The Chicago Blackhawks made several additions to the lineup this offseason while operating near the league’s basement for the past two years. The organization hopes to be much more competitive this season which may indirectly impact the future of the head coach, Luke Richardson. Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription article) wonders if Richardson may be on the hot seat this season if the Blackhawks are not more competitive.
There should be a grain of salt taken with any ideas of competition coming out of Chicago as the organization still does not project to be close to a Stanley Cup contender. However, with phenom Connor Bedard entering his sophomore season and the team adding $25.05MM to their salary cap structure for the 2024-25 NHL season, the Blackhawks could compete for a .500 record. After collecting a record of 49-102-13 over the last two years — is Richardson the coach to oversee this next step for Chicago?
The Blackhawks organization would have been hard-pressed to find a coach who would have earned a better record than Richardson over the past two years, and his calm demeanor appears to have helped many of the younger players transition to professional hockey. Richardson was an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens when they made their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 but has little to no experience beyond coaching a competitive team. Chicago will have a longer leash than most on his performance this year but it’s clear the front office is looking to take a step forward in the rebuild.
Other West notes:
- One of the more surprising free-agent acquisitions over the past two weeks was the St. Louis Blues adding veteran defenseman Ryan Suter on a one-year, $775K deal including bonuses. The Blues organization now has six left-handed shot defensemen competing for three spots in the lineup next year while Jeremy Rutherford of the Athletic (Subscription Article) surmises that a trade is likely coming soon. Regarding the reasoning behind adding Suter specifically, Rutherford notes in his article that the Blues had a heavy interest in adding Suter when he was originally bought out by the Minnesota Wild three years ago. Suter’s camp was adamant on signing a four-year deal and general manager Doug Armstrong was only willing to go three which led to the delay in their partnership.
- Defenseman Ty Emberson of the San Jose Sharks will be ready to go for training camp after needing surgery to repair a laceration suffered last season according to Max Miller of The Hockey News. Emberson recently avoided arbitration with the Sharks organization by signing a one-year, $950K deal for the 2024-25 NHL season. Emberson has quickly become one of the better defensive defensemen on San Jose’s roster and should compete for a consistent top-four spot next year.
I agree that he would traditionally be on the hot seat. I think Richardson is a gamer, very well-respected in locker rooms, and he’s done well mixing and matching in Chicago, especially this past year. He deserves every opportunity to keep guiding this team and should be allowed room to breathe and find his footing alongside a team that does respond to him and will also have the same growing pains. They’re not a few players away… they’re a team away.
However, there’s always the creeping unrealistic expectations of the front office, but if they think this is a playoff team next year because they signed a couple players, I’d probably want to get fired.
Richardson isn’t on any hot seat. He’s done a fine job with next to nothing. His team competes no matter who’s on the ice. Last year was a complete failure because of all the injuries they went through. That’s not his fault. If all those same guys get hurt again most of them are on the last year of their deals. They have an excellent chance this year even if they get a bunch of injuries because now they have a good young base in Rockford to draw from. To say Richardson is on the Hot Seat is just plain irresponsible.
A bit ironic the Blues didn’t want to hand out the fourth year to Suter, and now only get him for what was to be the fourth season of his contract.