Senators Part Ways with Luke Richardson
Richardson to pursue other opportunities after four seasons as head coach of Binghamton Senators
Binghamton Senators' head coach Luke Richardson will not be behind the bench for the organization next season, as he has come to a mutual agreement with the organization to vacate the position to pursue a new NHL opportunity. This allows Ottawa Senators' GM Pierre Dorion to continue to start anew, with his front office clean-up within the organization beginning from top to bottom. Richardson confirmed that the opportunity will be elsewhere, as he is not on Ottawa's list for one of the vacant coaching positions.
The former, long-time NHL defenseman leaves with a 156-120-31 record after 304 games, covering four seasons as head coach of the BSens. It was Richardson's first coaching job outside of being an assistant in Ottawa for two seasons prior to.
2012-13 Binghamton Senators AHL Head 76 44 24 0 8 0.632 Lost in round 1
2013-14 Binghamton Senators AHL Head 76 44 24 0 8 0.632 Lost in round 1
2014-15 Binghamton Senators AHL Head 76 34 34 0 8 0.500 Out of Playoffs
2015-16 Binghamton Senators AHL Head 76 31 38 0 7 0.447 Out of Playoffs
Richardson was put to the challenge early on in his first losing season with Binghamton in 2015-'16, as things didn't work out with several key players. What followed was some personal changes throughout the course of the season to help right the ship, that was utterly drowning.
If anything, he relied on some brute strength to be his leaders that didn't necessarily pan out, as the team played undisciplined hockey for the majority of the journey this season. Also, there wasn't much depth to begin with, and Richardson did the best he could with what he had.
Richardson had a hand with the development of players that eventually evolved into NHL'ers today, including the likes of Mark Stone, Shane Prince, Mike Hoffman, Jakob Silfverberg, Mark Borowiecki and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to name a few.
His only knock in my book, and it's a big one, was not advancing in the post-season after two straight, first round eliminations from 2012-'14, with only one win to brag about, yet on a loaded Senator line-up that should've went deeper.
No word was given on the fate of Steve Stirling.
But I look forward to a new beginning, starting with opening night in the fall of 2016, with a fresh, new clean slate.
*Cover Pic Courtesy of @AliciaS20