“Life is a team game,” GM Kyle Davidson said Friday. “If you’re looking for teammates in life, Luke and Stephanie Richardson are some of the best you can find.”
Davidson’s first media availability wasn’t one that he ever wanted to have. The young GM and his former head coach had a clear personnel connection, especially given that Luke Richardson was his first full-time hire as a GM.
Despite Davidson’s fondness for his head coach, it became clear this season that it was time for a change. A Blackhawks team with somewhat heightened expectations after bringing in plenty of veterans via free agency now ranks dead last in the NHL. Davidson admitted Richardson was at least part of the team’s issue, which led to his eventual firing Thursday.
“The reasons things went sideways for us were likely fixable.”
- GM Kyle Davidson
“You have to be realistic with what you're expecting and what you demand out of a group, but I don't believe this is a last-place group.”
- GM Kyle Davidson
Still, there’s no question the roster still has flaws. After an effort to get better this season went awry, it’s safe to say Davidson’s seat is at least getting a bit warmer. He chalked the failures up to a team-wide lack of execution.
“Our team as a whole has not quite been what, realistically, what we expected us to be at this point. I think we expected to be a bit further ahead than we are. Having said that, if you asked almost every player, to a person in that room, they’ll say they need to be better. And so I don’t think that’s a secret that we’d like to see some more execution from the players. I think that’s across the board, though, right? This is a team game. You’re not where you are in the standings because of one, two or three players, it’s a team concept and you’ve got to execute within that team concept. I think the players know that they have to step up and they have to be cleaner in their games. I don’t think that’s anything that’s a secret to anyone in that room.”
- GM Kyle Davidson
While the team’s focus is certainly on the future, Davidson had a decision to make immediately after firing Richardson. Instead of going back to assistant Derek King, who was the team’s interim head coach before Richardson, the Blackhawks opted for Anders Sorensen, who had previously served as the IceHogs’ head coach.
“That’s no slight to Kinger. It’s just moreso Anders is a new face, new voice, new ideas. It was just something new. We’ve gone down that road with Kinger before, and I think there could be some fear of him just being the de facto ‘Interim Guy.’”
- GM Kyle Davidson
Davidson mentioned that the plan is for Sorensen to be the head coach in Chicago for the rest of the season, and doesn’t expect any additional changes to his new assistants. The GM made it clear that Sorensen will be auditioning for the permanent job throughout the year, but that the team will likely go through a formal process at the end of the season.
