Anders Sorensen, who coached William Nylander from the age of seven, replaced Luke Richardson on Thursday as the Chicago Blackhawks’ coach.
The team has relieved Luke Richardson of his duties as head coach.
Nick Foligno remembers the moment well.
General manager Kyle Davidson could have chosen a head coach who was a better fit to guide the Blackhawks to their tanking goal this season.
On Sunday, Richardson will coach his 73rd Hawks game — a sign of his debut season nearing its end. He’s proud of the team culture he has helped build in it, although learning how to manage his time has been challenging.
Luke Richardson doesn’t like going into the dressing room after games. As a guy who played in the NHL for more than two decades, he understands that’s the players’ space, not the coach’s.
Assistant coach Kevin Dean joins this week’s episode of the Blackhawks Insiders Podcast to discuss defense and future development.
During his four-year stint in Montreal, Luke Richardson brought the confidence he built during his assistant coaching days to his current role in Chicago.
Being an assistant coach in the NHL is a pretty sweet gig. You get paid less than the top guy, for sure, but you also get fewer hours, fewer meetings, fewer non-hockey responsibilities, fewer headaches.
Many head coaches understand little about goaltending and mostly leave their goalies alone. But Richardson, conversely, “thinks about the goalies all the time.”
The Blackhawks’ awful record isn’t Richardson’s fault — his team was designed to be awful — but it nonetheless is his problem to deal with. He’s figuring out on the fly how to keep morale up without fostering complacency.
Watching the last month of Blackhawks hockey has been a grind, so it can be a refreshing departure from the on-ice grind to see the human side of things.
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