League-worst Blackhawks fire coach Richardson
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The league-worst Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Luke Richardson on Thursday after three seasons.
Anders Sorensen, coach of the AHL Rockford IceHogs, was named interim head coach and will assume duties immediately. The Blackhawks have also made Mark Eaton, their assistant general manager overseeing player development, the interim coach in Rockford.
Sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that Sorensen will coach the rest of the season and will be given an opportunity to get the full-time job, as the Blackhawks think very highly of him. The Blackhawks plan on conducting a full coaching search after the season.
Players in Rockford have praised Sorensen as a coach, with one player telling ESPN that he’s a “great communicator and teacher.”
Richardson, 55, had a 57-118-15 record after being hired to coach Chicago in 2022, while the Blackhawks were in a prolonged rebuild. He was in the last year of a three-year contract, with Chicago holding an option for a fourth season.
After 26 games this season, Chicago had a record of 8-16-2, the worst in the NHL. The Blackhawks were tied for 21st in team defense (3.15 goals against per game) and the second-worst offensive team in the league at 2.42 goals per game. Those offensive struggles impacted Connor Bedard, last season’s Rookie of the Year, who has just five goals in 26 games this season.
“As we have begun to take steps forward in our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately came to the decision that a change was necessary,” Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. “We wish Luke and his family all the best moving forward.”
Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said he fully supports Davidson’s decision and endorsed the management team’s search for the team’s next head coach.
The frustration this season has been notable within the Blackhawks, in particular with the 19-year-old Bedard. The No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL draft — and marketed as a franchise savior in Chicago — Bedard had grown tired of finding silver linings in losses for a last-place club.
“We’re not just going to be happy that we stayed in a game. We’re all NHL players. That’s not the goal, you know? It’s frustrating,” he said in November. “Losing is not fun, so we’ve obviously got to figure it out.”
Two weeks ago, Bedard said there were “100 things” he felt he could change about his game as he was mired in a 12-game streak without a goal.
Richardson was criticized for scrambling his lines too often in search of the right mix. He raised some eyebrows around the NHL when he shifted Bedard, a natural center, to the wing and played him in more of a defensive role with forwards Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson.
“We didn’t bring him here to be a checker,” Richardson said. “But just the way our team has a lack of scoring, we’re hunkering down on the defensive side until we get a little more confidence offensively back.”
Bedard, who was left off of Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster this week, has four points in his past seven games.
Richardson also took criticism for the way he handled the benching of veteran Taylor Hall, a former league MVP now in his 15th NHL season. Hall was surprised by becoming a healthy scratch because the possibility of it hadn’t been communicated to him.
Richardson later admitted that Hall should have been given a heads-up.
“That could be part of my problem, too. Sometimes you give veterans a little bit more of a grace period,” Richardson said.
Richardson was hired in June 2022, replacing interim coach Derek King. He had been an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens and spent four seasons as head coach of the Ottawa Senators‘ AHL affiliate.
Sorensen is the fourth head coach under Davidson, two of them serving on an interim basis. He has amassed a 117-89-16-7 record in 229 career AHL games serving as head coach. The IceHogs have reached the playoffs in each of his three seasons serving as bench boss.
Previously, Sorensen was a development coach in Chicago and a bench coach for Södertälje SK of HockeyAllsvenskan in Sweden.
The Blackhawks have several of their top prospects, including Frank Nazar, Kevin Korchinski and Artem Levshyunov, playing in Rockford this season. They have been hesitant to call them up, preferring them to be better prepared in the AHL. However Nazar, who is second in AHL scoring with 24 points in 18 games, is expected to get a call up this season. The Blackhawks would prefer to keep Nazar in the NHL instead of shuttling him back and forth.
This is the third coaching change of the 2024-25 NHL season.
The Boston Bruins fired Jim Montgomery on Nov. 19, replacing him with interim coach Joe Sacco. When Montgomery became available, the St. Louis Blues fired Drew Bannister and hired Montgomery five days after his dismissal in Boston.
The 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby is fast approaching — and the field is set.
Braves hometown hero Ronald Acuna Jr. became the first player to commit to the event, which will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta on July 14 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN). He was followed by MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals, Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins, Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Brent Rooker of the Athletics and Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the New York Yankees.
On Friday, however, Acuna was replaced by teammate Matt Olson.
With all the entrants announced, let’s break down their chances at taking home this year’s Derby prize.
Full All-Star Game coverage: How to watch, schedule, rosters, more
2025 home runs: 17 | Longest: 434 feet
Why he could win: Olson is a late replacement for Acuna as the home team’s representative at this year’s Derby. Apart from being the Braves’ first baseman, however, Olson also was born in Atlanta and grew up a Braves fan, giving him some extra motivation. The left-handed slugger led the majors in home runs in 2023 — his 54 round-trippers that season also set a franchise record — and he remains among the best in the game when it comes to exit velo and hard-hit rate.
Why he might not: The home-field advantage can also be a detriment if a player gets too hyped up in the first round. See Julio Rodriguez in Seattle in 2023, when he had a monster first round, with 41 home runs, but then tired out in the second round.
2025 home runs: 36 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: It’s the season of Cal! The Mariners’ catcher is having one of the greatest slugging first halves in MLB history, as he’s been crushing mistakes all season . His easy raw power might be tailor-made for the Derby — he ranks in the 87th percentile in average exit velocity and delivers the ball, on average, at the optimal home run launch angle of 23 degrees. His calm demeanor might also be perfect for the contest as he won’t get too amped up.
Why he might not: He’s a catcher — and one who has carried a heavy workload, playing in all but one game this season. This contest is as much about stamina as anything, and whether Raleigh can carry his power through three rounds would be a concern. No catcher has ever won the Derby, with only Ivan Rodriguez back in 2005 even reaching the finals.
2025 home runs: 24 | Longest: 451 feet
Why he could win: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s young, he’s awesome, he might or might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This is the perfect opportunity for Wood to show his talent on the national stage, and he wouldn’t be the first young player to star in the Derby. He ranks in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 99th percentile in hard-hit rate, so he can still muscle the ball out in BP even if he slightly mishits it. His long arms might be viewed as a detriment, but remember the similarly tall Aaron Judge won in 2017.
Why he might not: His natural swing isn’t a pure uppercut — he has a pretty low average launch angle of just 6.2 degrees — so we’ll see how that plays in a rapid-fire session. In real games, his power is primarily to the opposite field, but in a Home Run Derby you can get more cheapies pulling the ball down the line.
2025 home runs: 20 | Longest: 479 feet
Why he could win: Buxton’s raw power remains as impressive as nearly any hitter in the game. He crushed a 479-foot home run earlier this season and has four others of at least 425 feet. Indeed, his “no doubter” percentage — home runs that would be out of all 30 parks based on distance — is 75%, the highest in the majors among players with more than a dozen home runs. His bat speed ranks in the 89th percentile. In other words, two tools that could translate to a BP lightning show.
Why he might not: Buxton is 31 and the Home Run Derby feels a little more like a younger man’s competition. Teoscar Hernandez did win last year at age 31, but before that, the last winner older than 29 was David Ortiz in 2010, and that was under much different rules than are used now.
2025 home runs: 16 | Longest: 463 feet
Why he could win: If you drew up a short list of players everyone wants to see in the Home Run Derby, Cruz would be near the top. He has the hardest-hit ball of the 2025 season, and the hardest ever tracked by Statcast, a 432-foot missile of a home run with an exit velocity of 122.9 mph. He also crushed a 463-foot home run in Anaheim that soared way beyond the trees in center field. With his elite bat speed — 100th percentile — Cruz has the ability to awe the crowd with a potentially all-time performance.
Why he might not: Like all first-time contestants, can he stay within himself and not get too caught up in the moment? He has a long swing, which will result in some huge blasts, but might not be the most efficient for a contest like this one, where the more swings a hitter can get in before the clock expires, the better.
2025 home runs: 23 | Longest: 425 feet
Why he could win: Although Caminero was one of the most hyped prospects entering 2024, everyone kind of forgot about him heading into this season since he didn’t immediately rip apart the majors as a rookie. In his first full season, however, he has showed off his big-time raw power — giving him a chance to become just the third player to reach 40 home runs in his age-21 season. He has perhaps the quickest bat in the majors, ranking in the 100th percentile in bat speed, and his top exit velocity ranks in the top 15. That could translate to a barrage of home runs.
Why he might not: In game action, Caminero does hit the ball on the ground quite often — in fact, he’s on pace to break Jim Rice’s record for double plays grounded into in a season. If he gets out of rhythm, that could lead to a lot of low line drives during the Derby instead of fly balls that clear the fences.
2025 home runs: 19 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: The Athletics slugger has been one of the top power hitters in the majors for three seasons now and is on his way to a third straight 30-homer season. Rooker has plus bat speed and raw power, but his biggest strength is an optimal average launch angle (19 degrees in 2024, 15 degrees this season) that translates to home runs in game action. That natural swing could be picture perfect for the Home Run Derby. He also wasn’t shy about saying he wanted to participate — and maybe that bodes well for his chances.
Why he might not: Rooker might not have quite the same raw power as some of the other competitors, as he has just one home run longer than 425 feet in 2025. But that’s a little nitpicky, as 11 of his home runs have still gone 400-plus feet. He competed in the college home run derby in Omaha while at Mississippi State in 2016 and finished fourth.
2025 home runs: 17 | Longest: 442 feet
Why he could win: Chisholm might not be the most obvious name to participate, given his career high of 24 home runs, but he has belted 17 already in 2025 in his first 61 games after missing some time with an injury. He ranks among the MLB leaders in a couple of home run-related categories, ranking in the 96th percentile in expected slugging percentage and 98th percentile in barrel rate. His raw power might not match that of the other participants, but he’s a dead-pull hitter who has increased his launch angle this season, which might translate well to the Derby, even if he won’t be the guy hitting the longest home runs.
Why he might not: Most of the guys who have won this have been big, powerful sluggers. Chisholm is listed at 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, and you have to go back to Miguel Tejada in 2004 to find the last player under 6 foot to win.
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