Patrick Sharp leaves Blackhawks broadcasts, gets job as NHL coach

Longtime NHL forward turned television analyst Patrick Sharp has officially left the Chicago Blackhawks' broadcast team and has accepted a coaching role with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Sharp's title and his role with the club is a little nebulous, but he's expected to work hands-on with the team's prospects. In fact, he made his coaching debut for the team that draft him way back in 2001 just last week in development camp. 

“It’s really cool to see him out here,” Flyers 2024 first round pick Jett Luchanko said last week. “Looks like he could still be playing. You can tell he just loves the game.”

“Being around the team, being around the players, being around our younger players. Working with Nick Schultz and Riley Armstrong on the development staff,” Sharp said, when asked to explain his job. “Doing what you (saw last week), being out there laughing, joking and being a hockey player again. I missed that part of it in the six years of retiring from the game.I missed thinking and talking hockey.”

Talking with teenagers and helping them navigate the twists and turns of pro hockey isn't exactly foreign to Sharp either, thanks in large part to his season coaching the University of Vermont in 2021.

“It feels normal to talk to a Denver Barkey — a kid, a teenager. It feels normal to talk to these players about their sticks and their equipment and situations that they’re in on the ice,” Sharp said. “I feel like that’s why I’m here, to relate to the kids. I have a story to tell. My journey was an interesting one. I wasn’t a top pick that was put right in the NHL right away.”

Sharp goes on to make it clear that he was happy in his role with the Blackhawks' broadcasting team, but that he was looking to get back into the nitty gritty of helping a team win the Stanley Cup.

“I think (television) was great for me the first three or four years after retiring. It kept me in the game, fed my ego, got a lot of face time,” Sharp said. “But as the years went on, it became less enjoyable. I loved the people I worked with, both with the Hawks and at NBC. It felt like they were a part of a team. But I missed actually wearing a team logo and working with players and being a part of something.”

For the entire article from The Athletic, click below: