Blackhawks television analyst and color commentator Steve Konroyd is even keeled, well-prepared and sensible.

"Don't get too high, don't get too low. That's the way I played. That's the way I am away from the rink, too," the former Blackhawks defenseman recently said over the phone.

"I mean, I played the game, and I realize that the game's about mistakes," Konroyd added. "And I'm certainly going to point out mistakes. But I might tell you why I think it happened."

As an even-keeled player, he went where the game took him, which often meant playing with an edge and dropping the gloves.

HockeyFights.com lists 24 NHL scraps for Steve.

"Seems like I had a lot more. But it's funny how in the exhibition season, that's when you're trying to prove yourself, and that's when other guys are proving themselves. And I don't think they count those," he said. "But I can remember getting into a lot of scraps in the preseason. I think every team needs it."

Selected at No. 39 overall by the Calgary Flames in the second round of the 1980 NHL Draft, the Scarborough, Ontario native was traded from the Flames to the New York Islanders during the 1985-86 season.

He was brought to Chicago from New York in a trade on Nov. 25, 1988 that sent Marc Bergevin, now Montreal Canadiens GM, and Gary Nylund to the Islanders, and Steve and Bob Bassen to the Blackhawks.

In the midst of the 1988-89 season, Konroyd walked into a Blackhawks' locker room filled with potential Hall of Fame talent.

Jeremy Roenick had just been called up as a teenager, Ed Belfour was getting a look in net before taking it over two seasons later, Steve Larmer and Denis Savard were still near their prime, and defenseman Doug Wilson was still scoring like a top-6 forward in his 12th season with the Hawks. Troy Murray, a Selke-winning center who’d eventually become a Blackhawks analyst, was on the team as well.

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"When I got traded to the Blackhawks, we were in the middle of a little bit of a losing streak, and it continued for a little while after," Konroyd said. "So you're trying to learn your teammates, you're trying to make friends. And I was fortunate that my wife was from Chicago. So when I got traded here, she was the happiest person on the planet."

Steve earned the trust of head coach Mike Keenan, which wasn't an easy task, and was used as a top-4 defenseman for most of his time with the Hawks, usually with Keith Brown as his defensive partner.

The 1988-89 Blackhawks snuck into the playoffs and made it all the way to the Conference finals, losing to the Flames, who had drafted Steve.

Larmer wowed Konroyd to the point where he thinks he should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"With Larmer, not only did he have a great career and the unbelievable numbers, he would have shattered the Iron Man (record) for consecutive games played had it not been for, I think it was Darryl Sutter who ended up scratching him for a few games and then eventually trading him to New York," Steve said. "But aside from all those things, he won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers, and he was a very big part of that Stanley Cup-winning team in New York."

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Konroyd also recalled being impressed by a certain Hawks goalie in one of his first couple training camps with Chicago as competition ramped up, but it's not who you think.

"I remember [at] the beginning of the year were Dominik Hasek, Eddie Belfour and Jimmy Waite (currently the Blackhawks goaltending coach). Of those three guys, I thought Jimmy Waite was going to have the best career. I thought, 'This guy is unbelievable.' And he was. In practice, you couldn't beat him.



"What he couldn't handle, though, was Mike Keenan and the way he just yanked goalies around. And the other two guys end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Belfour and Hasek."

Steve was traded to the Hartford Whalers on Jan. 24 of 1992 for forward Rob Brown and would miss out on the Hawks' trip to the Stanley Cup Final later that year, where they were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Konroyd would go on to play for the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators before finishing his career where it all started, in Calgary.

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He was playing for the Chicago Wolves in the AHL during the 1994-95 season when he got a call from the Flames asking him to return. They were expected to make a deep playoff run and needed some defensive depth.

Steve played in one final regular season game with them before Calgary lost in the Conference Quarterfinals to the San Jose Sharks in a big upset. Without injuries on D or anyone needing a break in the seven-game series, he never saw the ice again as a player.

He finished his NHL career with 236 points (41 goals, 195 assists) and a +/- rating of +24 in 895 games.

"My wife's father passed away from cancer. He was only 65. So she was shaken up, her family was shaken up. So I said, 'Listen, I'm just gonna take a year off from hockey. We'll live in Chicago,'" Konroyd said.

He had heard throughout his career that he should think about a future in broadcasting because he spoke well in interviews. Towards the end of that year, Steve began doing color commentary on the radio for Chicago Wolves games.

He finished the season with the Wolves and then got hired to do radio for the Winnipeg Jets, who were moving to Phoenix at the time. Steve was the first radio color commentator for the Phoenix Coyotes, now the Arizona Coyotes.

After a year in Arizona, he wanted to get on TV. He got a color gig with the San Jose Sharks and worked there for three years through the 1999-2000 season. Konroyd spent the next four years doing TV color for the Columbus Blue Jackets so his daughter could go to high school in the Chicago area while Steve commuted back and forth from Ohio.

Then it was time to reach out to the Hawks.

"I did four years with the Columbus Blue Jackets and then the lockout of '04-'05, I was looking for work, and I came calling to the Blackhawks, and lo and behold, I became the pre and postgame guy for the Chicago Blackhawks in ’05-'06," Steve said.

Now working alongside current Blackhawks pre and postgame host Pat Boyle, often with other Hawks alumni such as Patrick Sharp, Jamal Mayers and Adam Burish, Steve has seen a lot of change in the 15 seasons he's been a Blackhawks analyst.

"I've gone through a lot of hosts, but the one constant has been me since '05-'06."

Eddie Olczyk was hired to do Blackhawks color for TV after the 2005-06 season. Steve began filling in for him, working with play-by-play announcer Pat Foley when Eddie had other obligations.

"I ended up doing between 15 and 20 games a year on WGN and NBC Sports, well, back then it was Comcast, when Eddie had his conflicts," Konroyd said. "So that's how I kind of got into doing that. Of course, having done color before, it was it was an easy transition for me."

Today, Steve continues to do both the pregame and postgame shows, and color for NBC Sports Chicago. He notes that doing color commentary is tougher with today's game.

"[What] just seems to get worse and worse every year is they've tried to speed up the game, which I think is great, but there's literally no time to talk," he said. "And you don't want to talk a lot during the play because you might be talking over a goal...



"So I think the biggest thing as a color guy is know when to step in and when to step out, and when to let the game breathe. Pat Foley is the best. Whether it's his call of the game or his timing, his inflection, everything is spot on. But he lets the game breathe. And I have to know when to jump in and then when to let the game breathe, also."

Steve can dive deeper into his opinion and worry less about timing on the pregame and postgame shows.

"I really enjoy that because you've got a little more opportunity to delve into some subjects that might require more than a 15 or 20 second soundbite," He said. "So we can look at the penalty kill, and we can talk about the goalies if they're struggling, and we can talk about the forecheck or the up-ice pressure or whatever it is. And we can also support it with some video, too.

"So believe it or not, it's a little easier in the pre and postgame show because you've got a little more time to talk about it. Whereas, you know, in-game they want to limit those games to two hours and 25 minutes, and they do a pretty good job of that. You got to get in and out, and make your point. And it's got to be to the point."

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