Blackhawks Share Their Plan With New Head Coach

On Saturday afternoon, the Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Jeremy Colliton and named Derek King as interim coach. Interim general manager Kyle Davidson now has announced that King will be holding the role for the rest of the regular season before they make a permanent coaching hire during the offseason.

The Blackhawks won’t start their search for a permanent coach until after the season, Davidson says.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 7, 2021

For fans who wanted to see the Blackhawks be taken over by former NHL head coaches like John Tortorella, Claude Julien, Bruce Boudreau or Rick Tocchet, that's not going to happen any time soon. At this point, the Blackhawks will be giving King a prolonged chance with the position and there's truly no real harm in doing that.

Although the Blackhawks have a 1-9-2 record this season, King honestly is in a bit of favorable position. Chicago can't get much worse from here and are due for improvement. If he can lead the Blackhawks to be even just somewhat competitive for the rest of the season, it will help his chances of sticking around significantly. However, if they continue to trend in this direction, don't expect to see King with the team for the 2022-23 campaign.

The Blackhawks will have more candidates to choose from next summer if they feel things aren't working out with King, too.