The Eddie Olczyk Saga Is Still Playing Out. Who Is To Blame Is Yet To Be Determined, But The Situation Is An Ugly Disaster

There has been a lot of debate, rumor, and innuendo about how we got to this point that the the most beloved and trusted person involved with the Chicago Blackhawks decided to uproot everything and move to the Pacific Northwest for a struggling expansion team. Watch that video above. Does that look like a man who wanted to leave? To me it does not. Chicago is his home and always has been. Born in Chicago. Played his minor hockey in Chicago. Drafted by Chicago. Played his 1000th game in Chicago. Played his final game in Chicago. Made Chicago his home. His grandchildren live a quick drive away. This is where he wanted to be. Make no mistake about that. Saying that leaving Chicago was "his decisions" is Edzo being Edzo and taking the high road. And maybe Edzo took the high road because he lives by a certain code and feels indebted to four generations of Wirtz owners. Not too many people can say that in this town. Edzo grew up a fan of the Blackhawks under Arthur Wirtz. He was drafted and played for the Blackhawks under Bill Wirtz. He returned to Chicago thanks to Rocky Wirtz. And he is leaving Chicago under Danny Wirtz. Genuine touch points with the entire Wirtz family legacy. Maybe it's that 4 generation deep loyalty that prevented him from going scorched earth. 

It's skyway of high roads by Edzo. Better than I would do because I don't mind the mud and as more things come out I get more upset. Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reported that Edzo was offered a "lucrative" fully guaranteed 5 year deal. My understanding at this point is that is simply false. What I have been told is that regardless of how the Blackhawks try to spin it, the base deal was a paycut and a significant one. The deal was also 2 years and not 5 years. Now...the 2 year deal thing on the surface could make some sense from the Blackhawks perspective. NBC-Chicago has two more years left on their deal with the Blackhawks and White Sox. What happens to that channel beyond that is anyone's guess and the Blackhawks might've wanted to line up their talent contracts with their TV home. If that was the real reason for a 2 year offer that would make sense. Where that falls apart...they just gave Chris Vosters a 5 year deal and Colby Cohen completed year 1 of his 5 year deal.

It's been reported that the Blackhawks simply didn't want to pay Edzo for games that he couldn't attend because of his National TV conflicts. Which...seems reasonable on the surface, but still an odd thing to quibble over when the Blackhawks ROUTINELY use his time and his credibility as a brand ambassador. When they needed an MC for that now infamous town hall who did they turn to? When they were doing their sham GM search panel and needed a name to give it credibility, Edzo said yes. He always answered the call for them and I would guess that he isn't sending the Wirtz family an invoice for "credibility services". Maybe, given all the little extra things he does and the trust equity he brings to an organization that DESPERATELY needs it they could've just given him...whatever the fuck he wanted. 

The Blackhawks previous regime had allowed the organization to get fat, bloated, and rotten. With the darkness coming in the years ahead it definitely makes sense to tighten your belt across multiple departments. Jaime Faulkner, also, was hired to do a job. It's not an easy job and John McDonough left a trail of cupcakes with the frost licked off in his wake (he used to literally do that and put them back on the dessert cart). Like I said yesterday, if you are criticizing the previous regime that is definitely warranted. That doesn't mean you take wrecking ball to the entire organization. If you looked at the organization from 30,000 feet I think you could say with perfect utility that the ONLY thing the Blackhawks had humming at an elite level was the broadcast and that was Eddie O. When you have fires going everywhere else in the organization and no hope for a good product on the ice for a minimum of 3 years then you should be leaning into Edzo, not lowballing him and then acting shocked when he decides your insulting offer was enough to get him to leave his home. And if you're evaluating the organization and recognizing that Edzo is quite literally the best thing going at the moment...how the FUCK do you let it get to the point that his contract expires? 

This is where I get mad. They gave Edzo a two year offer so he could serve as a bridge over troubled waters. He's not a bridge, he is a pillar. The Blackhawks corporate leadership viewed him as an asset instead of as an institution. The Blackhawks love the Original 6 distinction. They market the tradition of the organization. It's arguably all they have to lean on at this point. When you go to a game there is a series of like 4 video montages with grainy footage, black and white images, and nostalgia that is thicker than the fog rolling in off the lake. Then, they turn around and take the embodiment of that tradition and run him off to Seattle. Maybe it is hard to value that tradition properly if you don't understand it. 

Jaime Faulkner told us at that townhall that Edzo was staying. When they had Pat Foley pass the torch to Chris Vosters at gunpoint, she assured us that Edzo was going to be right there in the booth next to him. I've heard her use the word "family" when talking about the Blackhawks and Edzo specifically. She also gave this quote when she was hired

"So I think I'll be very present and available because I want to listen and learn from them (the fans). Again, because I work for them and I want to make sure we're delivering for them on gamedays and non-gamedays"--Jamie Faulkner 12/17/2020

As a fan, do you feel as though you're being listened to? I don't. I held a spaces chat on twitter for thousands when the news broke on Monday. We had fans in there ages 19 to 55 speak. Not a SINGLE one of them felt heard, valued, or that the organization was delivering for them. Not a single one was happy. Talk is cheap and the only thing cheaper is apparently the offer they gave to our Eddie Olczyk. 

I said this on spaces and on twitter yesterday

I don't have a firm understanding of the Danny Wirtz-Jaime Faulkner dynamic. My read based on conversations with people who would have some insight is that Danny trying to find that balance between minding the store and empowering the President he hired. I do think Danny's role as the 4th generation Wirtz should be what I described above. The CEO of "don't do that or the city will fucking hate you". So when Jaime is doing her role and crunching numbers and trying to make the organization run in a more economical fashion and she presents Danny with a budget that has Eddie Olczyk on the wrong side of the ledger he has to step in and say "hey, um, absolutely fucking not. Edzo needs to be here". 

I think it would be unfair of people to expect Jaime to have a true understanding of what Edzo means to the hockey culture here in Chicago. She's from Texas. She wasn't raised on hockey. She wasn't raised here. There is going to be a natural learning curve for anyone in a new and high profile position. I think it's clear that there needs to be a level of handholding and educating done so you don't have a series of events that just piss everyone off and make people fear that the old days are coming back in a real way. Danny needs to assist with that and perhaps, be more of an activist CEO to make sure things like this don't happen. I think there will be more details that come out in the next week or so that highlight that the Blackhawks didn't care if Edzo stayed or left and the rage machine will fire up again. 

Empowering your employees is a great thing, but not having a system of checks and balances is a problem. We saw that play out with Rocky and John McDonough. Rocky, by all accounts, was very hands off with McDonough. He wrote big checks and let McDonough cash them however he wanted. Which had undeniable benefits as a fan, but unspeakable downside if you were an employee. The culture maybe different (thankfully), but the pattern of management looks similar. And my guess at this juncture is that while the problems might be different in the future with that style of management…there's going to be problems. 

This whole 1500 blog is done by piecing together bits of information and my phone ringing unsolicited by people who are genuinely upset at how this played out. A completely unnecessary headache for the organization and a completely unwanted heartache for the rest of the city. I'd love to hear the Blackhawks side of the story. We still don't really know how the regime operates and I think questions and concern are certainly fair at this point as words stated publicly have routinely be found to be hollow. There has to be an explanation and I hope they give us one instead of saying that they were "blindsided" when I think it's pretty obvious that they knew this was at minimum a possibility.