GM Kyle Davidson of the Chicago Blackhawks made the tough decision to fire Head Coach Luke Richardson yesterday. With an improved roster, there was hope Richardson could turn the team around.

Coach Fired by Chicago Blackhawks

With the additions of Tyler Bertuzzi, Laurent Brossoit(On IR), Craig Smith, Pat Maroon, and Teuvo Teravainen, you expected them to do better than 8-16-2.

Yet Luke Richardson was unable to keep the Blackhawks out of the bottom of the standings.

Connor Bedard was asked about the decision after practice today.

 

Bedard was excited for Anders Sorenson to take over the interim coach role but was sad about losing Luke Richardson as he felt he had a good relationship with him.

Ultimately, no one wants to see someone fired from their job but the NHL is very cut-throat, and Richardson wasn’t able to deliver.

Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen will adjust systems to boost offense, emphasize speed - Chicago Sun-Times

“Today I made the difficult decision to move on from Luke as our head coach,” Davidson said. “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.”

He positively impacted Bedard’s development last season but seemed unable to help push him to excel in his 2nd season in the league.

Richardson’s record will stain his resume and he may have to accept a lesser role in the NHL until a head coach role opens up yet again.

Richardson was 57-118-15 in three seasons with the Blackhawks, who are last in the NHL this season at 8-16-2.

He had the tools available to him, but maybe one of his former teams could utilize his talents as an assistant coach.

Before he arrived in Chicago, Richardson was a part of the Montreal Canadiens coaching staff under Claude Julien.

This was Richardson’s third season with the Blackhawks, and the rebuild will continue under interim coach Anders Sorenson, who could still turn the season around.