On Dec. 5, the Chicago Blackhawks made a surprising move and fired Luke Richardson. They didn’t like the fact that they were once again at/near the bottom of the standings and the numbers weren’t good.
In his place, the Blackhawks placed the interim tag on Anders Sorensen. He immediately made some structural changes to the way the Blackhawks played — most noticeably asking his defensemen to be a bigger part of the offense.
Richardson got fired because he looked at the roster he was given in training camp and knew scoring was going to be a struggle. So he bunkered down and tried to win games 2-1. And, in the 26 games the Blackhawks played with Richardson as the head coach, they were tied or within one goal in the third period 25 times.
Sorensen’s approach drove more offense initially, and the early returns were solid. It’s worth noting that he’s had a few roster advantages that Richardson was not afforded — specifically Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert being full-time NHL players (with Taylor Hall being moved out). They have both shown signs of being solid NHL players; Nazar has looked special in recent weeks. Their speed and ability has helped the Blackhawks on both special teams and has impacted their ability to push the puck up the ice.
But wins are still hard to come by. And the numbers are starting to tell us (with enough of a sample size) that maybe the coaching change didn’t make the Blackhawks better. I would argue they’ve been worse — and certainly more depressing — to watch since the coaching change.
Consider these team numbers before and after the coaching change:
Before the Dec. 5 coaching change
Point Percentage: .346 (8-16-2)Shots per game: 26.0 (30th)Shots against per game: 30.5 (27th)Goals for per game: 2.42 (31st)Goals against per game: 3.15 (t-22nd)Faceoff Percentage: 44.0 (30th)
Since Dec. 5 coaching change
Point Percentage: .348 (9-19-5)Shots per game: 23.8 (32nd)Shots against per game: 32.7 (32nd)Goals for per game: 2.85 (21st)Goals against per game: 3.82 (31st)Faceoff Percentage: 45.6 (30th)
So the point percentage they’re achieving in the standings is roughly identical despite the goals per game being almost a full half goal per night.
Push the offense? The Blackhawks are dead last in the NHL in shots on goal per game — and that’s gone down two per game. And the defense? They’re allowing two-thirds of a goal more per night than they did under Richardson and allowing the most shots on net per game in the entire league.
If I hit the rewind button all the way back to the early weeks of this regular season, I was already questioning how the organization could/would/should evaluate Richardson’s performance based on the paradox of his roster. An organization that’s hoarding speed in the pipeline on the ice put together a slow NHL roster. And I think Sorensen has struggled with his systems that worked to an extent in Rockford with a faster roster for all of the reasons Richardson’s approach to this season was the opposite: you can’t encourage a track meet if you’ve only got shot putters.
As the Blackhawks evaluate their pipeline and make roster decisions in the coming days — before the trade deadline — and, more importantly, in the free agent market this summer, solving the coaching problem is paramount. If systems don’t work for the personnel, the team is going to suck. We’ve seen that this season. And, to me, the current roster should be able and willing to model systems that will work as the prospects matriculate to the highest level.
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