Wednesday Commentary

(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on All New Hits 98 & LTD Radio)

Taking a break from Random Thoughts on this Wednesday.

I didn’t realize the impact Kyle Calder had on people. I mean, the former Regina Pat and 10-year NHLer had a major impact on my life, but I didn’t know his passing on Tuesday at age 47 would rock the whole hockey community so far and wide.

It’s been 24 hours of fielding messages about Kyle – the Manning, Alberta product we called “Grease” – and people are quite upset.

He skated with the Regina Pats from 1995-99 and Scruffy said it best on the RP Show; he said you won’t see Kyle’s name in the rafters nor in the record book, but he was a fan favourite and a key part of some really good Regina Pats teams. The 90s were special in the Agridome.

He was a prankster, quick with a smile, beloved by his teammates, and had “silky mitts”, as the kids say.

Calder had a very respectable NHL career too, spanning 10 years with Chicago, Philadelphia, LA and Anaheim.

I could go on and on with stories about Grease but once he asked me to get him an Andy Moog signed Dallas Stars jersey for his best friend’s Grade 12 grad. I got it, and told him the bill would $350US. He looked me dead in the face and said he was a junior hockey player, and didn’t have any money. He wasn’t lying.

But I knew he was going to the NHL and would collect on that debt many times over for years. And that happened, as Kyle was always quick to send memorabilia, or appear on my shows all the way from Chicago.

I asked him once on air how it felt to play on a line with Alexei Zhamnov with the Blackhawks. He answered, “Maybe you should ask Zhamnov how it feels to play with me?”

Kyle Calder was that kind of guy. His passing leaves a huge hole with his fans and more importantly, his family. I was with him in Chicago last year and we had a heart-to-heart at the United Center. I sure never thought it would be the last time I’d ever talk to him.

Hopefully the lesson here is as clear to you as it is to me.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(Sign Up For the Rod Squad Newsletter for insider columns, Hot Takes, contests & more!)