The Chicago Blackhawks have fired coach Luke Richardson, the team announced Thursday. Richardson was in his third season and had a record of just 57-118-15 with a .339 winning percentage during that span.
The Blackhawks are off to an 8-16-2 start, putting them last in the standings. NHL classification. This poor performance came after the team spent money to upgrade the roster in free agency.
General manager Kyle Davidson announced Richardson’s firing and cited the team’s lack of progress on the ice as a major reason for the decision. Richardson, 55, was in the final year of a three-year contract.
“Today, I made the difficult decision to leave Luke as head coach. We thank him for his efforts and contributions to the organization and our community,” Davidson said in a statement. “As we began to move forward with our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately decided that a change was necessary. We would like to Luke and his family good luck for the future.”
This was supposed to be a year in which the Blackhawks took a step forward, even if it was a small step forward. 2024 Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard is in his second season and Davidson has been trying to get more help from the young star.
Chicago spent a total of $42.2 million on Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen and Alex Martinez and hoped these veterans could lead the team into the next phase of rebuilding. Instead, the results were just as poor as the previous season.
The Blackhawks’ minus-18 goal differential ranks 29th in the league and their 64 goals scored ranks 30th. Bédard is on pace to score 15 goals, seven fewer than his rookie campaign, and Bertuzzi has yet to find his rhythm in Chicago.
Anders Sorensen, coach of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, will assume the role of interim head coach.
