Blackhawks coaching candidates: David Carle? Anders Sörensen? Jay Woodcroft?

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All has been quiet around the Chicago Blackhawks’ coaching search.

What that means is unclear. Something usually leaks in coaching searches and it hasn’t with the Blackhawks. There is some speculation that general manager Kyle Davidson is either taking his time setting up interviews or has already zeroed in on his candidate(s).

When Davidson last spoke to the media April 17, he was open to discussing his search, but he also didn’t provide much in details.

“We’ve thought about that quite a bit,” Davidson said of the search. “I don’t know how slow or fast. I think it’s just kind of getting a feel for different candidates and different people we’ll want to talk to and make sure we feel good. When we feel like we’re in a good spot, then we’ll see who that next head coach is, whether it’s Anders (Sörensen) or an external candidate. But, yeah, something we think about all the time and talk about quite a bit. I’m excited to dig into that.”

As Davidson digs, here are nine candidates, including Sörensen, who could be in the mix for the Blackhawks’ position.

David Carle

Carle is the hottest name on the coaching circuit. Between his success at the college level with Denver and internationally at the World Junior Championship with Team USA, the 35-year-old Carle has created a lot of hype around his potential in the NHL. The thought is that Carle could be the ideal coach for an up-and-coming team such as the Blackhawks, as he could potentially marry development and winning.

The Blackhawks have spent plenty of time watching Carle’s teams in action the past few years, with forward prospect Aidan Thompson, a 2022 third-round pick, playing at Denver. Something that helped Thompson in his development was Carle’s emphasis on one-timers. Carle found that a majority of goals are scored from one-timers and made that a priority in practice. Another Carle coaching philosophy is winning at least three of the following categories in every game: the special teams battle, winning 55 percent or more of the faceoffs, giving up three or fewer odd-man rushes, taking zero bad or undisciplined penalties and winning the net-front battle.

With most of these coaches, the Blackhawks likely have to commit plenty of money and term. Any coach coming into Chicago will want that security, knowing it could be at least a few seasons before the Blackhawks turn the corner. Carle has already proved he isn’t leaving Denver for just any NHL job. He has to really believe it is what’s best for him. The Blackhawks are going to have to sell him.

Todd Nelson

Nelson doesn’t have much NHL experience, coaching in just 51 games during the 2014-15 season, but he has had a ton of success in the AHL as a head coach and spent time as an assistant in the NHL. He’s someone who probably will get another NHL look at some point.

The success of Spencer Carbery in Washington (and even Ryan Warsofsky in San Jose) could inspire NHL front offices to look closely at the AHL for the next up-and-coming coach. Nelson helped rebuild Connor McMichael’s game in Hershey and has coached three Calder Cup championships, including back-to-back ones in Hershey. What stands out about Nelson is his ability to adapt his coaching style to his surroundings and that he encourages his team to play to its offensive strengths as long as it can play a defensively responsible game. That should appeal to a Blackhawks team with high-end offensive talent and serious defensive issues.

Jay Pandolfo

Carle isn’t the only college coach who might get a few phone calls from NHL teams. Pandolfo doesn’t have the national championship that Carle has, but he has been consistently successful at Boston University since taking over the program in 2022. The Terriers reached the Frozen Four for the last three seasons, which included losing in the championship game this season. He also spent time with the Boston Bruins, first in player development and then as an assistant for five seasons.

Like Carle, there is an assumption that it would take something significant for Pandolfo to leave Boston University. He’s got the program rolling and continues to attract top talent.

Brad Shaw

Shaw may have minimal head-coaching experience, but he has made a name for himself as an expert assistant and associate coach.

Shaw spent 10 years with the Blues, where he developed the team’s defensive core. He worked with the likes of Alex Pietrangelo, Barret Jackman and Jay Bouwmeester to develop the team’s identity and shutdown play. Then he joined John Tortorella’s staff in Columbus, where he primarily focused on defense and the penalty kill. He held a similar position under Tortorella in Philadelphia. In both of those experiences, he helped a blue line play greater than the sum of its parts and was the architect of the power kill in short-handed situations.

Some coaches are built for assistant jobs — their handle on the tactical side of the game translates better in that role versus a head-coaching position. But Shaw looks ready for the next step, thanks to his strategic thinking and communication.

Jay Leach

Just how much does experience matter in the Blackhawks’ coaching search? That may determine whether Leach is on management’s radar.

Leach was promoted to head coach of the Penguins’ AHL affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, after Mike Sullivan got the bump to the big club in 2015. Then he spent five years as head coach of the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in Providence. But his NHL resume is primarily in an assistant capacity.

Leach was a part of the Seattle Kraken’s inaugural coaching staff, where he helped build a solid defense of misfit Seattle defenders, including Vince Dunn, who emerged as a top-pair defender with his new team. That defensive strength helped Seattle reach the playoffs in Year 2. But after changes behind the bench last offseason, Leach moved back to Boston — this time as an assistant under Jim Montgomery. He stayed on staff after the Montgomery dismissal and worked under Joe Sacco the rest of the year.

His defensive acumen and ability to communicate with young players are a plus for a rebuilding team such as Chicago. Leach is the kind of coach who can grow with a team, but sometimes teams prefer certainty over potential.

Anders Sörensen spent 56 games as the interim coach this season. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Anders Sörensen

Sörensen will be considered after being the Blackhawks’ interim coach for 56 games. His interim run probably didn’t go as well as he and Davidson had hoped. The Blackhawks were better in some areas under him, most notably offensive production, and worse in others, like goals against. They went 17-30-9 under Sörensen, giving him a slightly better points percentage than Luke Richardson. The Blackhawks’ young players did seem to like playing for him and had stretches where they performed well under him.

“I thought he did a really nice job,” Davidson said after the season. “It was a tough spot to come into. A little bit of a team that was obviously struggling, which was why we made the coaching change, but also a team in transition. We’re transitioning from an extremely veteran roster at the start of the year — it didn’t work, it didn’t click — and as we went on with the season, there was a transition to much younger players and a much younger roster and giving some exposure and experience to some younger players. That transition in itself is not easy for any team or any coach, but especially for one coming in partway through and has to deal with that and coach through that. That’s something I think he did quite well.

“We saw some ups and downs in his time as the coach over the last year. I think the one thing is we really finished off strong. The young players in particular seemed to really find their footing towards the end. That’s a credit to him. I thought he did a really nice job in a tough spot.”

Sörensen might not be the Blackhawks’ top target in their search, but he’s probably ahead of a lot of people. If the Blackhawks don’t hit on someone they really want, Sörensen could be their backup option. If that’s the case, he could still grow into the position or the Blackhawks could go looking for someone else down the line.

Marco Sturm

Whether it’s Nelson or Marco Sturm, the question is whether the Blackhawks would hire an AHL coach over Sörensen. Nelson has some NHL head-coaching experience and Sturm has been an NHL assistant, but their current position is the same as where Sörensen was.

Sturm, 46, has a different coaching background from the other candidates in that he began coaching in his native Germany and then worked his way over to North America. He was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings for four seasons and has been the AHL head coach of their affiliate, the Ontario Reign, for the past three seasons. He has received some NHL head coaching bites already, too. He was among the candidates for San Jose last year.

Rick Tocchet

Tocchet’s availability depends on how the situation with Vancouver unfolds. The Canucks did not exercise a one-year option on his deal and are instead looking to sign their head coach to a new contract. If the two sides can’t come to an agreement, then teams with vacancies can try to sign him.

Tocchet gets credit for fueling the Canucks’ turnaround. Vancouver was one of the best regular-season teams in 2023-24 and made it two rounds in the 2024 postseason. The question is how much the coach deserves credit in this instance, especially after a total collapse this season. The Canucks’ power-play scoring and goaltending did a lot of the heavy lifting last year, but the team did improve defensively as the season went on.

This year’s fiasco in Vancouver does hurt his stock. While he shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame for the Canucks’ shortcomings, his role as head coach is more as a manager of the room than tactician, and he didn’t fulfill it. Should the Blackhawks chalk that up to a management and roster issue, or a coaching problem?

If Chicago’s management feels it’s the former, then maybe Tocchet will be on their radar. With the right assistant coaches, his leadership could get this team going after a disappointing season. But the key to his success may depend on who he surrounds himself with on the bench.

Jay Woodcroft

Woodcroft might be the most intriguing candidate with NHL experience. There’s sort of an unknown about him as a coach. He coached only one full NHL season with the Edmonton Oilers, but his resume is solid with a .643 points percentage in 133 regular-season games and 14 wins in 28 playoff games. He was fired by the Oilers after 13 games in the 2023-24 season when he started 3-9-1.

Woodcroft helped channel the best that the Oilers had to offer in 2022-23. But after losing to Vegas in Round 2 of the 2023 playoffs, the coaching staff decided to shake up the team’s defensive tactics and shift from man-on-man coverage to zone defense — and that is where trouble started. Woodcroft and his staff struggled to employ that strategy, and the goaltending gave them zero grace. Management didn’t tweak the roster to fit those tactical changes, either.

But sometimes, time away is exactly what a coach needs. It allows them to get a better perspective of what works around the NHL (and elsewhere) and reflect on what went wrong in their last experience. Sometimes, that can lead to positive changes, versus a coach who gets dismissed from one gig and hired to another days later.

(Top photo of David Carle: David Reginek  / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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