The Blackhawks television booth has been a game of musical chairs this season as the team works to name a permanent replacement for the great Pat Foley, who is retiring. The legendary Pat Foley has been partnered with Eddie Olczyk in the Blackhawks TV booth since 2008, and he served as the Blackhawks radio play-by-play man from 1981-2006 before joining the TV broadcast.
This afternoon, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jeff Agrest reported that Chris Vosters has emerged as the favorite to succeed Foley as the team’s TV play-by-play man full-time beginning in the 2022-23 season.
There's movement on the Blackhawks broadcasting front.
Chris Vosters has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Pat Foley.
Jason Ross is likely to earn a role, too, on radio and as Vosters' fill-in.@jeffreya22 with the scoop: https://t.co/vpMMO6exKA
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 3, 2022
Vosters has extensive play-by-play experience, calling several sports for Big Ten Network, Fox Sports, ESPN, NBC Sports, and Stadium, according to Agrest, who went on to say:
“Vosters would be a great choice. In just six games, he has shown noticeable improvement. My biggest criticism of him early on was he lacked a strong goal call. That has changed. He has good energy and a smooth delivery, doesn’t appear to get rattled, and creates a good rapport with his analyst. And let’s be honest: Who wouldn’t want to look like him?”
Blackhawks VP of Business Ops Jaime Faulkner said at the Town Hall event on February 2 that the team flirted with the idea of a rotating booth similar to this season, but fan feedback led them to scrap that idea. Now it seems that it will be Vosters taking the lead role next season with fellow finalist Jason Ross Jr. working some radio broadcasts in when John Wiedeman has national broadcast obligations and spelling Vosters in the TV booth when needed.