Anders Sorensen Has 29 Games Under His Belt, How Are Things Looking?

With Luke out, Rockford IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen was promoted as interim head coach of the Blackhawks. 29 games later, how are things going?

Other than more goals, the underlying numbers are the same. That's because this team's problem since day one of the 2024 season has been a roster construction issue.

Firing Luke Richardson was somewhat necessary to shake things up and I believe the primary reason for his firing was the stagnation of Connor Bedard's point production. 

Anders Sorensen gives young players more freedom to play their game... sometimes (see the 1-1-3 example below).

Richardson fit Bedard into a system instead of letting him play his game. 

So, how have things looked since the coaching change?

Stats

If fancy stats intimidate you, here's Natural Stat Tricks glossary. 

Through 29 games Anders Sorensen's record is 9-15-5, 23 points, and a .397 points percentage (PTS%). Luke coached 26 games before getting canned and had a record of 8-16-2, 18 points, and a .346 PTS%.

Looking at the Blackhawks 5-on-5 statistics, this team doesn't look different other than shooting percentage and save percentage. But why should it? If the root of the problem is roster construction, not much will change.

Luke Richardson played a very conservative game with low-event hockey. A narrative that's been pushed out is that Anders Sorensen plays a more "open" style that facilitates offense. 

That isn't true. 

The only systemic changes Sorensen implemented were offensive zone (OZ) pressure involving defensemen, and a forward being able to cheat in the defensive zone (DZ). Sorensen has used the 2-1-2 forecheck more frequently, but the 1-2-2 is implemented situation-dependent. 

This team still plays conservative hockey when there's a lead (because they need to) and they often play a 1-1-3 in the neutral zone. Feb. 8th's game against the Blues is a great cross-section of the Blackhawks' play style. At the 8:50 mark, the first line is in a 1-1-3 formation with a 2-0 lead against the Blues. The Hawks regroup, dump, go into a 1-1-3, rinse, and repeat.

We're dangerously crossing into couch-coaching waters, so I'll stick to numbers to make my point.

Let's look at rates, we'll see that this team still generates about the same as it did before the coaching change. And once again, the difference is that more goals are going in.

What about Bedard?

His individual numbers haven't changed too much either. Bedard is generating 12 shot attempts and 5 shots on goal per 60 minutes under Sorensen, those were 13 and 7 respectively under Luke. His individual expected goals per 60 is .74 under Sorensen, it was .45 under Luke. 

The biggest thing is that Bedard has 30 points in his last 29 games, he only had 19 under Luke's 26 games. 

Sorensen lets Bedard, and other young players, play with a lot more freedom. Not total freedom, Bedard in the above screenshot is in a 1-1-3. That's not going to create a lot of offense. 

So while the overarching "system" is pretty much the same, Sorensen isn't fitting the young players to a rigid system. 

And some puck luck goes a long way.