Ed Olczyk Autographed Card

Ed Olczyk was drafted third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1984, then went on to play in the NHL for 16 seasons. His career highlights include playing his first three and final two seasons with the Hawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 1993-94 with the New York Rangers, posting four point-per-game seasons, surpassing the 30-goal mark four times (with a career-high of 42 with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1987-88) and hitting the 90- and 88-point marks in 1988-89 and 1989-90 respectively, again with the Leafs.

He also suited up for the Winnipeg Jets (64 games over two seasons), Los Angeles Kings (67 games), and Pittsburgh Penguins (68 games over parts of two seasons), and infamously coached the Pens in 2003-04 and 2005-06, with an abysmal .354 showing (a 31-64-14-4 record).

He has since moved on to the broadcast booth, working as an NBC hockey analyst mainly for Hawks' games, as well as being a hair transplant advocate (and satisfied customer, apparently).

Today, however, I wanted to acknowledge his fight against colon cancer. Indeed, he had surgery last week and will undergo further treatment in the coming months. "Edzo" is expected back in the analysts' booth upon recovery. We wish him the best.

Here he is on card #222 from Upper Deck's inaugural 1990-91 Series 1 collection:

It shows him wearing the Leafs' 1980s blue (away) uniform; he signed it in blue sharpie a couple of years ago while working a game at the Bell Centre.