Blackhawks hire Luke Richardson to become their new head coach

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Luke Richardson is the new coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, stepping into a tricky rebuilding process for one of the NHL's marquee franchises.

General manager Kyle Davidson announced the move on Monday. Richardson replaces Derek King, who finished the season as the interim coach after Jeremy Colliton was fired on Nov. 6.

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Assistant coach Luke Richardson of the Montreal Canadiens assumes head coaching responsibilities against the Vegas Golden Knights during the first period in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Semifinals of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre on June 18, 2021 in Montreal, Quebec. Head coach Dominique Ducharme , tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

"Luke shares our vision and goals for the future, and he will have an opportunity to build an environment and culture of high performance, hard work and high accountability," Davidson said in a release.

Richardson, 53, played for six teams during 21 years in the NHL, finishing with 35 goals and 166 assists in 1,417 games. The defenseman was selected by Toronto with the No. 7 overall pick in the 1987 draft.

Richardson's first NHL game was at Chicago Stadium on Oct. 8, 1987, a 7-5 Maple Leafs victory.

"I am honored to be trusted with this opportunity to coach an Original Six franchise like the Chicago Blackhawks," Richardson said in the team announcement.

"I plan to create an environment of trust with our team. With trust, relationships will form and grow, thus allowing everyone to blossom and execute their role. My philosophy is to be better today than we were yesterday and,