Earlier this season, NBC’s lead NHL analyst Eddie Olczyk made it very clear his wishes to be a head coach in the league again. He went as far as saying he would take the right job in the minor leagues or in the college game. Despite what is a fairly cushy job with both NBC and CSN Chicago, he clearly has the jones to get back in the sport as a bench boss.
So as the offseason carousel of coaching jobs in hockey starts to spin, it’s no surprise to see Olczyk’s name involved with at least one position. TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested that Edzo’s name would be thrown around in the discussion for the Carolina Hurricanes’ vacancy. You’d think, however, that the Hurricanes — coming off the firing of a first-time coach in Kirk Muller — might want someone who’s at least been doing some assistant coaching in the sport the past few seasons.
Elliotte Friedman of CBC also noted those Carolina rumors in his weekly column. He seemed to suggest that it was more likely Olczyk’s brother Rick ended up with an executive position in Raleigh. However, he floated something far more interesting involving Eddie O.:
If Ed does leave the NBC booth, would it be to replace Brendan Shanahan as NHL discipline czar?
I’m sure there will be many doubters to Olczyk’s ability to do the disciplinary job, but on the surface, it makes sense: half of the position’s requirements involve communicating the department’s decisions to the public as well as the parties involved with their decisions. Hard to think of a person better than the league’s lead TV analyst to go after for the gig.
My question remains from February, when these rumors popped up: would NBC even bother to replace Olczyk? He’s technically the network’s only analyst who doesn’t work inside the glass, so NBC could conceivably go with a one-up, one-down booth of Doc and Pierre. Of course, there’s a bevy of TSN talent that might be available to use in such a position too, so the whole thing will be interesting to follow.
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