Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson spent part of his day off Sunday watching the NFL playoffs.
It was mostly for fun. But he also believed it might prove applicable to the Hawks, considering they’ll get no closer to the NHL playoffs than the NFL playoffs this season. That hunch proved correct.
When Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle dropped a potential 50-yard catch in the first quarter against the Bills, then rebounded to make a crucial 25-yard catch on third down in the fourth quarter, Richardson was watching. He hoped his players were, too, and would notice how “mentally strong” Waddle was and transfer that lesson into hockey.
And when Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel took far too long to call a play on fourth down later that drive, leading to a delay-of-game penalty that essentially lost the game, Richardson was still watching. It reminded him of the importance of having plans in place beforehand for all scenarios.
“You need a mental break,” Richardson said Monday. “[Days off] are scheduled in there for those reasons. Watch some football. And sometimes that’s good, because it gives you a little reality [check] to watch other teams making mistakes or executing in a different sport. It gives [the players] a little something they can bring back to their own game.”
The mental break helped calm down Richardson, who criticized the Hawks more strongly Saturday — after a pathetic 8-5 loss to the Kraken — than at any previous point this season.
In his postgame comments, he called the team out for “a lack of mental and physical preparation” and questioned the effectiveness of their pre-game and off-day routines.
“Feeling good about yourself is a good thing,” he added. “But if you feel good about yourself and stop doing what got you there, that’s a bad thing.”
The Sunday off-day was pre-scheduled, so he could do nothing about its existence — thus the special focus on how he spent it and how he hoped his players spent it. But evidently, they spent it well. Richardson said Monday he liked the collective sense of dissatisfaction radiating around Fifth Third Arena.
“Everybody was grumpy,” he said. “They got used to winning, they got used to being smiley and happy around the rink, and they did not want to lose.”
Colin Blackwell, for one, certainly felt that way. The former Kraken forward called his effort against his former team “awful,” adding that he “didn’t influence the game in any positive ways” and “let the team down a little bit.”
Richardson canceled the Hawks’ typical morning video session, deeming their play Saturday too off-base to even justify analysis, and instead ran an intense practice with drills emphasizing one-on-one and two-on-two battles.
Afterward, he discussed some defensive-zone tactical changes in a lengthy full-team huddle, then broke them down further in small-group settings.
“A few questions came up,” he said. “Then a couple guys stayed when everybody else milled away, and they had a few more questions. It got a couple guys talking, and they go away talking, and [then] another guy stays and asks more questions. They just want to make sure they’re understanding it right, which is great. Just one question probably answers 10 questions, because other people are thinking the same thing.”
The Hawks will begin the second half of their season Tuesday, hosting the Sabres for game No. 42, before hitting the road for 13 of their next 18 games through the end of February.
Wins might be just as scarce in the second half as they were in the first half, which the Hawks finished 11-26-4. Richardson acknowledged that Monday; his players are quietly aware, as well.
But the Hawks’ unity, resilience and motivation has rarely faltered this season — in spite of their lack of success — and Richardson expects the lingering embarrassment from the Kraken gut-punch will ensure those traits return again Tuesday.
