Chicago Blackhawks fans and media react to Jeremy Colliton firing
The Chicago Blackhawks have fired coach Jeremy Colliton after a disastrous start to the season, his fourth behind the bench.
After a 1-9-2 start to the season, the Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Jeremy Colliton and assistant coached Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank. Derek King was named the interim head coach. He was coaching the AHL affiliate Rockford IceHogs.
Only the winless Arizona Coyotes with one point have fewer points than the four by the Blackhawks. It has been an ugly start to the season for the franchise that is far removed from their time annually competing for the Stanley Cup.
The organization has been embroiled in turmoil stemming from the mishandling of the sexual misconduct endured by Kyle Beach which resulted in the resignation of general manager Stan Bowman.
Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz released a statement about the latest change for the organization:
"“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.”"
Chicago Blackhawks fans and media members react to the firing of Colliton
Blackhawks fans, beat writers and PR folks less than one month (one month!) into the 2021-22 NHL season: pic.twitter.com/azzvZ1GOtO
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 6, 2021
This was Jeremy Colliton's fourth season as the Blackhawks' coach. Not one was a full season.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 6, 2021
– Midseason replacement
– The Pause
– The COVID season
– Fired
Time for some personal thoughts.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 6, 2021
I really liked Jeremy Colliton as a person. He was great with the media, giving intelligent quotes in response to even the dumbest questions. During training camp this year, we even got a quick glimpse of him opening up his sense of humor.
Exactly three years into tenure, #Blackhawks fire Jeremy Colliton. Right move. Colliton never distinguished himself positively, presiding over tumultuous phase. Always tough to be guy following a legend. Hawks have big issues off ice but couldn’t let on-ice failure go unchecked.
— David Haugh (@DavidHaugh) November 6, 2021
I feel bad for Jeremy Colliton. He was put in an impossible situation this season. #Blackhawks
— Chicago (@ChiTownSports) November 6, 2021
Thank you @NHLBlackhawks
— Astro Jaguar (@astrojaguar) November 6, 2021
You have issues
Lots of issues
So many issues.
But it's a start.
About time.
— John Lachmann (@RedNBlackhawks) November 6, 2021
In parts of four seasons, Colliton was 86-83-24 with the Blackhawks, including a 4-5 record in the postseason. The Blackhawks made the expanded postseason during the 2019-2020 COVID-affected season, beating the Edmonton Oilers in the first round before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.