It was announced on Dec. 5, 2024, that the Chicago Blackhawks have fired their head coach Luke Richardson after an 8-16-2 record to start the 2024-25 season.
Anders Sorensen takes over as interim coach of Chicago Blackhawks as the team fires Luke Richardson
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 5, 2024
Richardson was in the third year of his tenure as the bench boss in Chicago and finished with a career record of 57-118-15, never finishing higher than last in the Central Division. Richardson was in the final year of his three-year deal with the Blackhawks, though there was a fourth year as a team option.
While the Blackhawks are in a rebuild and don’t have a roster necessarily built for playoff contention, there were a lot of quality veterans added in the offseason. The team hadn’t taken any steps forward so far under Richardson and with players like Connor Bedard struggling to score goals, the management decided it was time for a change.
Anders Sorensen is taking over as the interim head coach and has been promoted from his head coach role with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Rockford IceHogs.
Through 19 games this season, the IceHogs have a record of 8-9-2. One note with the IceHogs is that they have been scoring plenty of goals, which is something the Blackhawks will hope to see translated with Sorensen’s arrival.
Scoring is going to be a major focus of improvement for the Blackhawks. With players like Bedard scoring less than anticipated, Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall not garnering many points, and others, there is certainly a need.
While the veteran additions the Blackhawks made may have been premature, there is also a strong slew of prospects in the organization that are close to pushing for NHL jobs. In the AHL, Sorensen has grown to be familiar with prospects Frank Nazar and Colton Dach, who are both having great seasons, and others like Kevin Korchinski, Artyom Levshunov, and Landon Slaggart, who could look to make the Blackhawks sooner rather than later.
