When the Blackhawks take the ice the next time, they’ll have a new coach.
The team announced late Thursday afternoon that they’ve moved on from head coach Luke Richardson, replacing him with interim head coach Anders Sorensen, who was serving as the head coach of the Rockford IceHogs.
Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson announced today that the team has relieved Luke Richardson of his duties as head coach.
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 5, 2024
đź“ť: https://t.co/LfOt4tMefC pic.twitter.com/BvQNDM9acH
It’s not too surprising of a move considering where the Blackhawks are in the NHL standings as of this writing — dead last — which is not where they were supposed to be this season based on comments from general manager Kyle Davidson at the end of last season.
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said “we’ve reached that point” of the rebuild where they want to start taking steps moving forward.
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 20, 2024
It may not necessarily be a “huge leap” as far as playoff expectations but they don’t want to be near the bottom of the standings next season. pic.twitter.com/uRlvDft0It
Richardson’s was roughly one-third of the way through his third season behind the Blackhawks bench and ends his tenure with a record of 57-118-15.
With Sorensen now manning the bench in Chicago, Blackhawks assistant GM Mark Eaton will be taking over the coaching reins in Rockford. Per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Sorensen is expected to remain in Chicago for the rest of the season with the potential to be around even longer:
The plan for Chicago is for Anders Sorensen to be interim HC for rest of the season at which point the Blackhawks will conduct a coaching search process at that time. Sorensen, depending on how he fares, could obviously be a candidate within that process. Hawks are high on him.
— Pierre LeBrun (Bot) (@notpierrevlebrun.bsky.social) December 5, 2024 at 4:44 PM
Again, none of this comes as a massive surprising considering how abysmal the Blackhawks start to the season has been when they were expected to be taking some sort of step forward during the 2024-25 season. Instead, Chicago is at the bottom of the NHL standings with an 8-16-2 record while, on pace for just shy of 57 points by the end of the season, which is only marginally better than the 52 it totaled last season.
We’ll certainly have more on this story coming.