Blackhawks fire head coach Jeremy Colliton
The Chicago Blackhawks are making a coaching change.
According to Frank Seravalli, the Blackhawks have fired Jeremy Colliton. Derek King, who had been coaching the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford Ice Hogs, has been named the Blackhawks interim head coach.
Hearing #Blackhawks are making a coaching change. Sources say Jeremy Colliton has been fired.@DFOHockey
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) November 6, 2021Additionally, the Blackhawks have also let go of assistant coaches Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank, while Marc Crawford, Jimmy Waite, Matt Meacham, and Dylan Crawford will remain on the team’s coaching staff.
“It has been an extremely difficult couple of weeks for our organization, and we have had to come to terms with a number of necessary changes,” Blackhawks SEO Danny Wirtz said in a statement. “As we look to move forward, we know we must earn back the trust of our fans, and we are grateful for the support of our entire community as we work to do just that.
“On the ice, Interim General Manager Kyle Davidson has our full confidence and autonomy to make hockey decisions, and we support him on this coaching change. We appreciate all that Jeremy has brought to the Blackhawks, and we look forward to working with Derek as our interim head coach while we work to rebuild our permanent hockey operations leadership.”
The move is the latest in what has been a nightmare season in Chicago, as the team has been caught up in the fallout of accusations of sexual assault against former video coach Brad Aldrich by former player Kyle Beach.
This is the first major move made by interim general manager Kyle Davidson, who was promoted into the role when Stan Bowman resigned back in October amid the Blackhawks’ sexual assault scandal.
The Blackhawks came into 2021-22 with legitimate playoff aspirations after acquiring Seth Jones, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Tyler Johnson over the summer, but they’ve been a complete mess to start the season.
Chicago owns a 1-9-2 record after Friday night’s 5-1 thumping at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets. The Arizona Coyotes, who still haven’t won a game yet this season, are the only team behind the Blackhawks in the standings with a 0-10-1 record.
Colliton was named the Blackhawks’ head coach exactly three years ago today after the Blackhawks fired three-time Stanley Cup winner Joel Quenneville. Over parts of four seasons behind the bench in Chicago, Colliton posted an 87-92-26 record.
A couple of weeks ago, members of the Blackhawks backed Colliton despite the team’s poor start, stating that the team’s issues were on the players…
“100% this team has faith in Jeremy,” defenseman Seth Jones said, per The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus. “I’ve been here a short time but his message has been great for us. This isn’t a coaching problem. This is a locker room thing, the players on the ice playing the game.”