Chicago Blackhawks Midseason Review: When Can We Truly Evaluate Head Coach Luke Richardson?

That is why we are still at a point where we cannot evaluate Luke Richardson.

The old saying goes you are what your record says you are, but that saying blocks any context. Richardson's record is awful, but the context states his record is supposed to be bad.

This does not mean Richardson is above criticism. At the same time, he really has not done much to get heckled.

The only thing you can point to and say Richardson should have done better was in the early part of the season when the Hawks were healthy, the effort was inconsistent. Instead of addressing it, he let the players handle it with locker room meetings, but the problem still existed.

You can also make a case that Richardson should be pushing for Lukas Reichel or Arvid Soderblom to be sent to the AHL to get out of their funks. Since this is a lost season, the Hawks can be patient with those two.

Otherwise, Richardson has done what any coach tasked with a rebuild should do. He has kept the offense simple. Richardson has tried to hold inconsistent players accountable with his healthy scratches (see Reichel and Isaak Phillips). Most importantly, he is not trying to shoehorn players into his system like his predecessor, Jeremy Colliton.

If he was being as stubborn as Colliton, then by all means Richardson's coaching should be coming into question. The guy is trying everything he can think of to fix the Hawks' problems. Sometimes coaching just cannot overcome a lack of talent.