Several Chicago Blackhawks Players Address The Media With Sadness After Firing Luke Richardson
The Chicago Blackhawks' hired Anders Sorensen in the interim coach role while firing coach Luke Richardson. The firing was a result of a slow start to the regular season.
Richardson had a dismal start to the season, he coached the team for 26 games, with an 8-16-2 record. While the record books close on Richardson's time in Chicago, the team and Sorensen will have to take up arms against the Winnipeg Jets.
A team hungry to capture a win, as they haven't been flying high lately. The team has to feel sad about the fact Richardson is gone.
Captain Nick Foligno shared some heartfelt thoughts about his former coach and someone he was close with.
We rented his house in Toronto when my dad was playing there. It's a tough day for the personal side of things, but the competitor inside of us and myself included, we're not happy with where we're at so we have to make changes.
We're excited to get working with Anders. I've heard lots of great things. We've got to put it into motion here as we move forward and try to get ourselves back on track.»
Foligno sounds sad about the firing, but continues to look forward to a new beginning under Anders Sorensen.
Hopefully, Richardson comes out of this one unscathed and has learned from his failures in Chicago for his next role.
Jason Dickinson was another one of the players who was asked about his feelings on the firing.
On Richardson being the guy to lose his job:
«It's a shitty situation for a good man. I have a lot of respect for Luke; he gave me a great opportunity here and I'm grateful for everything that he did for me.
Unfortunately, we've got to get results and the first step in finding results is you look at the coach. And then when that doesn't happen, then you look at the players. And then when that doesn't happen, you've got to look elsewhere.»
Dickinson feels as if the situation was terrible, as Luke was the one who allowed him to revitalize his career here in Chicago.
Under Luke Richardson, we saw Dickinson soar last season, scoring 22 goals and 35 points, a career-high for the center.
This year, the entire team has seen a regression in play, with Dickinson scoring 8 points( 5 G, 3 A) and like other forwards in the lineup has yet to find a consistent linemate.
To say the move was necessary was an understatement and even Dickinson addressed that:
«I think what happens is a sort of snowball effect. You get to a place where it feels like you can't make those mistakes and get out of them. It's not that that is who we are as a group, but I think for anybody, it's a mindset.
It's a psychology that creeps in and very toxic and poisonous in the brain that you just can't get away from it. And last game we ice it, they score on a set face-off play, and it's not like we give up goals on face-off plays.
That's not something that's a concern, but it's something that happens as a result of so many other things not connecting, and it's us not being confident in our games personally, and then together, it doesn't come together cohesively to create a good 60 minutes because there's moments where we're going, we've got it, but we fall off.
And it's that mindset of not being able to get back to it, and we let that doubt creep in ourselves and then it creeps into the group and it just gets so overwhelming that it's hard to get out of that mindset at times.»
It seems as if the firing was the result of the snowball effect, Richardson paying the price for the team, and veterans unable to get out of their way to produce.
Dickinson is still in a slump, as he's on pace for a dismal 25 points this season after setting a career-high the year before.
It's sad to see that someone like Richardson was unable to finish his contract here, but the NHL is a results league and GM Kyle Davidson had to make a move.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 8 | 152 ANSWERS Several Chicago Blackhawks Players Address The Media With Sadness After Firing Luke Richardson Do you feel sad about the firing of former Head Coach Luke Richardson who led the Chicago Blackhawks the last 2 seasons? | ||
| Yes | 45 | 29.6 % |
| No | 107 | 70.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
