Anders Sorensen’s time as Blackhawks interim coach is nearing an end.
The Hawks, losers of five straight, have less than four weeks left in another brutal season. Fourteen games from now, a much-needed overhaul of the NHL roster and coaching staff is almost certainly coming.
Sorensen rarely talks about himself, but he’s surely aware of his ticking clock. When asked Tuesday — after the Hawks’ 6-2 loss to the Kraken — if he’s struggling to keep players motivated, he responded that they should be motivated because they’re constantly being evaluated. Then he added with a chuckle, “We all are, right?”
The team has gone 12-23-7 so far under Sorensen, equaling a .369 points percentage — just a hair above their .346 points percentage under ex-coach Luke Richardson. Neither is anywhere close to acceptable, even for a rebuilding team with no playoff expectations yet.
And since the Hawks have been blown out far more often in recent months, their 43.0% goals share under Sorensen is actually worse than their 43.5% goals ratio under Richardson. The same pattern is even more noticeable in terms of shots on goal.
Connor Bedard, the teenage star whose Sorensen’s loosened, offense-friendly systems were most designed to benefit, has endured the quietest stretch of career to date under Sorensen, too.
Despite his lucky power-play goal Tuesday, Bedard has tallied just four points in his last 13 games. His overall point-per-game rate under Sorensen (0.81) remains slightly higher than under Richardson (0.73), but both are lower than last season (0.90). And he’s recording fewer shots per game under Sorensen than under Richardson.
To be fair, Sorensen was thrown into an extremely difficult situation this season. The fact it hasn’t gone well reflects the circumstances more than his coaching ability.
His Dec. 5 promotion from the AHL caught him by surprise, and he came in with zero prior NHL experience. He inherited — and has kept — the same staff Richardson assembled. He also inherited a poorly constructed team, into which he has overseen the integration of many inexperienced prospects.
Those prospects have brought youthful energy, but their presences have pushed some veterans out of the lineup entirely, giving Sorensen several ticked-off men to rein in. On Thursday against the Kings, T.J. Brodie will be a healthy scratch for a ninth straight game, Philipp Kurashev for a sixth straight and Pat Maroon for the fourth time in five.
Wednesday was a scheduled off-day, but because of Tuesday’s debacle, Sorensen called the team in for an “honest” video-review meeting and practice — during (and after) which tempers flared.
“[We’re] trying to keep everybody on the same page, and I think the guys are — for the most part — doing a decent job,” Sorensen said. “There’s always going to be frustration with certain players here and there. I don’t think you’re going to keep everybody happy this time of the year with where we’re at, right? It’s impossible.”
At this point, Sorensen’s quest to earn the full-time job seems almost equally impossible.
After four consecutive first-time NHL coaches — Jeremy Colliton, interim Derek King, Richardson and Sorensen — the Hawks will likely pursue a more proven, experienced, well-known coach in their upcoming search. That is unless University of Denver coach David Carle — the hottest up-and-coming candidate — shows interest and seriously impresses Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson.
During the playoffs, the pool of people for Davidson to comb through will gradually expand as teams fire coaches or consent to making assistants available for interviews. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, for example, might interest the Hawks if the Penguins part ways.
Davidson said March 7 he has begun thinking about “how that [coaching] profile looks, what the team will look like and what they’ll need in a coach” next season. He’ll also need to nail down the budget for this hire.