One Specific Comment Made By Luke Richardson On Wednesday Promoted Kyle Davidson To Fire Him

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Ryan Hall
December 6, 2024 (9:58)

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The impending demise of head coach Luke Richardson came about today after he was fired by general manager Kyle Davidson which led to Richardson's final interview after the loss to the Boston Bruins.

During this interview, Richardson yet again continued to circle around certain aspects of the Blackhawks game.

And one quote may have gotten him fired, that came just 24hrs before his firing.

'There's not one problem with our team'

It was clear that he did not have any answers left as he has put his lines through the blender multiple times to ignite the offensive threat of Connor Bedard.

Richardson spoke about not one aspect of the game being the problem but more likely a series of 1 off which was too much for the general manager to accept.

«We're not happy with the record, for sure,» Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson told NHL.com after the loss. «The guys are trying to work within the system the right way and unfortunately, like I said before, we don't seem to have one Achilles heel. There's not one problem with our team. It's like one night there's one area, maybe our defence or our forwards or one player, and then the next night it's another area by a different player. So, it's just an accumulation of one-offs every game that put us behind the 8-ball.»

Players like defenseman Connor Murphy also expressed how he felt with the loss against the Bruins and he feels that the loss belonged to the players on the ice.

«We did it to ourselves again,» Blackhawks defenceman Connor Murphy said of Wednesday's loss. «We were sloppy. Seems like we were sloppy with the puck when we had a lull. There are going to sometimes be lulls in periods like we had, and we have to be able to manage that and not do damage to ourselves with costly turnovers and just sloppy play.»

Davidson had hoped that this season would have better results as he went out during the summer and picked up several key players to surround bedard in hopes that he would continue improving. The Blackhawks lack of star power and lack of a second line center are just two aspects of the Blackhawks design that have failed.

But in the end, it's the coach that bears the blame and it's a stark contrast to how Davidson felt less than four weeks ago as he was asked the status on Richardson's job. Davidson clearly thought that the team would turn around but that has not been the case.

Richardson's record for this season has been 8-16-2 for 18 points through 26 games. The Hawks have lost four games consecutively and his eighth loss in 10 games.