In a surprising development, the Chicago Blackhawks organization announced that it had terminated its relationship with head coach Luke Richardson. Anders Sorensen, who had been serving as head coach of the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford Ice Hogs, will serve as interim head coach. The team also shared that assistant general manager Mark Eaton has been named interim head coach of the Ice Hogs.
The move is shocking considering the Blackhawks were not reportedly one of the several teams looking to make a change behind the bench. They’ve become the third organization to part ways with their head coach.
General manager Kyle Davidson shared his thoughts behind the move in a press release saying, “Today I made the difficult decision to move on from Luke as our head coach. We thank him for his efforts and contributions to the organization and our community. As we have begun to take steps forward in our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately came to the decision that a change was necessary. We wish Luke and his family all the best moving forward.”
It is tough to ascertain the expectations placed on the team before the start of the regular season. Chicago was relatively aggressive this past summer adding veterans Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, Ilya Mikheyev, Pat Maroon, Craig Smith, Alec Martinez, T.J. Brodie, and Laurent Brossoit to a youthful roster. Still, any analyst would have been hard-pressed to consider this team a playoff contender.
Davidson likely didn’t think the Blackhawks would be in last place in the league standings. Nearly every skater on the roster, including budding superstar Connor Bedard, is having a depressed season and this may be the underlying reason for Richardson’s dismissal.
Richardson will end his first go-around as a head coach in the National Hockey League with one of the more dismal records imaginable. Chicago has managed a 57-118-15 in Richardson’s 190 games behind the bench (30% winning percentage).
Most of the blame can be placed on the quality of the roster at Richardson’s disposal for the first two years of his tenure but the Blackhawks were looking for a bigger step forward this season. Now, Sorensen will lead the roster for the time being until Chicago can find a longer-term solution to develop their youngsters into championship-caliber players.
The Södertälje, Sweden native is in his 11th season with the Blackhawks organization, joining the team during their most recent Stanley Cup championship in 2015. He was named interim head coach of AHL Rockford midway through the 2021-22 AHL season and has been in the same capacity since. Sorensen should be familiar with most of the Blackhawks roster, given that Chicago has graduated several players from the Ice Hogs over the last few years.
Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff was the first to report the Blackhawks had fired Richardson.
Tracey Myers of NHL.com was the first to report Sorensen had been named interim head coach.
Servalli was the first to report Eaton had been named interim head coach for AHL Rockford.
still a long way to go for this team
…and hire Drew Bannister
Not soon enough! When your team is struggling offensively, And Foligno is number 2 in ice time for forwards, You are COMPLETELY clueless
About time. They need a new voice and a new system of play, and better players too Richardson.
I mean Davidson
They should have hired Montgomery as soon as he became available.
For real. The Blues were smart to pick him up right away.
do you seriously think Montgomery would want to deal with the Headache of a roster like chicago has, I guarantee he wouldn’t have signed with the Hawks even if they offered him billions of dollars… the guy wants to win
That’s why he went to St. Louis. No one is arguing Monty’s choice to go to the better team.
For a billion dollars, Montgomery might be willing to wait a few years to win.
He’s got family in St Louis. It was pretty much a done deal from the start. There was no chance that the Blackhawks could have gotten him.
Call up Frank Nazar immediately
And yet Andrew Brunette still has his job. :/
Good on the Hawks for at least having higher expectations.
Davidson moves one chair closer to the door. Certainly he’s been hamstrung by ownership but this roster was his making, not Richardson’s. Luke was also his pick – a rookie coach – to pilot thru some dismal waters. Another high pick for a franchise which still hasn’t escaped the stench of that coverup, unfortunately.
That’s old news.
nonsense. They hired Davidson to do a rebuild. He, and Darche, and Tulsky, probably all told Wirtz and Faulkner the same thing: you need to start from scratch, this is the best time to do it because you get in the Bedard sweepstakes next year. They knew what it would take and it’s still going according to plan because outside of a phenom like Bedard, you expect prospects to take at least 3 years to even reach the NHL. What’s happening in Chicago means very little —- except for developing Bedard of course, which is the main reason Luke got moved out.
And yet Mike Sullivan is still employed
wouldnt this be the 3rd coach change,not the 2nd?
Mike Milbury is still available!
Q is coming back
I’m kind of surprised but then I’m not. With all the players they added I’m sure at Christmas they didn’t expect to be the worst team in the League. I figured they’d be better, Not worse. Richardson coached himself out of a job I think. But when your boss spends money and gives you players and you get worse this what’s next.
what players?
Doesn’t really matter what players. When your boss gives you assets he thinks will help you and then you deliver WORSE results then you are going to go. Blame rolls downhill and ended here. I suspect that would be true in any business in the world. Hawks have players that should be able to score goals. Maybe it is whatever system he was playing. I guess we’ll find out.
Let’s see…..
White Sox, Bears, and now the Blackhawks.
Hey Billy, is your house up for sale yet?
Donovan’s house should be up for sale . He sucks too.
Brunette and Lalonde firings should be on the horizon!
I wonder if Bedard and his Mom had anything to do with this?
Chicago deserves failure for their slap on the wrist during the abuse scandal. I hope Bedard can get out before he becomes a victim of the bitter karma that is surely coming their way.
Lol, ok.
still litigating this . . .
They are not responsible for the “slap on the wrist” — the league is. Meanwhile, Bowman and others lost their jobs and Q is only now being reinstated. Then-Pres McDonough is long gone as well as then-owner. Sure the league could have and should have done more to the org, but lots of responsible individuals got consequences and it’s a whole new group there now.
Time for the return of Joel Quinneville!
I wonder if Don Granato would be a fit.
With that roster coach can’t do much. Bedard has nothing to workwith. Taylor Hall or Tyler Bertuzzi LMAO
I see Quenneville in Detroit, What about Alpo Suhonen?
Detroit would put Quenneville up in a nice hotel whist they broom Lalonde. Detroit is on the same rebuild version 2.0 as the Hawks. Tough to watch some fairly decent talent floundering around as if they were a Sunday morning pick up team. At least we got pizza breakfasts.