The Blackhawks coach chose his words carefully after a 3-0 loss to Boston on Tuesday. But the former rugged defensemen was clearly displeased with his team's fight and focus in one-on-one battles.
Luke Richardson had a 21-year career as a rugged NHL defenseman after being drafted in the first round, seventh overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1987.
Chicago was outshot 43-23 and outworked by Boston. Goalie Petr Mrazek helped keep it close.He ran up 2,055 penalty minutes. The Ottawa native dropped his gloves and duked it out with an opponent at least 119 times, according to hockeyfights.com.
Now in his second year as the Chicago Blackhawks coach, Richardson said he wants to see more fight and focus from his players after they were blanked by the Boston Bruins, 3-0, on Tuesday. Chicago was outplayed and out-gritted in its third straight loss and fell to 2-5-0.
"I find the other teams, not outwork us work-ethic wise, but I want to say the hardness of the work," Richardson said. "Like the physical one-on-one battles, and we've got to work on that."
The fix?
"Battle drills, Richardson said. "If you don't do it in a game, you've got to do it in practice. And that's just the work ethic in any sport." See video.
Although Richardson used to let loose on the ice, he's never been a wild man off it. As a player, he'd answer reporters' questions measuredly, almost stoically, after an emotional, fight-filled game.
While he was displeased Tuesday, Richardson was calm and chose words carefully. This was no rant, no Orval Tessier meltdown.
And it's 2023. The words and approaches that coaches used when Richardson graduated from the OHL Peterborough Petes to the NHL probably wouldn't motivate current younger NHLers.
So the sliding Blackhawks will got Wednesday off. When they returned to practice on Thursday, there was some structured banging and shoving. Connor Bedard gets wrestled to the ice in the following video.
The Blackhawks need to bear down, engage and push through in one-on-one battles, coverage and even around the net. Chicago may be rebuilding, but needs to be better.
Maybe a little hungrier, a little less soft – even if Richardson didn't use those words.
"I'm kind of at the point, I'm tired." he said. "One year's enough that we're a hard-working team. We want to push for more this year."
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