Emergency Newsletter: When The Whip Comes Down

Well, I guess Kyle Davidson can put himself on the clock. Wonders never cease.

Give Davidson this, and it's the only thing one should give him, he didn't wait around. The symptoms of a team that needs a coaching change only started appearing rather recently. The goals given up after scoring or just getting scored on. The vets starting to coast through games. The lack of development. The wild lineup changes have been around a bit longer, but they haven't been for months and months. Davidson saw a ship listing, and acted before it got beyond fixing. Maybe.

That doesn't mean Davidson doesn't have his hands on this mess, because he certainly does. And that's what the national media is going to focus on, because hockey media really likes Richardson (and they probably should). The focus will be on the god-awful rosters Davidson provided him, and really the lack of kids he was provided to develop. He hasn't even gotten a season's worth of Wyatt Kaiser or Nolan Allan. He got one season of Korchinski, whom he clearly liked. Phil Kurashev is about the only forward whom Richardson got to coach that might, might be a part of any real Hawks team. Other than, of course...

All that matters is Connor Bedard. And that's going backwards, and that's what got Richardson fired. We can debate who was pushing for what signing and how the lineup should look and who should play with who until we puke. Five goals in 26 games. The clear frustration he's showing every night means it goes beyond his stats, it would be safe to say. There's nothing that's going on around here that Bedard seems terribly pleased with.

And when he's being punted out there for defensive zone draws against other teams' top lines, there's just no excuse for that. It doesn't help anyone. His faceoffs have gotten worse, his defensive zone play has stayed the same at best, and worse yet that seems to be the entire focus of his development right now. And it's the complete opposite of what should be happening. It felt like Richardson was doing a shitty job of even focusing on the wrong things while the things that matter (i.e. scoring) were also in reverse.

Whatever the grand design, there was a clear lineup for Bedard that Davidson had in mind. Teuvo Teravainen was supposed to create chances for Bedard, and Taylor Hall/Tyler Bertuzzi were supposed to open up space or get the puck back or both. Bedard has only intermittently played with any or all. Never for more than a stretch of a few games. How was that ever going to create some kind of chemistry?

Richardson clearly went hunting for points, but we'll never know if that was his directive from upstairs or if he freelanced on his own. The whole message that fans have gotten has been so muddled. Clearly the veterans brought in over the summer were supposed to be providing a better platform for the kids. Except there are no kids, other than Allan and Kaiser. And as we pointed out last night and various other times, those vets aren't really providing much of anything, much less a platform.

Richardson will probably get another job, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was pretty successful when he does. Give him actual players that fit what he wants to do, or said he wants to do, and it'll probably work ok. It's the NHL. Get one job and you get 17. Even Jeremy Colliton is on another coaching staff. And he hardly has the cache that Richardson has from his playing and assistant coach days.

So once again the Hawks turn to their coach in Rockford, the third straight time that's happened when they've fired a coach. If Anders Sorensen was so important that he was entrusted with the development of Nazar and Korchinski, then they should be brought up forthwith so he can continue that work. If he wasn't and they can remain in the AHL with a replacement coach, then why was he trusted in the first place?

It's now all on Davidson, as it should be. He's going to have to find a coach who is ready for all this development. Or he's going to have to actually do something during the season and next summer to turn the Hawks even into a representative NHL team that might attract a quality NHL coach. Otherwise, he'll end up with another who just stares into the darkness, with an even more agitated superstar. And at some point Danny Wirtz might start paying attention, and not let him hire a third.

Davidson probably knows that tickets aren't moving like they used to. Few can watch this team on TV, and worse yet not even that many want to. And if he doesn't, that is what Danny will let him know about before too long. For the first time, if nothing else, there appears to be some urgency on Madison St. Urgency for what, is the problem. To win more games? To develop the kids more? Those two things might not align.

Either way, neither were getting done under Richardson. Which means it was time for a change.