The Chicago Blackhawks have fired head coach Jeremy Colliton following a slow
1-9-2 start to their 2021-22 season.
In addition, the Blackhawks have also relieved assistant coaches Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank of their duties, and they named Derek King as the team's interim head coach.
Currently, the Blackhawks organization is dealing with a sexual assault scandal following allegations against one of their former employees from 2010. This has led to the resignation of former Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville with the Florida Panthers and the team receiving a $2M fine from the league.
“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 CEO Danny Wirtz said. “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".
Chicago is an abysmal 87-92-26 in nearly three seasons under the direction of the 36-year-old Colliton, making the playoffs only in 2019-20.
Colliton had signed a two-year contract extension with Chicago in January.
Chicago had promoted Colliton from the IceHogs upon firing Joel Quenneville on Nov. 6, 2018 – exactly three years before Saturday’s moves.
Derek King has been the head coach of the Blackhawks AHL affiliate Rockford since April 2019. He previously worked as an assistant of the IceHogs from 2016-18, and served as interim coach through the 2018-19 season.
It will be interesting to see how this move will impact the Chicago Blackhawks as they look to save their collapsing season.
