CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks said at the outset of Derek King’s promotion from the Rockford IceHogs that he wasn’t expected to make wholesale changes to the existing schemes but just be a different voice than Jeremy Colliton’s.
It’s debatable how much difference that change in voice has made — the Hawks are 24-38-11 with an eight-game losing streak Tuesday’s 5-2 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings — but there’s no arguing that King has refrained from overhauling the system.
Since he was named interim coach Nov. 6, King has been in some ways a caretaker for a team that never had more than dim hopes of making the playoffs and in other ways a coach auditioning for the permanent gig.
