Coach Luke Richardson won’t get to finish a rebuilding project with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks have fired Richardson, the team announced on Thursday.
Anders Sorensen, the coach of the team’s AHL Rockford affiliate, has been named interim head coach.
The Blackhawks (8-16-2) have the worst record in the NHL.
“Today I made the difficult decision to move on from Luke as our head coach. We thank him for his efforts and contributions to the organization and our community,” Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “As we have begun to take steps forward in our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately came to the decision that a change was necessary. We wish Luke and his family all the best moving forward.”
The Swedish-born Sorensen is the first European coach in the NHL since Finland’s Alpo Suhonen was with the Blackhawks and Czech coach Ivan Hlinka guided the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2000-01.
Richardson was in his third season as coach of the Blackhawks. The team missed the playoffs the past two years and selected Connor Bedard first overall in last year’s NHL Draft.
The Ottawa-born Richardson, 55, previously was an assistant coach with his hometown Senators, the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens.
Richardson is the third NHL coach fired this season, following Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins and Drew Bannister of the St. Louis Blues. Montgomery subsequently was hired as Blues’ coach.
Sorensen, 49 was in his fourth year as head coach of Rockford. He spent the previous four years as an assistant or associate coach with the team.
