In Richardson, Hawks see a coach they can build with

Nick Foligno remembers the moment well.

Rookie year, 2007. First training camp practice in Ottawa. In walks a 38-year-old veteran who takes one look at the fresh-faced Foligno and exclaims, "I've gotta (bleeping) retire."

Now, all these years later, Foligno is lacing up his skates to play for that onetime teammate, Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson.

And he cannot wait to see how this season unfolds, starting with the opener at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

"He was already like a coach that year," said Foligno, who went on to become captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets and came to the Hawks last off-season in a trade with Boston. "So to see him now and getting the opportunity that he's deserved is really cool.

"He's so detailed. ... He cares a lot about the group and he's a guy that I respect. I know he's got our best interest at heart. When you have a coach like that, you want to play well for him and it makes your group come together.

"So I'm looking forward to getting going with him."

All the right moves

When former President and CEO John McDonough green lighted the firing of Joel Quenneville on Nov. 6, 2018, he allowed former GM Stan Bowman to name 33-year-old Jeremy Colliton as the Hawks' next coach.

While Colliton had a few stretches of success, the overall results were disappointing. The Hawks often looked lost defensively and played with little structure.

New GM Kyle Davidson fired Colliton exactly three years after Quenneville departed and named Derek King interim coach. King did an admirable job, but Davidson went outside the organization after the 2021-22 season and tabbed Richardson on June 27, 2022.

Almost immediately, most players realized things were about to drastically improve. Here was a low-key coach who not only came in with a defensive scheme everyone understood, but who also would hold everyone accountable.

"The first day of camp he put a good structure in place, and that's something we didn't really have (under Colliton)," defenseman Caleb Jones said. "When he put that in place I could tell he was going to be a really good coach."

Davidson saw it too.

The team was always prepared. It played hard, even down the stretch with a roster full of borderline NHL players. No opponent - even ones fighting desperately for playoff berths - had an easy time with the Hawks.

Richardson also did a masterful job of dealing with off-ice issues such as Patrick Kane trade rumors and the reoccurrence of Jonathan Toews' illness.

"I don't think he's had a misstep all year," Davidson said last April. "It's been a really, really impressive season from him. And it was something that went right back to our initial interviews.

"You just felt it was right and the connection was there, how he saw the game, how he wanted to play the game. We were in lockstep. It was (like), 'This is the guy, for sure.'"

Richardson's resume of 1,417 games as an NHL defenseman plus nearly 15 years as an NHL assistant or AHL head coach no doubt earned him plenty of respect.

But he gained plenty more by acknowledging mistakes made by veterans like Kane, Toews and Seth Jones. Even in interviews, he would admit when someone like Kane needed to play better defensively.

"It can't be a certain set of guys that get called out on video or are always yelled at," Jones said. "It has to start from the top. ... Then players can start holding each other accountable as well.

"We started to get to that a little bit toward the end of the year. If a guy wasn't in the shot lane, someone on the bench would let him know. ...

"And you're not tearing a guy's confidence down, but those are the little things that make a team successful."

What now?

After the Hawks dropped a hard-fought 3-1 game at Tampa Bay on March 11 to fall to 22-38-6, Richardson thought about walking into the dressing room to deliver a positive message.

But he stopped himself.

"They don't want to hear, 'We tried hard.' It's the NHL," Richardson said.

So Richardson picked his spot, which came after a practice two days later at Fifth Third Arena.

"I know you guys don't want to hear it," he told them, "but we're proud of how you're playing. We've got to keep playing like that, and we'll get over the hump and learn some lessons and grow as a team."

The Hawks finished 26-49-7 with 59 points, which tied for the second-lowest total in the league.

So what should we expect in Richardson's sophomore campaign?

On one hand, the Hawks no longer have Kane, Toews, Domi, Jake McCabe or goalie Alex Stalock.

On the other, they've added the electrifying Connor Bedard and veteran forwards Foligno, Corey Perry and Taylor Hall. Lukas Reichel looks fantastic and seems ready to break out. Taylor Raddysh, Andreas Athanasiou and Philipp Kurashev still have plenty to prove. The D-corps, while young, has talent. And Arvid Soderblom gets raves reviews from goalie coach Jimmy Waite.

Coach them all up and who knows?

Maybe this team surprises.

"We showed some great clips from last year (at the beginning of camp) and we looked at it and we're like, 'Well, how did we not make the playoffs last year?'" Richardson said with a smile. "But it was 10 clips, maybe 12 clips.

"So you have to do that probably every period for 80 games and we didn't do that."

Foligno and Murphy understand the outside expectations are pretty low. Neither wants to look too far ahead or make any predictions. They want to set high internal expectations and see if everyone can live up to them.

And with the right coach behind the bench, that ought to be attainable.

"(He) understands it's a unique situation here where we're building something," Foligno said. "The expectations for him are a little bit more teaching and a little bit more encouragement. That really helps a group, especially when we're trying to find our way.

"He's gonna have his staples of things he expects and won't bend on. But the entire coaching staff really cares about pushing this group forward. The cool thing about that is you can grow together. ...

"You have a coach now that you can rally around that's going to hopefully be here for a long time. That's going to create success for a long time."