CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks announced Saturday that head coach Jeremy Colliton has been fired after a 1-9-2 start.
Derek King, previously the head coach of the Rockford IceHogs, has been named the interim head coach, effective immediately.
The organization also announced that Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank have been relieved of their coaching duties. The team will retain Marc Crawford, Jimmy Waite, Matt Meacham, Dylan Crawford and Chris Kunitz on the coaching staff.
Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz offered the following statement:
“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. 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. On the ice, Interim General Manager Kyle Davidson has our full confidence and autonomy to make hockey decisions, and we support him on this coaching change. We appreciate all that Jeremy has brought to the Blackhawks, and we look forward to working with Derek as our interim head coach while we work to rebuild our permanent hockey operations leadership.”
Upon being appointed interim head coach, Derek King said the following:
“This team has a lot of talent—talent that I am familiar with from my time in the organization—and I look forward to working with them behind the bench. I appreciate the support from Kyle Davidson and Danny Wirtz through this process and I cannot wait to get going. I understand my role and position and ready to do the work necessary to help the organization succeed.”
