Falling On The Sword

I'll be quite frank in stating that I never thought that Jeremy Colliton should have been coaching the Chicago Blackhawks. The 36 year-old always looked like he was in over his head regardless of how the Blackhawks played, and his three years were mostly forgettable in terms of anything remarkable. I didn't envy Colliton when he was named as the head coach on November 6, 2018 following the dismissal of popular head coach Joel Quenneville, but I also didn't understand why the Blackhawks were so quick to promote him after one season with the Rockford IceHogs. The 1-9-2 start to this season was enough to force management to make changes, and Colliton is the second coach out of work this season following Quenneville stepping down in Florida.

I had joked back on October 25 that a new kid named "Owen" might be the catalyst for change in Chicago, but I don't think anyone was expecting the amount of change happening in the Windy City surrounding all the discoveries in the sexual assault investigation. Colliton's eventual firing was almost due to Owen, and that would be an Owen Eleven - oh-and-eleven - start. Needless to say, when the Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks are battling for the cellar in the Central Division, something was bound to happen in Chicago.

I had written in the linked article,

"It's fairly clear in watching this Blackhawks team that there are systemic problems all over the ice, and that leads back to the systems being run by Colliton and his staff. The Blackhawks, who don't have overly imposing forwards, are chipping pucks in deep and looking for recoveries when it seems clear that they have the talent to be able to skate the puck in with possession and try to generate offensive chances. Their defenders aren't particularly skilled at pinching in to keep pucks alive in the offensive zone, so it seems like the Blackhawks spend more time defending than generating offence."

This became more and more obvious as the schedule pressed on as the Blackhawks has scored two-goals-or-less seven times in twelve games. They don't have an all-star blue line any longer, and that's left Marc-Andre Fleury exposed more often than not. Even with the reigning Vezina Trophy winner in the net, the Blackhawks had allowed three-or-more goals in ten of their first twelve games. Something clearly had to give.

Assistant coaches Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank were also shown the door, and one has to wonder what they did to be included in the changes. Chocago's power-play is ranked at 12th thus far while their penalty killing is fifth-best in the league. It seems special teams weren't the problem with the Blackhawks, so seeing Mitell and Brookbank sent on their way means that the Blackhawks might be wiping the slate clean when it comes to their coaching staff.

Former NHL forward and current Rockford IceHogs head coach Derek King was named as the interim head coach of the Blackhawks. It would appear that Marc Crawford will be leaned on heavily for his experience during this time as he was not one of the coaches included in the dismissals.

While it's only twelve games into the season, it's pretty apparent that the Blackhawks' new GM Kyle Davidson didn't like the path his team was following as things began to spiral out of control. While Derek King has a ton of NHL experience to go along with some coaching experience, there liely will be a search for an experienced coach to come into Chicago and right the ship for the Blackhawks. With seventy games to play, the season can be salvaged with some good play.

Back on October 25, Jeremy Colliton said, "We haven't put it together yet, so we need to. I feel like we can play a brand of hockey and be a team that people in Chicago are proud of, but we got to deliver."

While that poor play may have cost him his job early into this campaign, Jeremy Colliton's words have never rang truer.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!