Fire Luke Richardson

[BHawk21]

19 years of the cap.
At least 3 dozen built to be terrible the year before, 2.5 times that intentionally tanking same year and 5 times that teams that threw in the towel before Thanksgiving.

At some point, worse is just worse and there just aren't any excuses.

your kinda losing me hockeydoug. Not sure what this means.

The hawks are intentionally losing. They have bad players. We have no idea what Richardson can even do.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Nobody cares about losing or the record.

He should have been gone after 21 losses straight on the road.

This is not a compatible point of view. The fact that you think the number one issue is "culture" is cringe.

 

[Hawkaholic]

19 years of the cap.
At least 3 dozen built to be terrible the year before, 2.5 times that intentionally tanking same year and 5 times that teams that threw in the towel before Thanksgiving.

At some point, worse is just worse and there just aren't any excuses.

I cant think of any team that is as terrible as this team is from front to back after the losses of Hall, Perry, AA for most of the year, Murphy for most of the year, etc. Honestly dont know how SJ is worse than us, thats a miracle in itself. Probably the only reason is, Mrazek has stood on his head more often than the SJ goalies.

Not to mention, the league is more watered down after adding 2 franchises over the last 7 years. I'm not saying Richardson is a good coach, or that he shouldn't be fired. But the fact you expect more out of this group is kind of strange.

 

[Chelios]

It’s the same old thing with the same old posters. Lose game and they crawl out of their hole and post on here. Win, and they say nothing unless challenged. after which they throw out every reason other than coaching. The reality is that this is a bottom 2 team in terms of talent, that is going to finish… in the bottom two. I think people were spoiled with last year because even though we were bad, though I would argue nowhere near as bad as this year, we had veteran pros who at least had some consistency about them. This year we are worse from a talent perspective (especially considering the players that have missed time due to injury and/or behaviour issues) and are introducing more young players who are just getting their feet wet in the NHL. The reality of that is that we are a) going to be bad and b) going to be inconsistent. Some people seem to not get that.

Again, I am not saying that Luke is a great coach, or that he should be the coach as this team starts challenging for the playoffs. I am simply saying that if someone had of told me that we would lose Hall, AA, Perry and Murphy for most of the year, this is pretty much exactly where I would expect us to be. Next year there should be a little progress. If there isn’t, I will be right there with those calling for Luke to be on the hot seat.

 

[hockeydoug]

I cant think of any team that is as terrible as this team is from front to back after the losses of Hall, Perry, AA for most of the year, Murphy for most of the year, etc. Honestly dont know how SJ is worse than us, thats a miracle in itself. Probably the only reason is, Mrazek has stood on his head more often than the SJ goalies.

Not to mention, the league is more watered down after adding 2 franchises over the last 7 years. I'm not saying Richardson is a good coach, or that he shouldn't be fired. But the fact you expect more out of this group is kind of strange.

There have been about 2 dozen teams as bad or worse. At least 3 tank teams in AZ and some gems a decade ago in Buffalo but you also had the tanking 2007 Flyers who tried to give up 18,000 goals, or some of the completely dysfunctional CLB teams or the 2010 and 2011 tank-a-rific oil teams.

A good comp imo is the the 20' Detroit team, it was the tank stuff of nightmares, just wasting years of good prospects and setting up developing prospects to fail. That was more management, gm water-walker just got there, but it was a terrible team wasting terrible numbers of shifts. Inexplicably, Blashill survived.

Nobody cares about winning. Nobody cares if they go full "space cadet" for 10 minutes or even a game here or there.

They're consistently not ready to jump on the ice, the bench boss is most responsible for that. Mix that in with no progression in any tangible area that's going to carry over positively next year, and you have a coach that has failed to clear the lowest bar. Mix in some brutal record sniffing team stats and it's amazing anybody would be allowed to keep their job.

Really, I'm just amazed at the free pass management and coaching gets for wasting years and hundreds of millions doing nothing interesting besides over emphasizing number of picks.

 

[hockeydoug]

your kinda losing me hockeydoug. Not sure what this means.

The hawks are intentionally losing. They have bad players. We have no idea what Richardson can even do.

The point is dozens of teams went into the year to lose, most of those with the intention of a really high pick.

Somehow, even with a comparable roster, Richardson has hit benchmarks for being bad few or none of those comps accomplished in year 2.

 

[BHawk21]

The point is dozens of teams went into the year to lose, most of those with the intention of a really high pick.

Somehow, even with a comparable roster, Richardson has hit benchmarks for being bad few or none of those comps accomplished in year 2.

I still dont know what you are saying?

 

[Castle8130]

Not sure where to put this link, but here is an interview with Joel about the Beach situation;

 

[TLEH]

So he’s directly refuting the report(s)

 

[hockeydoug]

I still dont know what you are saying?

He has hit bench marks for a firing beyond just having a bad team getting outmatched.

Not the subjective stuff about lineups, development, game management, practice, game prep etc.

Records for losing on the road, records for being shutout against, worst possession metrics for some periods in the cap era, etc. These are things coaches never should survive at any level, especially in year 2. The avg shelf life for a coach is 2.4 yrs anyway. There are comparably bad rosters in the cap era.

 

[ClydeLee]

He has hit bench marks for a firing beyond just having a bad team getting outmatched.

Not the subjective stuff about lineups, development, game management, practice, game prep etc.

Records for losing on the road, records for being shutout against, worst possession metrics for some periods in the cap era, etc. These are things coaches never should survive at any level, especially in year 2. The avg shelf life for a coach is 2.4 yrs anyway. There are comparably bad rosters in the cap era.

That's average with teams rarely outright trying to be bad. Still some of thing knocks you have never make sense with the open ambition to be the worst roster and team.

This point that its damaging and harmful is based on what exactly? You mentioned 2020 Detroit, who was hurt by that awful year? Zadnia even had his best ppg that year of any in his career, not sure that season was what did him in. It didn't hurt Bertuzzi, Hroniek, or Mantha who all had personally good years that or the 1-2 years after. They just were guys not fitting the timeline (except hroneik idk why they traded him but whatever)

Some people see the goal as being as bad as possible as the right thing to do. You call it giving the management a free pass... it's not a free pass of they're doing what you want them to Do. You should just say you don't think they should tank.

 

[Hawkaholic]

There have been about 2 dozen teams as bad or worse. At least 3 tank teams in AZ and some gems a decade ago in Buffalo but you also had the tanking 2007 Flyers who tried to give up 18,000 goals, or some of the completely dysfunctional CLB teams or the 2010 and 2011 tank-a-rific oil teams.

A good comp imo is the the 20' Detroit team, it was the tank stuff of nightmares, just wasting years of good prospects and setting up developing prospects to fail. That was more management, gm water-walker just got there, but it was a terrible team wasting terrible numbers of shifts. Inexplicably, Blashill survived.

Nobody cares about winning. Nobody cares if they go full "space cadet" for 10 minutes or even a game here or there.

They're consistently not ready to jump on the ice, the bench boss is most responsible for that. Mix that in with no progression in any tangible area that's going to carry over positively next year, and you have a coach that has failed to clear the lowest bar. Mix in some brutal record sniffing team stats and it's amazing anybody would be allowed to keep their job.

Really, I'm just amazed at the free pass management and coaching gets for wasting years and hundreds of millions doing nothing interesting besides over emphasizing number of picks.

Thats just false. Since the cap, only 6 teams have had a worse win% than the Hawks currently have. (331%)

SJS - 2023-24 (0.286)
BUF - 2020-21 (0.330) (basically tied)
DET - 2019-20 (0.275)
COL - 2016-17 (0.293)
BUF - 2013-14 (0.317)
BUF - 2014-15 (0.329)

And I would argue we may have less talent than all those teams had. This forward group is atrocious. It's Bedard, a couple 3rd liners, and 4th liners/AHL players. Jones and a rookie Vlasic is our only Dman we have had this year that should have been playing in the NHL. Mrazek has stole games for this team to make it seem better than they are.

It's on the players to be ready for the game, and when you are not ready, sometimes your talent can make up for it. This team has no talent, every team in the league has lots of games where they don't show up right away, but they can get away with it because they have top end talent. A coach can rant and rave, and do whatever it takes, it doesn't mean anything when the players jump on the ice if they themselves aren't ready to play.

How have there not been tangible progression? Look at their month of March. 7w-7l, almost had as many goals for as goals against (42-47) which is a miracle in itself. PP has got better. 8 wins in their last 15GP.

This team was set up to be one of the worst teams in the league this year, no one predicted the injuries and what not that happened at the beginning of the year to make matters much worse and really, with those injuries, this team should be the worst team in the league by far.

 

[bwanajamba]

Not sure where to put this link, but here is an interview with Joel about the Beach situation;

The only real takeaway I have from this is that someone with the league is telling him that if he says he takes accountability enough the league is going to let him back in. It rings a little hollow when every time he says it, he's qualifying some kind of claim that he didn't know and did nothing wrong. (Maybe he's telling the truth, I certainly wasn't there, only speaking on his demeanor in the interview)

 

[BHawk21]

He has hit bench marks for a firing beyond just having a bad team getting outmatched.

Not the subjective stuff about lineups, development, game management, practice, game prep etc.

Records for losing on the road, records for being shutout against, worst possession metrics for some periods in the cap era, etc. These are things coaches never should survive at any level, especially in year 2. The avg shelf life for a coach is 2.4 yrs anyway. There are comparably bad rosters in the cap era.

They are supposed to be losing dont you agree. They are far less talented than each team they play. Why does it matter if they lose at home or on the road? The matchups on the road only amplify how much of a talent gap there is.

I dont know what the possesion metrics are but that doesnt matter either.

Pitlick Seney Roos Megna Crevier Sanford Johnson Phillips Zaitsev Guttman Tinordi Entwistle Katchouk Anderson Beauvillier Blackwell Kaiser may all be out of hockey or in the AHL next year.

Hall played 10 games Perry played 16 and Anthansiou played 23.

Reichel and Raddysh were brutal this year.

The could have had Quenneville or Bowman or Cooper or whoever your fav coach is. This is a bottom 3 team in hockey.

 

[hawksrule]

A good coach gets more out of a team than the sum of the parts. The roster is terrible, but LR has them playing neither hard nor smart. Been that way all year.

 

[hawksfan50]

I do not think you can coach a roster of mostly bums..with 1 not yet "star" player who ionly 18 and the rest of them would either not make the rosters of a top contender team or be consigned to fat lesser roles..( even Vlssic woukd not bev1stvpairing)..And $9.5 is not worth $9.5..

Dumpster fire of talent depth lacking and there is No Austin Mathews..no Quinn Hughes..no Kaprizov...no Pastrana.. you get the idea...

Take any coach of any other NHL team and let him coach these bums and you will get the see tesultvor worse.

Too many guys with hands of stone...too many guys lacking hockey sense...too many guys pushed around and not winning board battles.. too many guys who cannot stay on their checks...too many poor shooters...andvon and on.

You expect LR to walk on water with this crew/you are nuts.


Not saying he is a great coach or even a good coach..butvtobexpect ANY coach can turn these frogs into pronces is insane
.

So stop it...LR shoukd only be judged with both the offensive and defensive competencies and talents on the team rise to becable not not get ouy'dhot by 20 ..to be far more even in the possession stays...to reduce burden of hogh danger chances on our net ,and to actualky be able to win 50%or more og their games.. Thay is not possible given the lack of abilities on this team overall.

 

[hawksrule]

I remember Andy Reid when he first became HC of the eagles. I watched a random game, and the team was bad, but was playing hard, hitting hard, they were motivated. They improved two games to 5-11 his first year, but you could just tell he was getting everything out of that team. That’s what a good coach does.

 

[Callidusblackhawk]

A good coach gets more out of a team than the sum of the parts. The roster is terrible, but LR has them playing neither hard nor smart. Been that way all year.

Its pretty telling that the only defense people have for LR is that the team lacks talent.

 

[BHawk21]

They are a bottom talent team. For the last month they have been able to play other teams with low end talent are a .500 team.

When Richardson can use home matchups to hide the talent disparity they are fine. On the road he cant hide the AHL talent. They lose.

We dont know what he is. Maybe next year if the talent catches up we can see what his real flaws are.

 

[Hawkaholic]

A good coach gets more out of a team than the sum of the parts. The roster is terrible, but LR has them playing neither hard nor smart. Been that way all year.

You can play as hard and as smart as you want, but when half of your team are players that should be in the AHL, and the other half is 4th liners, its pretty hard to remain competitive at all. It's amazing they have won the amount of games they have.

Its pretty telling that the only defense people have for LR is that the team lacks talent.

I mean, its the main thing that wins or keeps you competitive in hockey.

Who should they be winning against that they aren't?
Sharks? 3-0
Coyotes? 2-1
Ducks? 2-1

Literally every other team in the league should beat them every night, but they still managed to win against the Leafs, Flames, Pens, Lightning, Panthers, Stars, Avs, etc

 

[BHawk21]

Not sure where to put this link, but here is an interview with Joel about the Beach situation;

Interesting. Saying he didnt know the truth of what was happening just that the video coach was socializing and "bothering" the rockford players. Saying he should have gotten more involved when told.

Hes definitely trying to make his way back tho. I see New Jersey Ottawa or Buffalo in his future.

 

[Chelios]

Interesting. Saying he didnt know the truth of what was happening just that the video coach was socializing and "bothering" the rockford players. Saying he should have gotten more involved when told.

Hes definitely trying to make his way back tho. I see New Jersey Ottawa or Buffalo in his future.

I don’t see anything he said in that interview that contradicts what was in the report.

 

[Castle8130]

Interesting. Saying he didnt know the truth of what was happening just that the video coach was socializing and "bothering" the rockford players. Saying he should have gotten more involved when told.

Hes definitely trying to make his way back tho. I see New Jersey Ottawa or Buffalo in his future.

I buy it. Makes a lot of sense.

He mentioned he was in one meeting where upper management told everyone at the meeting Aldrich sent a couple inappropriate images to the Rockford guys and was bugging them. There were no specific details mentioned outside of that. He said he wished he asked more questions about the specifics of what actually happened or atleast asked the people involved with whats going on

 

[BHawk21]

I don’t see anything he said in that interview that contradicts what was in the report.

neither do I...

 

[ChicagoHockeyFan]

Can understand the losing because of bad roster obviously, just want to see consistent effort rewarded which I don’t think Richardson has been great at. And also improvement from young players which hasn’t really happened outside of Kurashev and Vlasic, and it sounds like he did most of his improving last year in Rockford