The Blackhawks have been linked to Jeff Blashill for their head coaching vacancy in the last few weeks and are widely expected to make that hiring official in the coming days. That begged questions about the future of Anders Sorensen, who finished the season as interim head coach after Chicago fired Luke Richardson in the early going. He’ll be remaining with the club, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports, although whether that’s as an assistant on Blashill’s staff or back where he started 2024-25 in AHL Rockford remains to be seen.
It’s unclear if Sorensen was ever a legitimate candidate to have his interim tag removed. The Blackhawks kept their search rather tight-lipped over the last couple of months, with Blashill and University of Denver coach David Carle’s names the only ones ever firmly connected to their vacancy.
He’s definitely no stranger to the organization. The 50-year-old Swede has served with the Blackhawks in some capacity dating back to 2014, first as a development coach with the NHL and AHL clubs before being tabbed as an assistant coach for Rockford in 2018-19. He was promoted to serve as Rockford’s head coach in November of 2021 and held the role until Richardson’s firing last December.
There’s been a slow but clear upward trajectory for him in the organization. It makes sense that, assuming he wasn’t getting many calls from other teams about their head coach vacancies, he’d be happy to stick around with a club, either in Chicago or Rockford, that he’s obviously quite comfortable with.
Chicago finished the season with a 17-30-9 (.384) record under Sorensen, just marginally better than the 8-16-2 (.346) mark they started the season with under Richardson. Their new hire will be their fifth coach in as many years, including interim bench bosses.
I’d leave. Rockford is not exactly a Hap Hap Happy Place to be.
I’ve got my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that Blashill can instill some tougher defense in these “hot prospects.”