Former head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, Luke Richardson, was fired after 26 games. Stepping up to replace him in an interim position is Rockford IceHogs’ head coach Anders Sorensen.
The hope and expectation was that the Blackhawks would be able to see the next steps taken by the rebuilding team that added a lot of veterans to it.
That wasn’t the case and Chicago is last in the NHL with 18 points and just eight wins. While the Blackhawks might be investigating who to hire as Richardson’s replacement in a full-time role, Sorensen doesn’t have to sweat anything for the remainder of the season and the organization can see how he does in the role.
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He is very good with the younger players and a reason why Rockford has been a strong team, so he could work as the Blackhawks’ head coach moving towards the future, but not as many inexperienced players or rookies have made the jump to the Blackhawks just yet due to how the team was constructed.
Given how the rest of the season goes, there may be some experienced and successful coaches still available to hire, or the Blackhawks could be presented with more options from the crop of coaches not yet fired.
Among the best available right now that, for the Blackhawks sake, will still be available next off-season, are Gerard Gallant and Todd McLellan.
Gallant has coached part of 11 seasons in the NHL, but has never stayed with one team for more than three seasons. He started with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the mid-2000s when the team wasn’t very good, and went negative each season.
He was 96-65-25 for the Florida Panthers and took the team to a first place finish in their division before being fired in the third year after 22 games (the team had a positive win-loss).
Gallant was hired by the Vegas Golden Knights and took them to the Stanley Cup Final in the first season while also finishing first in the division. The Golden Knights’ overall record with Gallant behind the bench was 118-75-20, but he was fired after 49 games in his third season.
Gallant’s latest team was the New York Rangers where he spent two full seasons as the head coach. The team went 99-46-19 for 110 and 107 points in the regular season, but had a 13-14 record in the playoffs. He has had a winning record behind the bench for the last eight seasons he’s been a head coach, so if the Blackhawks want a winner, Gallant is a great candidate.
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McLellan is also a very good coach. He coached his teams to winning records in 11 of 16 seasons as a head coach in the NHL including his first seven (all with the San Jose Sharks) and his last three (all with the Los Angeles Kings).
McLellan has exclusively been a head coach in the Pacific Division, but that is just a coincidence. A strong comparison to what the Blackhawks need and are going through is his first two seasons with the Kings where they were retooling/rebuilding.
McLellan brought them from a record of 50-63-13 over the first two seasons to a record of 114-67-31 in his last three, but was fired in his fifth season when the Kings were 23-15-10.
The potential off-season head coaching candidate for the Blackhawks has experience with superstars (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton), an established team in San Jose, or a team on the rise like the Kings were. He can adapt and succeed.
We’ll have to wait and see how the Blackhawks finish the season with Sorensen behind the bench, but it is a great opportunity for him and expect the players to turn things around a little bit.
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