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

He is always willing to try something different.

Reichel and Taylor Raddysh have disappointed this season, but Alex Vlasic and Jason Dickinson have thrived. Soderblom has struggled mightily in the net, but Petr Mrazek is having a renaissance. The team has not won on the road since November. The team has also been banged up so badly since that month, that it is hard to win even at home.

The best part about Richardson is he is a former player, so understands exactly what these players are going through. He knows that he does not need to bag skate them all the time after a bad game. Sometimes a mental break is all that is needed.

If the team was in revolt or tuning him out, then we would have a problem. They are skating hard after being inconsistent to start the season. Soderblom's work with goaltending coach Jimmy Waite has seems to be working out too.

Sure, the locker room is frustrated with the lack of scoring, but no one is pointing fingers. The quotes after the game show a team that understands it is them that need to score, not the coach.

Most importantly, Richardson is trying to place a locker room culture of doing things the right way. Did we mention he is not forcing the team to play a very specific way like Jeremy Colliton?

That is why Richardson is the perfect coach to lead this team through the rebuild. Once more of the prospects start to show up on the Hawks NHL roster, then we can start to judge whether Richardson is the coach who will guide this franchise to a Stanley Cup. Until then, let the man enjoy some wine on his break.