NEWSLETTER
There are so many reasons that having the right coach in place is important in any sport at any level. But I’ve been thinking more about that in recent days with the NHL’s coaching carousel in heavy rotation this offseason already. As the Chicago Blackhawks look to turn a corner in the coming year(s), more eyes will be on head coach Luke Richardson as he start to lead a more potent lineup in a positive direction with expectations of more results.
Richardson has spoken frequently over his two years as the head coach of the Blackhawks about how tactics employed by coaches he might have had during his two-decade career as a player in the NHL likely wouldn’t resonate with today’s players because generations change the way the game is played — and how coaches interact with players. He’s building relationships with his players; he can put the hammer down when he needs to, and doing that less frequently than some other coaches likely makes it more effective when he does.
I absolutely love this quote from Dallas Stars’ head coach Pete DeBoer in an AP story from Monday about the ridiculous turnover in coaching in the NHL over the past two years:
“We coach in an age where everyone talks about the modern athlete, building relationships in order to coach them,” DeBoer said. “And how do you do that with that kind of turnover? It’s like going on a date and getting married and divorced before the appetizers show up. I don’t get it. But, you know, that’s the world we live in.”
How coaches work with players during games is important. But how they interact with their players away from the bright lights of the game is even more critical for an organization that’s building like the Chicago Blackhawks.
Blackhawks Coaches’ Roles in Development
I saw this postgame comment from Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar after Miles Wood got to be a hero for a night earlier in the playoffs and it really stood out to me. So much so that I tagged it as I was starting to consider this discussion:
Hearing Bednar talk about consistently putting a player in a position to succeed and building on elements of a players’ game that are strong to help them take another step in their career immediately brought to mind the breakout season enjoyed by Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev this past year.
Originally a fourth-round pick by the Blackhawks back in 2018, Kurashev admittedly struggled to put it together over his first three NHL seasons. He scored only 23 goals in 191 NHL games before the start of the 2023-24 season, and many were surprised that he got a two-year, $2.25M AAV deal in arbitration last summer. He responded with a career year in which he appeared in a new personal best 75 games, doubled his previous career-high with 18 goals and his 54 points were more than he had produced in the previous two seasons combined.
Kurashev wasn’t alone in seeing the opportunities he was given by Richardson and his staff turning into great results. Jason Dickinson reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career and emerged as one of the better defensive forwards in the entire NHL. Even Nick Foligno saw his numbers bounce back to a part of his career many had assumed were far in the rearview mirror.
The dedication to trusting the process with players like Kurashev has started to show benefits for the Blackhawks at the NHL level. The hope and goal moving forward is that other young players follow his lead and find their game as the Blackhawks move from “rebuild” to “build” in their timeline to returning to competitive hockey.
Rushing to Judgement
Coaches can mean so much to a players’ development and, ultimately, their impact on the team’s overall game. Many of the teams still playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs are benefitting now from players who might have been overlooked elsewhere, or didn’t arrive with the fanfare and immediate results of prospects like Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid or the Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard this past season.
This terrific column is a perfect word of caution for fans and media alike when thinking about draft picks like Rangers’ forward Alexis Lafrenière, who struggled mightily in his first few years in the NHL but broke out this season with a new role under a new head coach. Mark Lazerus at The Athletic said the silent part out loud about young players in any sport, but especially the NHL:
“Patience always has been a virtue when it comes to prospects, an obvious one at that, but it’s become a lost one. We’ve come to expect instant greatness from our top draft picks, and when we don’t get it, we cast instant judgment.”
While he wasn’t the No. 1 overall pick in his draft, this is the kind of grabbing-the-bull-by-the-horns turnaround in a career that many fans — and the Blackhawks — hope to see in the coming seasons from Lukas Reichel. After a disappointing season that saw him move up and down the lineup, and spend some time in Rockford to find himself (again), Chicago still gave him a two-year, $1.2M AAV extension earlier this offseason. It’s a prove-it deal for sure, but the hope is that he can find a role and take off the way Lafrenière did with the Rangers this season.
With the volume of prospects who are going to continue matriculating their way to the NHL in the coming seasons, it’s common sense that Reichel won’t be the only young player to disappoint fans for stretches of time. Bedard exploded onto the scene and Frank Nazar didn’t waste much time making a dent in the box score, but there will be others who don’t make an immediate impact. There were certainly times this past season when the comments section weren’t terribly friendly for players like Kevin Korchinski (who, again, was the youngest defenseman in the entire NHL).
We’re now entering the time in the Blackhawks’ building stage that coaches having patience to allow young players to learn from and thru their mistakes will pay long-term dividends for the franchise. Growing pains are inevitable in the NHL.
Like my preaching of patience with the players on the ice, we need to also employ the same with the coaches as they learn and allow their players to learn as well. We’ve seen what the wrong move in that role can do (cough Jeremy Colliton cough). Having a head coach with the right marriage of experience and emotional intelligence is going to help the Blackhawks come back to competitiveness.
I have a truckload of confidence that Richardson is the right man behind the bench for the Blackhawks. I’ve said many times that hiring Richardson is still the best move Kyle Davidson has made as the general manager. Let’s hope the rosters he has to work with in the future give him the opportunity to only be at the start of long, successful run as an NHL head coach. And that the length of his tenure and the success are both enjoyed in Chicago.
