczyk

Edward Walter Olczyk Jr. (/ˈoʊltʃɪk/; born August 16, 1966) is an American sportscaster and former professional ice hockey player and coach. He spent 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing as a center for the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994. Olczyk was also the head coach of the Penguins from June 2003 to December 2005.

Olczyk moved into broadcasting in his post-playing career, and currently provides commentary for NHL on TNT and for Seattle Kraken games on the Kraken Hockey Network (KHN). He served as a television color commentator for NHL on NBC until its end in 2021, and maintains a relationship with NBC Sports as a handicapper and analyst for that network's horse racing coverage.

Throughout his career as an NHL player, he played 1,031 NHL games and produced 342 goals and 452 assists for a total of 794 points. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame on February 22, 2013. During the 1989–90 season Olczyk scored a point in 18 consecutive games, which was the longest streak by an American-born player in NHL history. The record was tied by Phil Kessel and later broken by Patrick Kane.

As a youth, Olczyk played in the 1978 and 1979 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Chicago.

Olczyk grew up in Niles, Illinois and Palos Heights, Illinois and went to Brother Rice Catholic 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 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team.^{[citation needed]}

Olczyk was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks as the third overall pick in the first round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. He scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game on October 11, 1984, versus the Detroit Red Wings in Chicago Stadium against Greg Stefan. From 1984 through 1987, Olczyk was a member of Chicago's infamous "Clydesdale Line" with Troy Murray and Curt Fraser, the nickname coined by Chicago's broadcaster Pat Foley, as each player weighed in at or around 200 pounds. He was traded several times during his career. In 1987, Olczyk was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs with Al Secord for Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas, and Bob McGill.

In the 1989–90 season, Olczyk recorded an 18-game point streak, setting the record for longest point streak by an American player (later tied by Phil Kessel), the record would stand until being passed by Patrick Kane in the 2015–16 season. The 18-game streak would remain a Toronto franchise record (tied with Darryl Sittler) until being surpassed in December 2022 by Mitch Marner.

He was traded again in 1990 to the Winnipeg Jets, with Mark Osborne for Dave Ellett and Paul Fenton.