Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen will adjust systems to boost offense, emphasize speed

New Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen knows precisely what he must do to give himself a chance to earn the full-time job after the season.

"Win games," he said with a chuckle, cutting straight to the point — in classic Sorensen fashion — after overseeing his first NHL practice Friday.

That will be much easier said than done with this roster. Just-axed coach Luke Richardson wasn't doing a fantastic job this season, but it's very possible nobody else could've done much better — despite general manager Kyle Davidson’s belief that ineffective coaching has contributed to the team's struggles.

How Sorensen fares will help determine whether Davidson was right or wrong about that. Davidson said he will give his former AHL coach "autonomy to run the room and run the team as he sees fit," and that process began in earnest Friday.

The first drill of practice was a straightforward tape-to-tape passing exercise from blue line to blue line, straight out of a youth hockey handbook. The fact the Hawks' passing has been so inaccurate this season that such a drill was necessary speaks volumes.

"[Anders] was sharp to stop a drill and correct us," forward Jason Dickinson said. "We're working on some new things as a group to shake things up [and] create a little bit more energy in our attack. He stops it right away and says, 'This is what I'm seeing. This is what I want. Let's talk about it immediately and fix it. Great, let's go.'"

In Rockford, Sorensen was required to use the same systems the Hawks used so that players could transition seamlessly when called up. He had little freedom to be a tactician there. But that's no longer the case.

It sounds like his system adjustments with the Hawks are intended to increase offense. That's unsurprising, considering the team ranks 29th in the NHL in goals and 32nd in scoring chances per minute during five-on-five play this season (compared to 15th and 26th, respectively, in those same two categories defensively).

"We want to encourage our [defensemen] to be up in the rush," Sorensen said. "We need to get skating here. We have a team that can move and we have some guys that can really fly out there, so [we'll] try to play to their strength. [I'm] encouraging guys to be up the ice more and defend on the front of our foot with our forecheck...versus waiting."

A more free-flowing, offense-oriented scheme should theoretically boost struggling star Connor Bedard. Aggressiveness in the neutral zone was also emphasized in practice Friday, captain Nick Foligno said.

Sorensen said he planned to meet one-on-one with Bedard before Saturday's game against the Jets to hear Bedard's own thoughts about what could help him, but Sorensen has one big idea already: "We have to [find] a way for him to get the puck in motion."

Establishing consistency in line combinations will be another priority for Sorensen, since that's something Richardson seemingly didn't even try to achieve this fall. To start off, he has Bedard centering Philipp Kurashev and Teuvo Teravainen on the first line and Ryan Donato centering Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi on the second line; the third and fourth lines stayed the same.

"Chemistry is a big part of it," Sorensen said. "We want to try to be patient with some of the guys. But there has to be accountability, too. If you’re not playing the way we want you to play or not putting the effort in, there are times you’ll have to change the lines."