A Look At Anders Sorensen's Tenure As Head Coach And Draft Lottery Talk
Anders Sorensen's tenure as head coach and some talk about the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery.
Happy Monday.
The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery is tonight, and I have some thoughts. I also have some thoughts about Anders Sorensen’s time as head coach for the Blackhawks. Hopefully, this will shed light on whether the Blackhawks should pursue him in the event they can’t find their guy.
Anders Sorensen
The Blackhawks fired Luke Richardson on Dec. 5, 2024, and placed the Rockford IceHogs head coach, Anders Sorensen, in the interim seat. 56 games later, the Blackhawks finished the season in 31st place.
You can read about the details on Sorensen’s time as head coach in the link below. I broke down some analytics, tactics, and in-game decisions.
Towards the end of the season, I thought Sorensen made a strong case for not being a realistic candidate for the Blackhawks’ head coaching spot. As their offseason kicked off, their top candidate for the head coaching spot removed himself from consideration. David Carle would have been an interesting coach for this team.
But there are still options out there. It’s not as dry as we think it is.
And I’m still worried the Blackhawks may sign Sorensen to a short-term deal and sell him as the coach to bridge the gap (which was what Luke Richardson was).
But let’s save my fear-mongering for later. Be optimistic that the Hawks’ front office will make the best decision this summer.
The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery
Tonight, the NHL world will find out who’s picking No. 1 in the 2025 NHL Draft. And I hope it’s not the Blackhawks.
The lottery starts at 6 pm CT and will air on ESPN and Sportsnet. This is the first of its kind, as fans will get to see the lottery balls bounce live. Normally, this is held in private but aired following the live reveal. You can read more about how the lottery works and where to watch it in the link above.
Winning the lottery this year means the Blackhawks won’t be eligible to win the draft next year when the consensus No. 1 pick has already been named. Connor Bedard’s cousin, Gavin McKenna, is already at the top of next year’s class. If the Blackhawks get the No. 2 or 3, there are still some decent forwards to draft this year. Or Kyle Davidson can get wild and trade that pick to acquire an established player.
This week will most likely be some draft talk following the lottery. We’ll see if there’s any movement in the coaching wheelhouse. But I won’t revisit that until there’s more concrete news.
Other than that, it should be a quiet week in terms of Blackhawks news. Watch playoff hockey, it’s been insane.