Hawks make it official: Luke Richardson named head coach originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Blackhawks have officially named Luke Richardson their next head coach, the team announced on Monday morning. A formal introduction will be made on Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT.
“We are excited having a seasoned coach like Luke join the organization as head coach,” Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “Luke shares our vision and goals for the future, and he will have an opportunity to build an environment and culture of high-performance, hard work and high accountability. Throughout the interview process, it became evident that he not only had every quality we were looking for in a head coach, but also is a high-character individual that was perfect to lead this next era of the Chicago Blackhawks.”
Richardson, 53, becomes the 40th bench boss in franchise history. He replaces Derek King, who was strongly considered for the permanent gig after going 27-33-10 as the interim head coach following Chicago’s 1-9-2 start to the 2021-22 season that led to Jeremy Colliton and assistants Sheldon Brookbank and Tomas Mitell being relieved of their duties.
Richardson has spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens, who reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. He served as the interim head coach for six games during those playoffs after Dominique Ducharme was placed in COVID-19 protocol, and Montreal won four of them.
Richardson has also been an assistant coach for the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators, a head coach for the AHL’s Binghamton Senators and head coach for Team Canada’s gold medal-winning team in the 2016 Spengler Cup. He played a total of 1,486 NHL games, including playoffs, as a defenseman and was as well-respected a teammate as you’ll find.
Richardson is ready for the next chapter of his coaching career, and should bring a calming influence to a young Blackhawks team that’s in the beginning stages of a longer-term rebuild.
“I am honored to be trusted with this opportunity to coach an Original Six franchise like the Chicago Blackhawks,” Richardson said. “I look forward to working with Kyle, Jeff Greenberg, Norm Maciver and the rest of the Hockey Operations group in addition to having the guidance of Rocky Wirtz, Danny Wirtz and Jamie Faulkner. Together, we will work to direct the team on a journey that we believe will achieve success. Clear communication, a plan, hard work and execution will lead us to that success.
“I plan to create an environment of trust with our team. With trust, relationships will form and grow, thus allowing everyone to blossom and execute their role. My philosophy is to be better today than we were yesterday and, to achieve that, we will need commitment and consistency.”
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