Nick Olczyk has found Seattle to be better than even he expected when he moved there with his father, Eddie, to be part of the Seattle Kraken broadcast team on ROOT Sports.
The younger Olczyk joined co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke on this week’s episode of the “NHL @TheRink” podcast Wednesday to discuss the Kraken and his move from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest.
“Everybody has just been so incredibly welcoming,” Olczyk said “Anything we’ve needed they’ve been there for us. It’s a beautiful, beautiful place to live and I think for me specifically I’ve been more comfortable and I’ve enjoyed life here quicker than I thought I would. Looking forward to getting back home to Chicago for the holidays, but ever since getting here on Aug. 26 I have thoroughly enjoyed it. There are some incredible people here in Seattle.”
In particular, Olczyk praised Tod Leiweke, the Kraken president and chief executive officer; Victor de Bonis, chief operating officer; Katie Townsend, the head of the marketing and communications department, for being welcoming to him and his family.
“I’ve been just thrilled with how this team does things first class,” he said. “And that’s not even me going out of my way to say it, it’s just how the Kraken do it. From the front office to the hockey operations to everybody, they just do things the right way and they do it because that’s the way things should be done for no other reason. It’s been an amazing time so far and it’s been a lot of fun watching this team and talking about this team. Our family, the Olczyk family, could not be more thrilled to be here and hoping for a lots of great years to come.”
Olczyk also talked about the Kraken’s success on the ice this season — the second-year team is second in the Pacific Division at 15-7-3 entering Wednesday — linking it to their forward depth with the additions of Oliver Bjorkstrand, Andrey Burakovsky and Matty Beniersand the style of play they get from their defense pairs, who have been able to be up in the rush without sacrificing much the other way.
He also discussed the rookie forward Shane Wright‘s progress and why scoring his first NHL goal in a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday is a big step in the right direction for him.
In addition, he talked about his living arrangements. Olczyk said he shares a home with his father, a former NHL player and longtime color analyst for the Chicago Blackhawks and various national networks, currently TNT. But Eddie Olczyk is only in town a few weeks out of the month.
“When he jets in and out of town he’s got a place to bunk, and when he does come in the bed is all neat, the laundry is done, the dry cleaning is in the closet hanging in the plastic, the dishes are all in the cabinets washed and nice,” Olczyk said, laughing. “It’s been great. It was obviously an extremely emotional summer for our family in a lot of different ways and it’s scary moving to a new place, a new team, a new fan base. Anyone who is part of a team, a broadcast or whatever it is, the first hope is you just go and you try to be yourself, you try to prove you know a little bit about the game and hopefully you can win some people over along the way. The fans here have been unbelievably welcoming. They’ve got some of the best fans in all of hockey here.”
Rosen and Roarke wrapped discussions about Mitchell Marner‘s point streak (20 games as of the recording of the episode) and the Toronto Maple Leafs success, the Colorado Avalanche’s injuries, Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington around the interview with Olczyk.
And at one point, Roarke ranted about a comparison linking the Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar to a legendary defenseman that he did not think was warranted.
The “NHL @TheRink” podcast is free, and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the The NHL app.
Photo: @NOlczyk16
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