Chicago Blackhawks fire head coach Luke Richardson, name interim coach

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Blackhawks have fired head coach Luke Richardson, the team announced Thursday.

Anders Sorensen from the Rockford IceHogs has been named as the interim head coach, effective immediately.

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"Today I made the difficult decision to move on from Luke as our head coach. We thank him for his efforts and contributions to the organization and our community," a statement from Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson Davidson read in part. "As we have begun to take steps forward in our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately came to the decision that a change was necessary. We wish Luke and his family all the best moving forward."

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Chicago has dropped four in a row to fall to an NHL-worst 8-16-2 on the season. It was outscored 41-27 while going 3-9-1 in its last 13 games.

Chicago had expected to be more competitive in Richardson's third season. It signed Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, Alec Martinez and Craig Smith on a busy first day of free agency this summer. It also had Connor Bedard coming back for his second season after winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.

Of course, the most important player for Chicago is the 19-year-old Bedard - and it's his lack of production that likely led to Richardson's dismissal.

"We're not happy with the record, for sure," Richardson said after his last game, a 4-2 loss to Boston on Wednesday night. "The guys are trying to work within the system and the right way and unfortunately, like I said before, we don't seem to have one kind of Achilles' heel. There's not one problem with our team.

The Blackhawks finished with a league-low 178 goals last season.

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Richardson, 55, had a 57-118-15 record in Chicago. The former NHL defenseman was an assistant on Montreal's coaching staff when he was hired by the Blackhawks in June 2022.

Sorensen, 49, is a familiar face for many of the Blackhawks. He was originally hired by the organization as a development coach ahead of the 2013-14 season. He has a 117-89-16-7 record in 229 career AHL games as a head coach, all with Rockford.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.