Why Luke Richardson might not be the head coach when the Chicago Blackhawks are ready to contend

The shine is starting to wear off on Chicago Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson.

Through his first two seasons in charge, he has been viewed as a steady leader trying to implement a hard-working culture that will eventually lead to Stanley Cups once the rebuild is over.

General manager Kyle Davidson did not hire him to be just the head coach during a rebuild, but it is starting to trend that way.

Richardson is supposed to be the Denis Savard and Joel Quenneville during this current rebuild and, hopefully, the next round of contending. It is starting to look like he might just be Savard.

Richardson is opening himself up for valid criticism as the standards have been raised this season. The offense is not scoring despite more talent added to the roster.

Connor Bedard is having a sophomore slump. Richardson cannot help himself from mixing up his linemates every night.

Then he comes out looking bad with how he handled making veteran Taylor Hall a healthy scratch.

Now how he handled Hall is not the reason to wonder if Richardson can handle this job once the team is ready to compete for the playoffs.

This constant shuffling of the lines is.

There is nothing wrong with trying to find a spark, especially since the offense has been terrible at scoring lately. At the same time, he is not giving the numerous combinations he has tried to implement much of a runway to see if they can work.

His recent idea is to put Joey Anderson, Jason Dickinson, and Bedard on the top line. Putting Bedard on the wing and pairing him up with the team's best defensive center is not a terrible idea.

The defense has not been the club's problem. While it cannot hurt to put a scrappy player willing to get pucks, Nick Foligno has tended to work better with Bedard in that case.

The changes Richardson is trying to make on a nightly basis feel like this is the only solution he has to the team's problem. You wonder how he will encounter adversity if the team ever makes the playoffs. You also have to wonder if the team will ever make the playoffs with Richardson behind the bench.

Now, firing Richardson right now would be a bit premature. It is not premature to wonder if this team will go places with him in charge.