Blackhawks’ Kyle Davidson addresses coaching change, team falling short

CHICAGO—The Chicago Blackhawks might be sitting in last place, but the team feels with just a few changes, they could be a little more competitive.

Ahead of practice Friday morning, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson spoke with the media after firing head coach Luke Richardson on Thursday. Anders Sorensen, the head coach of the Rockford IceHogs, has been named interim head coach.

Richardson was in his third year as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, his overall record ends at 57-118-15, with this season’s team starting 8-16-2 before the change.

“I felt a change needed to be made and a new voice was needed,” said Davidson. “I’m very confident that under Sorensen will be a good source of a new voice, new ideas and someone who is capable to craft more out of this group.”

The Blackhawks have had some good stretches this season. Davidson himself mentioned the recent three game stretch just a little over a week ago where they beat Florida, lost to Philadelphia in overtime and beat Dallas in three games. It wasn’t until the team’s most recent four game losing streak that he knew a change needed to be made, specifically after their most recent 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

“When I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make a change, I don’t think once you cross that threshold in your own mind, that you can go back on that,” Davidson said. “I crossed that point after the Boston game the other night. But, you are always evaluating, you are always considering what could be and how you want to change what’s going on.”

For Davidson, when asked where specifically Richardson wasn’t meeting expectations for the season, his answer focused on the team and the inconsistent play.

“I think it was more so what we expected from the team from game to game,” Davidson said. “We are close in a lot of games which is good, it’s a step forward from last year, but a lot of times I think some of the reasons we fell short in those games were more habitual habit things that I think can be cleaned up.”

There is no doubt Connor Bedard has struggled to start the 2024-25 NHL Season. Bedard has just five goals and 19 points through 26 games. While a coaching change like this to Davidson wasn’t just for Bedard, he does feel that Sorensen will be a good coach for him in the interim.

“When you make a change like this it’s not about one player, obviously Connor is essential to what we are doing now and in the future. It’s more a big picture, number of different things than just one specific player,” Davidson said. “Having said that, I believe Anders is experienced with some of our high end players now and some of the players he has gotten experience with from other organizations and his time in the game of hockey will be really beneficial for Connor. I’m very optimistic they will have a really positive relationship.”

With the coaching change in the books, now the real challenge begins for Anders Sorensen and Davidson. Davidson said Sorensen would have complete control of the team as the interim head coach, with the goal to evaluate and do a more extensive coaching search this offseason.