The Blackhawks have found the coach of their rebuild.
Luke Richardson, a Canadiens assistant for the past four years, was chosen Friday as the 40th head coach in Hawks franchise history.
He’s expected to sign a contract in the coming days, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported, although an official announcement and introduction is not expected until next week.
Richardson, 53, brings extensive experience as both a player and assistant coach in the NHL. He enjoyed a long career as a defenseman, logging 1,417 career games over 22 years with the Maple Leafs, Oilers, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Lightning and Senators.
He joined the Senators’ coaching staff upon his retirement in 2009, temporarily staying in his hometown of Ottawa. Since then, he has spent eight years as an NHL assistant and four years as an AHL head coach, making intermediate stops in Binghamton (the Senators’ AHL affiliate) and with the Islanders before landing in 2018 in Montreal under then-head coach Claude Julien.
But Richardson doesn’t bring any previous experience as an NHL head coach, unlike many of the bigger-name coaches that spun through the league’s coaching carousel this summer.
That’s partially because some of those bigger-name coaches weren’t interested in a team just starting to rebuild, and partially because the Hawks wanted a fresh face to match the general theme of their rebuild.
In Montreal, Richardson’s upward mobility was limited by the fact he doesn’t speak French, which the Canadiens typically require for their top-ranked personnel. He nonetheless played a crucial role in the Canadiens’ 2021 run to the Stanley Cup Final, including filling in as head coach against the Golden Knights when Dominique Ducharme tested positive for COVID.
As the assistant coach primarily focused on defense, Richardson was extremely well-liked by Canadiens players; his reputation around the league is spotless.
“Luke is just a calm, calculated and very confident coach,” now-Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis told the Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan this past season. “The calmness of his approach allows the guys to grow and...feel confident on the ice. [They’re] receptive to constructive criticism because of the way he does it.”
Richardson’s hiring means that Derek King, who went 27-33-10 as the Hawks’ interim head coach for most of the 2021-22 season after taking over for Jeremy Colliton, won’t remain in that position.
It’s not yet known whether King will stay in the Hawks organization, and if so, whether he’ll remain on the NHL coaching staff — that decision will be made by Richardson — or return to the AHL in Rockford. IceHogs interim coach Anders Sorensen did a good job this past season, certainly well enough to justify keeping the job.
Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson — who is 20 years younger than the coach who will now report to him — had already cleared out the coaching staff beneath the head position, firing assistants Marc Crawford and Rob Cookson shortly after the season ended.
Meanwhile, assistant video coach Dylan Crawford — Marc’s son — left the Hawks on Friday to become the Canucks’ new video coach, creating another vacancy. Goaltending coach Jimmy Waite, primary video coach Matt Meacham and strength and conditioning coach Paul Goodman remain on staff for now.
“We want coaches that are able to communicate, able to drive a message and create a positive culture and [able to] get players to want to come to the rink and compete every single night,” Davidson said last month.
Before settling on Richardson, the Hawks reportedly also considered Canucks assistant Brad Shaw, Flames assistant Ryan Huska and Penguins assistant Todd Reirden (likely among others) for the job.
