The Chicago Blackhawks firing of Luke Richardson will lead to an extensive search this offseason.
There are plenty of suitors that the Hawks will take a look at to lead the franchise next following Luke Richardson’s dismissal on Thursday.
The organization decided to move on from its bench boss with the team sitting dead last in the league with 18 points through 26 games.
Unfortunately, the Chicago Blackhawks ideal candidate got snatched up less than a month ago.
When the Bruins fired Jim Montgomery in mid-November, Chicago Blackhawks fans were praying he would make it to the offseason. The St. Louis Blues didn’t want to wait to score an interview over the summer with Montgomery, so they let go of their lead man, Drew Bannister. Immediately upon doing so, the Blues hired the 2022 Jack Adams award winner just five days after Boston showed him the door.
Montgomery is a proven winner and would have worked wonders behind the Chicago Blackhawks bench. Management was too late on the draw and missed out on a fantastic opportunity to bring in a guy who led a well-respected franchise to continued success in his tenure out east.
Going the route of finding someone with tons of NHL experience might be key for the Hawks.
If the Chicago Blackhawks want someone with over 10 years of leading a locker room, Gerard Gallant has the track record to fit that mold.
Gallant’s head coaching career at the NHL level came back in the 2003-04 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He relieved Doug MacLean during the campaign and stayed on as the lead man until the end of the 2006-2007 season. Funny enough, the captain in Columbus when Gallant took over was Luke Richardson. In Gallant’s three seasons in Ohio, he finished with a 56-76-4-6 record.
The now 61-year-old did not get his next chance behind the bench until the 2014-15 season with the Florida Panthers. Gallant saw more success in the Sunshine State than he did in the Midwest, as he posted a 96-65-25 record in his three years with the Panthers. The franchise picked up one playoff appearance in Gallant’s stay, which came in the 2015-16 season.
Gallant’s next head coaching gig was a very important one. He was named the first head coach in Vegas Golden Knights history prior to the 2017-18 campaign. In the franchise’s inaugural season, Gallant led them to the Stanley Cup Finals. Despite losing the series in five games to the Washington Capitals, the Knights asserted themselves as an immediate threat to the rest of the league.
That season’s Jack Adams award was Gallant’s to lose, as he claimed the honor for the first time in his career.
🎥 Gerard Gallant on his #NHLAwards Jack Adams nomination: It's an organization award when you're a finalist for this. Everyone did a great job and I get to be a finalist because of it. pic.twitter.com/exkZPr99rt
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) June 20, 2018
Following the 2019-20 season, the Knights and Gallant parted ways. He took a year away from the game before getting offered the chance to lead an Original 6 franchise. The Rangers kept Gallant around for just two seasons before letting him go immediately after the team got bounced from the playoffs in the 2022-23 league year. The seasoned veteran led New York to the playoffs in each of his two seasons, but the results just were not there.
Even though Gallant has been let go by multiple teams, the Chicago Blackhawks could use the older voice in the room
One could look at Gallant getting let go at multiple stops as a red flag. While that is certainly one angle to view him, it’s known how cutthroat of a league the NHL can be. At the end of the day, Gallant’s success on his resume should be the main thing the Chicago Blackhawks look at when going through his interview process. There will be a plethora of candidates for Kyle Davidson to look at, but Gallant should be toward the top of his list.
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