This former Chicago Blackhawks head coach is back with the team

The Chicago Blackhawks have named the assistant coaches for the 2022-23 season. They are bringing back former interim head coach Derek King as an assistant which is actually pretty cool. He did the best job that he can do with the awful circumstances he was placed in last year.

King took over for Jeremy Colliton after their brutal start to the 2021-22 season. From there, at minimum, they played competitive hockey that made life hard on their opponents from time to time. Derek King brought in really nice energy.

It seemed fairly obvious, however, that the Hawks were going to hire a new coach from the outside. Luke Richardson is going to be the guy in the long term. King is going to assist them in their efforts to develop some of these young players into NHL-caliber players.

This is a move that is likely a popular one with the players on the Blackhawks that return from the year prior. It seems like they enjoyed playing for him. Although it wasn’t enough for them to go on a run, the team did change a little bit for the better once King was the lead man behind the bench.

The  Chicago Blackhawks are bringing back their former coach to be an assistant.

In addition to Derek King, Kevin Dean will also be an assistant coach. Jimmy Waite will be the goaltending coach and Matt Meacham is going to be the video coach.

This group is going to have a whole different look in terms of the players and the coaches need to be ready. This is not a playoff team nor should they be expected to be. It is all about building the organization back from the ground up.

Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach were traded, Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Connolly were bought out, and both Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik did not receive qualifying offers so they are free agents as of Wednesday. Those are some really impactful players headed out the door.

Clearly, this is a team that believes in rebuilding it. They are definitely a team that wants to have a really high pick in what is a loaded draft. With the right coaching staff, they will be able to tread water and have a good developmental year while reaching their goals.

Derek King is sure to be a big part of it all. It was honestly nice to see him return as he was put in a bad spot after Colliton was fired. With the new group around him, he should be able to help this team succeed.