Chicago Blackhawks: Not firing Jeremy Colliton was the right move
There were some rumors that the Chicago Blackhawks would fire Jeremy Colliton earlier in the season but it is starting to look like a smart decision not to.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a difficult decision when they fired Joel Quenneville early in the 2018-19 season. That probably wasn’t the right decision but Jeremy Colliton has done well in an almost impossible role. He had to fill the shoes of a legendary coach in the cities history and he has handled that pressure admirably. He may or may not be the answer in the long term but he is doing a decent job in the present.
They could have easily fired Colliton earlier this season when things were looking extremely bleak. In fact, the new system that he tried to implement over the summer was clearly not working. Instead of being stubborn and sticking to it, Colliton made a change. He went back to what made the Blackhawks successful at certain points last season. That is playing a run and gun style game while getting some good goaltending.
The Blackhawks don’t have the roster anymore to play a system that is worried about shot suppression at the expense of their own offense. There are some elite scoring chance generators on this team and they need to take advantage. Most coaches would have been hard in their ways but Jeremy Colliton made a change. He deserves credit for that.
There is a lot of speculation about John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets or Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins being the frontrunners for the Jack Adams Trophy as the league’s top coach, but if the Hawks make the playoffs then Jeremy Colliton should at least get some consideration. That award usually goes to a coach of a team that far exceeds expectations. From where the Hawks were early in December, being three points out is definitely exceeding expectations.
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Not firing Colliton was one of only a few smart decisions by Stan Bowman. He deserves to see this season out. If the organization feels that they need to clean house over the summer then they should do that. For now, Jeremy deserves his chance. He is clearly a smart guy that continues to improve this team as time goes on.