Chicago Blackhawks: Expectations for Jeremy Colliton’s second year

The Chicago Blackhawks are getting ready to start a season with their now second-year coach, and there are mixed expectations for them.

The Chicago Blackhawks are getting ready to start a season without legendary coach Joel Quenneville for the first time in eleven seasons. He is largely regarded as the greatest coach in team history and you can make an argument that he is the greatest coach in National Hockey League history. Joel was the catalyst of three Stanley Cup championship-winning teams and a decade of dominance. Included in those three championship seasons, the team went 76-52 in the playoffs.

Joel’s record with the Blackhawks ended at 452-249-96 which is a remarkable .627 winning percentage. That was good for exactly 1000 standings points over the stretch. He left as the second-winningest coach in NHL history. It was clearly a tough decision when they fired him on November 6th, 2018 after the Blackhawks started 6-6-3.

The same day they fired Joel, they hired Jeremy Colliton to be the 38th coach in team history after a brief stint as the head coach of their AHL affiliate Rockford Ice Hogs. The hiring made Colliton the youngest coach in the NHL at 34 years old. He went 30-28-9 with the Blackhawks in his first year which was a bit short of making it to the playoffs.

Now, the question is how Coach Colliton is going to do in year two as head coach. The answer is actually pretty simple. He should very well succeed in year two. He has his first full season as head coach under his belt and he wasn’t half bad. He helped make Chicago’s power-play good again after it was really bad. He utilized his offensive players to the best of their abilities.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews spent lots of time together at even strength, which was something that almost never happened under Coach Q. Toews and Kane each had career years as far as points as a result and the Blackhawks were a goal-scoring wagon. The depth was also enhanced when Colliton put Alex DeBrincat with newly acquired Dylan Strome to try and reignite the chemistry they had from their junior days.

The Blackhawks biggest flaw under Colliton was their defensive game. They had the highest team goals-against average in the Western Conference under him but that may not be all his fault. The Blackhawks are going to play an up-tempo game again, but they have added more players who are better defensively and that should really help them keep the puck out of their own net.

All in all, the Blackhawks are looking like a team that could potentially make some noise in a really strong Central Division. If their defensive game improves, Colliton should really have this team in a good spot. You should expect year two of the Colliton era to be a good year. We are looking to see if he can get the same level of offensive production from his guys, while they keep the puck out of their own net more often. It is going to be a tough task but he has shown that he is capable of getting high-level production from his players.