When Kent Hughes called to tell him the Blackhawks had asked permission to chat with him, Luke Richardson was intrigued.
Posted at 2:00 p.m.
The 53-year-old, an assistant at the Canadiens since 2018, had never been a full-time head coach in the NHL before, but his brief experience in this capacity, behind the bench of the Canadiens, had led him to hope it continues one of these days.
“In Montreal, I was lucky to be able to be behind the bench with some good coaches and also a very good general manager in Marc Bergevin, he explained at a press conference on Wednesday, from Chicago. Claude Julien was an experienced coach, and I was then able to work with Dominique Ducharme and Martin St-Louis, himself a former teammate. He has an elite game vision, and I was able to learn alongside him…
“But a year ago, during the playoffs, COVID-19 hit (Dominique Ducharme), and that gave me the opportunity to become the coach… and that experience gave me confidence. It showed me that I was ready to work as a head coach in this league. In addition, when we won our series against Vegas with the Canadian, for me, it was really proof that I was capable of doing this job. »
The management of the Blackhawks is obviously in agreement, since Richardson has been hired as the new coach of the Chicago club, thus taking the place of interim coach Derek King, who had himself taken the place. of Jeremy Colliton, sacked earlier this season after just 12 games.
Richardson, an Ottawa native, enjoyed a long 21-season career as an NHL defenseman before trying his luck as an assistant with the Senators in 2009-10. He then served as head coach of the Binghamton Senators of the American League for four years.
He joined the Canadiens in July 2018, at the request of Marc Bergevin and Claude Julien.
In interview with The Press Tuesday, the young defenseman Jordan Harris, of the Canadian, had this to say about the new pilot of the Blackhawks: “He is a coach who trusts his players, and in return, he gives his players confidence. I read recently that all the guys from the Canadiens loved him, and I can tell you that’s true! »
The Blackhawks bosses got their man, obviously.
“Kyle (Davidson, the GM) called me here a few weeks ago, we talked for about four hours, but it didn’t feel like long at all,” Richardson added. The decision makers here made me feel comfortable, and then I got another call from Kyle asking me to come back, and that night we went to dinner, and we watched a game from the finals. of the Stanley Cup. They probably wanted to see what I thought of the game, and I felt confident and comfortable. »
A bit like in Montreal with Martin St-Louis, in Chicago, the arrival of a new coach is not expected to transform the team into a champion team in a snap of the fingers.
But Luke Richardson will not take too much offense to wins or losses. For now, at least.
“I’ve been through these situations before as a player, as an assistant…I feel comfortable with the idea of developing players and being patient with them. I am an optimist, I want to win every game, but you have to take it one step at a time…”