Dawn of a new era: King takes over, wants Blackhawks to have fun

Complete and utter shock.

That was Derek King's reaction when he received a phone call Saturday asking if he'd like to be the interim coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

"I was just like, 'Wow. OK. Sure, I'll do it,' " said the 54-year-old King, who was coaching the Rockford IceHogs for the past three seasons.

King was tabbed by interim general manager Kyle Davidson to succeed Jeremy Colliton, who was fired after the Hawks' 1-9-2 start. Both men met the media for the first time Sunday before the Hawks beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 in overtime at the United Center.

The 33-year-old Davidson made three things clear right away:

• He has "full autonomy to proceed as I see fit" when it comes to the hockey operations and the roster.

• King will remain in his role until the end of the season.

• The change was made mainly because Colliton's message wasn't translating to on-ice results.

"The losses aren't necessarily the issue," Davidson said. "It's sometimes the way you lose that shows a change needs to be made."

King's day began with a couple of meetings and a morning skate with his new team. He had lengthy on-ice conversations with numerous players, hoping to let them know what he expects in the early days of his tenure.

King has a long coaching resume that dates back to 2009 when he was hired as an assistant for the AHL's Toronto Marlies. He also scored 261 goals in 830 NHL games for the Islanders, Maple Leafs and Blues.

King thought there would be serious butterflies when the puck dropped Sunday, but that wasn't the case.

"I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be," said King, who leaned heavily upon assistant coach Marc Crawford. "Crow was great on the bench with me. He just kept whispering in my ear 'You've got this. You're doing a good job.' … It just made it so much easier."

Many assumed that if Colliton were fired, Crawford - who has 556 victories with four different franchises - would take over. Davidson, however, wanted an outside voice to come in. He also said Crawford's hard-nosed coaching tactics in the past, which got him suspended during the 2019-20 season, did not factor in the decision.

It's an interesting choice because some would think the Hawks need to hear some harsh words and tough talk when mistakes are made.

King, while saying he will hold players accountable, seems to be more in Colliton's mode from a philosophy standpoint.

"I want these guys to feel relaxed," King said. "They're tight.

"(I'm going to) come in and just let them just take a deep breath and get your shoulders dropped and go have some fun and get back to the game we love to play. We've played it since we were 5-6 years old, and it hasn't changed.

"You might be making a little more money now, but it's just time to go back to playing some good, solid, hard hockey and have some fun with it."

And that's exactly what happened against Nashville.

"Derek kind of brought that calm in today and he's trying to (get) us to simplify and just have fun," said captain Jonathan Toews. "If you're not doing that it's hard to win at this point in this league right now."

We'll see if fresh eyes give new life to the team and to players like Dylan Strome, Alex Nylander and others. We'll also see if King tweaks the defensive zone coverage that received so much criticism under Colliton.

As for if the season can be salvaged? Well, both Davidson and King said no season is ever lost.

Even during the most trying times, players and teams can learn things about themselves and hope to carve out a better future.

"Let's be totally honest - the math is not in favor right now to get to (the playoffs)," Davidson said. "But no season is ever lost, because you're always going to be able to learn something, you're always going to be able to continue your evaluation process. In terms of putting labels on playoff team or anything like that, this is a new era now. ...

"There's a great opportunity for these players to have a blank slate with Derek, both individually and collectively. We're going to learn a lot - I'm going to learn a lot - in terms of what we see over the next weeks and months.

"We can decide what direction we want to take at that point."