Why Luke Richardson might not be the coach of the future for the Chicago Blackhawks

Lack of Rebuilding Experience

This season aside, throughout Luke Richardson's coaching career, he has never been on a rebuilding team until he came to Chicago.

In his previous coaching gig, where he served as the assistant coach for the Montreal Canadians, they were a pretty middle-of-the-pack team, making the playoffs two out of the four seasons he was there, including their Cinderella run to the cup final in the bubble playoffs.

Before that, at the NHL level, he served as an assistant coach for a season with the New York Islanders and then three seasons with the Ottawa Senators from 2009-2012 when those teams also weren't rebuilding. The Senators made the playoffs two out of the three years he was there, getting knocked out in the first round both times.

As a coach obviously, you always want to win games and the Blackhawks aren't necessarily on the tank train as much as in years past but the main priority should be player development and giving the younger players, the ones who might be on the team in a few years when the team is good, a chance to earn their spot.

But when you have a coach who isn't all that experienced in coaching a rebuilding team, it could be very costly for the rebuild if players aren't developed correctly.

With the plethora of prospects the Blackhawks have in the fold you almost have to wonder if Luke Richardson is the right man for the job to develop the next generation of Blackhawks players when he's already been mismanaging the current set of younger players on the team.

We are only six games into the season so there is not any chance of a coaching change in the near future but it is fair to question whether or not Luke Richardson is the coach of the future for the Chicago Blackhawks.