In March, Blues broadcaster Darren Pang received a call from his agent, Dan O’Connor, who let him know that another team had asked the Blues for permission to speak with him about a job. Pang’s contract would expire when the season ended, so the timing of the request struck him.
“I remember thinking at the time, boy, that’s really early for somebody to call,” Pang said. “Usually in our business, it’s the middle of the summertime when there might be a move.
“I was quite honored to have a team call. Now, in saying that, I told my agent I didn’t want to know what team it was at the time.”
Pang was finishing his 14th season as the Blues’ lead analyst, and the last thing he wanted to do was lose focus. He still had games left on Bally Sports Midwest, and the Stanley Cup playoffs on TNT would follow. He told O’Connor they’d deal with it after the season.
When the Blues played the Blackhawks in late March, Pang, who began his playing and broadcasting careers in Chicago, met up with Hawks radio analyst Troy Murray, a close friend and former teammate. Pang told Murray a team had called the Blues. The two said to each other, “What if it were the Hawks? We could work together.”
Months later, Pang learned the team indeed was the Hawks.
“It was totally invigorating,” he said.
Pang spoke with Hawks president Jaime Faulkner and director of production Trevor Bray. He received calls from chairman Rocky Wirtz and CEO Danny Wirtz. Even former play-by-play voice Pat Foley called Pang to talk about the benefits of coming back and possibly finishing his career where it started.
On June 7, on the driving range at Michael Jordan’s Grove XXIII Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, Pang signed his contract with the Hawks on his phone, battling the glare of the sun. Then he went in the clubhouse and saw Jordan sitting at a table.
“I told him I was going back to Chicago,” Pang said.
On Thursday night, Pang will debut as the Hawks’ lead analyst on NBC Sports Chicago, alongside play-by-play voice Chris Vosters, for the Hawks’ preseason opener against the Blues at the United Center.
“I’m delighted to be in this position,” said Pang, who, at 5-5, played 80 games in goal with the Hawks from 1987 to ’89. “It was something that I never imagined would take place, returning to the place where I started. It just doesn’t happen very often in life.”
That isn’t to say the decision was easy. Pang, 59, said he felt some anxiety because of the magnitude of the move. He explained to the Hawks that the decision wasn’t just about the job, it was about his family. Two of his five grandchildren are in St. Louis, and he created a life there, immersing himself in the community.
“There’s a great history of the connection there between the broadcasters and the city,” Pang said. “You come in as a guy that played for only one team, Chicago, the only team that they really, really hate, and somehow you make it work.”
Pang decided to rejoin the Hawks after a 40-minute phone call with Rocky Wirtz. Sitting on an Adirondack outside his summer home in Michigan, looking at Duck Lake, Pang talked with Wirtz about kids, grandkids and hockey. They recalled Pang taking a young Danny to a studio rink to teach him the basics of goaltending. At the end of the call, Rocky laid it all out:
“Darren, if this isn’t right for you, I understand. You’re at that time in your life with five grandkids. I know because I have six. So if this doesn’t fit, it’s OK. But we’d really like to have you back in the organization you started with. Full circle.”
Pang went inside to tell his wife, Lynn, how it went. Her reply: “What are you waiting for? It’s a natural fit for you, and Rocky loves you.”
On July 25, Wirtz died after a brief illness. Two months after taking the job, Pang was leading the memorial service in Wirtz’s honor, displaying the sincerity and humor that have made him a popular broadcaster.
Pang is setting a high bar for the Hawks’ broadcast team. He wants it to be regarded as one of the best in the NHL. It certainly was not long ago, when Foley and Eddie Olczyk were on the call. Foley is enjoying retirement, and Olczyk is calling Kraken games. But Vosters showed great promise in his first season, and Pang will add a flair that has been missing, along with his trademark “Holy jumpin’!”
“I would like the fans to say, ‘Man, would I like to have a cold beer with that guy,’ ” Pang said. “I’d like for them to welcome me into their home, feel relaxed, feel like they could trust me. I’m not necessarily just going to talk about the home team the entire time. I’m not going to complain about the referees because they’re losing. I’m going to do my work, and I’m hoping that they’re going to learn something.”
Pang is excited to be among the voices of the Hawks’ new era, featuring No. 1 draft pick Connor Bedard. He noted how Olczyk had that chance with Hawks great Patrick Kane, and Pang is looking forward to his.
“You don’t always get that opportunity to have a player that’s generational as we hope – I’m sure he will be – and get to be the soundtrack for that player and that team,” Pang said. “We’re the ones telling the story.”
