6 reasons Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson fired Luke Richardson

Maybe Luke Richardson did not deserve to be fired as Chicago Blackhawks.

He was never given rosters that were built to win. His first season the team was built to lose on purpose. In his second year leading the club, the team was constantly hurt.

While this year's roster was not likely upgraded enough to make the playoffs, it was improved just enough to raise the standards. At least, that is how GM Kyle Davidson saw it.

When the team continued to sit at the bottom of the NHL standings, Davidson decided it was time to hold someone accountable. It is always easy to fire one head coach rather than 23 players.

Davidson cited five reasons why he decided to dismiss Richardson.

The first reason was the team sitting dead-last in the standings.

Reasons two and three were an impotent offense and poor habits forming on the ice.

The fourth reason was with the bad habits forming, Davidson felt a new leadership voice was required.

The fifth reason was he felt a lot of the Hawks' problems on the ice were fixable with a different coaching approach.

The sixth reason was not explicitly said, but it had to be a factor, as it was likely Connor Bedard's regression this season.

While it was nice Richardson helped Bedard get better defensively, that should have been prioritized in, say, his third or fourth season.

This had to be the season where he continued to produce enough goals to officially join the upper echelon of NHL players.

Instead, he has regressed into a solid NHL player. That should not happen, considering he has one of the best shots in the game. Plus, his rookie season proved he would be a generational player. Right now, he looks ordinary.

Sure, teams have made adjustments this season to make it tougher for Bedard to unleash his shot. Then again, he was able to produce goals last season when teams knew he was the Hawks' best scoring option.

This year has not been the case, and part of it was Richardson's incorrect solutions.

Richardson made it hard for Bedard to establish chemistry with his linemates because he kept shuffling players in and out of the first line. Then he made the bizarre choice to make the top line more defensive focused when he paired Bedard with Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson.

The theory was not a terrible idea to add a better defensive center in Dickinson. That way, Bedard could focus on scoring. Anderson is just not talented enough to skate with Bedard, even if Anderson has the willingness to go for loose pucks.

Interim head coach Anders Sorensen has already identified one solution that makes more sense than more new linemates or focus on defending better.

If Bedard was not at five goals, Richardson might not have gotten fired in all likelihood. Luke had one job, and that was to make sure Bedard continued to fulfill his destiny as a future Hall of Famer. Once there became a threat to that happening, it had to be removed, and that meant Luke Richardson had to go.