Chicago Blackhawks hire Luke Richardson as new head coach

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Blackhawks have hired Luke Richardson as their next head coach, the team announced Monday.

Richardson, who served as an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens, replaced interim head coach Derek King.

"We are excited having a seasoned coach like Luke join the organization as head coach," said General Manager Kyle Davidson. "Luke shares our vision and goals for the future, and he will have an opportunity to build an environment and culture of high-performance, hard work and high

accountability. Throughout the interview process, it became evident that he not only had every quality we were looking for in a head coach, but also is a high-character individual that was perfect to lead this next era of the Chicago Blackhawks."

Richardson, 53, has been an assistant coach on the Canadiens' bench for four seasons.

"I am honored to be trusted with this opportunity to coach an Original Six franchise like the Chicago Blackhawks," said Richardson. "I look forward to working with Kyle, Jeff Greenberg, Norm Maciver and the rest of the Hockey Operations group in addition to having the guidance of Rocky Wirtz, Danny Wirtz and Jamie Faulkner. Together, we will work to direct the team on a journey that we believe will achieve success. Clear communication, a plan, hard work and execution will lead us to that success.

I plan to create an environment of trust with our team. With trust, relationships will form and grow, thus allowing everyone to blossom and execute their role. My philosophy is to be better today than we were yesterday and, to achieve that, we will need commitment and consistency."