If Chicago Blackhawks basic supervisor Kyle Davidson had waited till the offseason to half methods with coach Luke Richardson, Anders Sorensen could have by no means gotten a have a look at the job.
Davidson wouldn’t be hiring an interim coach for subsequent season and sure wouldn’t be keen to take a threat on one other particular person with no NHL head teaching expertise. He’d be trying to find extra certainty. But as a result of Davidson fired Richardson when he did, Sorensen primarily has been given a 56-game trial to show himself.
Sorensen is very considered by Davidson, and Davidson’s choice to advertise him displays that. Sorensen wasn’t the apparent option to be promoted; Derek King was. He was the Blackhawks’ interim coach when Davidson fired Jeremy Colliton. Sorensen even had been King’s assistant as soon as in Rockford. So for Davidson to bypass King and go to Sorensen, that’s telling.
The odds are most likely nonetheless in opposition to Sorensen. His lack of NHL expertise might come into play. Coaching within the development-oriented AHL isn’t the identical as teaching within the winning-is-everything NHL. He’s additionally taking up a workforce which may not be fixable. But you by no means know. Sorensen could also be precisely what the Blackhawks want and it could possibly be his job completely. It has been performed earlier than. Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper is proof of that.
But if it’s not Sorensen, listed below are 10 candidates (in no explicit order) Davidson might discover hiring after the season.
Jay Woodcroft
Woodcroft is the seventh-most-successful coach in NHL historical past, for those who go by factors proportion. In his one full season and two partial seasons in Edmonton, Woodcroft went 79-41-13, profitable three playoff rounds in two postseasons. But he was fired after simply 13 video games final season as a result of the Oilers — anticipated to be Stanley Cup contenders — stumbled out of the gate with a 3-9-1 file. A longtime NHL assistant who went all the way down to the American Hockey League to win a championship with the Bakersfield Condors earlier than getting referred to as again as much as Edmonton, Woodcroft’s observe file is difficult to argue with. Does the truth that Connor McDavid had his two finest seasons with Woodcroft as his coach bode effectively for Connor Bedard? Or does the truth that the Oilers had been a ready-made contender make him an ungainly match for a workforce that’s nonetheless targeted on growth?
Todd McLellan
McLellan’s title all the time pops up with openings. He was within the combine throughout the Columbus Blue Jackets’ search over the summer time and the 2 sides reportedly obtained far down the road. McLellan has been out of the sport since being fired by the Los Angeles Kings in February. He’s had success in any respect of his head teaching stops, from the Kings to the Oilers to the San Jose Sharks, and has a historical past of constructing well-structured, defensively sound groups.
Would former Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol make sense behind the bench in Chicago? (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Dave Hakstol
Hakstol wasn’t given a ton of time in his final place with the Seattle Kraken, fired after three seasons. He had been to the playoffs in his second season, however the Kraken didn’t get again there in his third season and he was let go. Blackhawks affiliate basic supervisor Norm Maciver was with the Kraken throughout Hakstol’s time there, so he’s acquainted with him. Hakstol was additionally the top coach of the Philadelphia Flyers after teaching on the University of North Dakota for a few years.
Gerard Gallant
Gallant has a historical past of sporting out his welcome quite rapidly — he lasted just a little greater than two years in Florida, two and a half years in Vegas, and two years in New York. But he had a profitable file all of these seasons, reached one Stanley Cup Final (with the enlargement Golden Knights) and one other convention ultimate (with the Rangers in 2022). Gallant’s resume calls for his inclusion, however he’s possible higher off with a veteran workforce than the youth-oriented workforce the Blackhawks are more likely to have subsequent season.
Dave Quinn
Quinn’s NHL resume is fairly underwhelming, as he didn’t make the playoffs in all 5 of his seasons with the Rangers and Sharks. But upon getting an NHL job, you all the time have an NHL job, it appears. Quinn’s success at Boston University nonetheless catches the eyes of NHL GMs, and relying on how this season goes with the Penguins, for whom he’s a first-year assistant, he might emerge as a viable candidate.
Jeff Blashill
Blashill, who gained the AHL’s Calder Cup in his first season as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, is aware of all about long-term rebuilds and the way irritating they are often. He was behind the bench in Detroit from 2015-22, ending that seven-year run with six straight seasons out of the playoffs. He’s spent the final three seasons as an assistant below Cooper in Tampa Bay, so he’d deliver an interesting perspective, if not precisely probably the most engaging observe file.
Don Granato
Would Granato be up for a second stint in Chicago? “Donny Meatballs” was employed as an assistant below Joel Quenneville and remained on Jeremy Colliton’s workers after Quenneville was fired. Granato has been sitting out this season after being fired by the Buffalo Sabres final spring. He went 122-125-27 in 274 video games in 4 seasons with the Sabres, a workforce (as with Blashill and Detroit) seemingly caught in a perpetual rebuild.
Todd Nelson
Nelson has helped flip the Hershey Bears into an AHL juggernaut. The Bears gained the Calder Cup in every of the final two seasons (Nelson’s first two behind the bench) and are atop the AHL standings once more this season. His solely NHL head teaching expertise is a 46-game stint with the Oilers in 2014-15, however he’s obtained 11 seasons as an AHL bench boss blended in with seven seasons as an NHL assistant, together with 2018-22 with the Stars. He’s one other coach whose lack of NHL expertise ought to give the Blackhawks pause, however what he’s completed in Hershey is hard to disregard.
Jay Leach
Leach is a kind of assistants who appears destined to turn into a head coach earlier than later — very similar to Richardson when the Blackhawks employed him. After three years as a Kraken assistant, he’s on the Bruins’ workers this season, first with Jim Montgomery and now with Joe Sacco. But, once more, until Sorensen is so spectacular for the remainder of this season that he forces Davidson’s hand, it’s unlikely the GM will take one other probability on a first-time head coach.
Bruce Boudreau
Boudreau hasn’t coached because the Canucks fired him 103 video games into his tenure there, and a month away from his seventieth birthday, it’s honest to surprise if the league has moved on from one of many largest personalities and most profitable (within the common season, not less than) coaches in trendy historical past. Among NHL coaches with not less than 200 video games below their belts, Boudreau has the Eleventh-best all-time factors proportion at .626 (617-342-128). His solely journey past the second spherical was the memorable 2015 Western Conference ultimate that the Ducks misplaced to the Blackhawks, however for those who’re searching for a man to get offensive gamers comparable to Bedard going, few have a greater observe file than Boudreau. Would or not it’s profitable? Who is aware of? At least it’d be assured to be entertaining.
(Top picture of Jay Woodcroft: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI through Getty Images)
