The Chicago Blackhawks won’t be going into next season with an entirely new coaching staff after all. Derek King, who served as the team’s interim head coach last season, will be back as an assistant under Luke Richardson for 2022-23. Kevin Dean has also been hired as an assistant, providing plenty of experience for Richardson to lean on as he takes over a bench for the first time.
Goaltending coach Jimmy Waite and video coach Matt Meacham have been retained in their previous roles.
King, who had been the head coach of the Rockford IceHogs when he took over from the fired Jeremy Colliton, will still receive something of a promotion by joining the NHL bench. In 70 games as head coach, he stabilized the reeling Blackhawks and led them to a respectable 27-33-10 record. While that isn’t nearly good enough to put them in playoff contention, it’s a much better finish than many expected after the team’s 1-9-2 start, earning King some respect and an interview for the full-time job this summer.
Dean, meanwhile, comes over from the Boston Bruins, where he had served on Bruce Cassidy’s staff since 2017. With experience as a head coach at both the AHL and ECHL levels and a knack for helping young defensemen, he’ll add another quality coach to Richardson’s staff.
With the Blackhawks going through a complete rebuild, the coaching staff they have put together seems geared toward development more than anything else. That’s going to be important moving forward, though they may need to suffer through at least a few years of poor on-ice results.
Glad for King. He deserved something for doing a tough job very well. Well, as good as it could of been done anyway.