Former Maple Leafs Defenseman Officially Fired From NHL Head Coaching Role
An NHL team has let go of a former Toronto Maple Leafs player as their head coach as the team has struggled to start their season.
Luke Richardson has been fired as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, the team officially announced.
Richardson was in his third season with the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks named AHL Rockford head coach Anders Sorensen as their interim head coach.
Richardson compiled a 57-118-15 record in 190 games a head coach. The Blackhawks have not made the playoffs in his three years in charge of the team.
The Blackhawks have been a basement team throughout Richardson's tenure, with a lack of talent in the roster in his first year, then with a potential franchise savior in generational prospect Connor Bedard.
Despite this, Chicago has continued to struggle, along with Bedard, the sophomore having just 5 goals and 19 points in 26 games with a lack of depth around him.
GM Kyle Davidson released a statement in the team's press release calling the decision to let go of Richardson a "difficult decision".
As we have begun to take steps forward in our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately came to the decision that a change was necessary.
We wish Luke and his family all the best moving forward.»
Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz thanked Danny for his time in leading the team.
I have the utmost confidence in him and the rest of our Hockey Operations team as they begin their search for the next head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.»
Richardson was previously a NHLer who was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, seventh overall. Richardson played over 1000 games in the NHL as a defenseman.
In 1417 games played, Richardson had just 35 goals and 201 points, but with 2055 penalty minutes in his career, including a career high of 238 in 1990-91 with Toronto. His all-time PIM total is 15th all-time among NHL defensemen.
Richardson played in 21 NHL seasons, managing to stay in the league as a physical, stay-at-home defender with good defensive reliability.
Richardson played in four seasons with Toronto to start his career between 1988-1991, and also played 21 games in the 2005-06 season in a second stint with Toronto.
Richardson also played for the Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning, & the Ottawa Senators.
After retiring from the NHL as a player in 2009, Richardson was named by Ottawa, where he ended his career, as an assistant coach. After a successful career with Ottawa's affiliate in the AHL in Binghamton,
Richardson was named an assistant with the New York Islanders in 2017. A year later, Richardson took on the same role with the Montreal Canadiens.
New interim coach Anders Sorensen is from Sodertalje, Sweden. He has spent the eight seasons with Rockford, who currently have a 8-9-2 record.
| POLL | ||
Should the Chicago Blackhawks have kept Luke Richardson? | ||
| Yes | 182 | 50.7 % |
| No | 177 | 49.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
