Three Candidates For Canadiens To Replace Luke Richardson

The Montreal Canadiens lost a key and beloved member of their coaching staff Friday when assistant coach Luke Richardson was hired as the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Luke Richardson, who was confirmed to have been in the second round of interviews for the position with Chicago, was able to secure the role of head coach in the Windy City. Richardson has been around the NHL for a while now, spending nine seasons as an NHL assistant coach with the Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders. He was also a head coach in the American Hockey League for Binghamton Senators for four years.

During his time in Montreal, Richardson has been primarily responsible for the defensive units for the Canadiens. During last year’s 2021 NHL Playoffs, he was even tasked with temporary head coach duties during the Western Conference Finals, due to then-head coach Dominique Ducharme testing positive for Covid-19.

So with Richardson gone, who could come in and work with a Montreal Canadiens blue line that is getting younger and younger?

Montreal Hockey Now called on one of our NHL Executive sources for suggestions and here are the three candidates, not in the Canadiens organization already, that he suggested:

Kevin Dean

Kevin Dean was recently fired by the Boston Bruins – ironically by former Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, who was fired himself by the Bruins just two weeks later – after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach. Dean, was also the head coach of the Bruins’ AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, for the 2016-17 season and an assistant under Cassidy the previous five seasons in Providence. Like Richardson, Dean was in charge of the Bruins’ defense and helped filter in players like Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk before they became regulars on the Bruins’ blue line. According to the aforementioned source, Dean has met with some NHL teams already regarding their open spots for an assistant coach to run their defense.

Ulf Samuelsson

If the Montreal Canadiens don’t want to spice up the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry a bit by bringing in Dean, they could still do so by bringing in one of the most hated NHLers ever for Bruins fans and specifically for Bruins team president Cam Neely.

After an 1,080-game NHL career that saw him win two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and also patrol the blue lines of the Hartford Whalers, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers, Samuelsson entered the coaching ranks in 2005-06 as an assistant with Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack. From there, he moved on to become an associate coach with the Phoenix Coyotes for the next five seasons. After his time in the desert, Samuelsson spent three seasons as an assistant with the Rangers, one as head coach of the Charlotte Checkers (AHL), two as an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks and the last two running the blue line for the defending President’s Trophy champions, the Florida Panthers.

Like Dean, Samuelsson has no shortage of suitors for his services.

Charlie Huddy

Charlie Huddy was an integral part of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty as a defenceman on all five of the Oilers’ Stanley Cup winners and had 99 goals and 354 assists in 1017 games as an NHL defenceman. In addition to the Oilers, Huddy played for the Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues. Following his lengthy career as a player, Huddy entered the coaching ranks as an assistant with the New York Rangers in 1998-99. After two seasons on Broadway, Huddy moved back to Edmonton for eight seasons as an assistant. He then spent two seasons in the same capacity on to the Dallas Stars bench before spending the last 11 with the Winnipeg Jets.