Chicago Blackhawks' Luke Richardson Makes Major Lineup Changes Before Matchup vs Minnesota Wild

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Joshua Deeds
November 9, 2024 (1:49 PM)

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Head Coach Luke Richardson and The Chicago Blackhawks have brought out the line blender again.

Today, the Blackhawks have made major lineup changes involving the fourth line. Instead, Ilya Mikheyev who was flanking Ryan Donato on the left against the Stars will be a healthy scratch tomorrow.

Mikheyev was brought to Chicago in the offseason to add meaningful depth to the ranks of a thin Blackhawks forward core.

But, it looks like he's continued to struggle as he's only put up 2 points( 1 G, 1 A) in 15 games for the Hawks.

Last season with the Canucks in 78 games he scored 31 points( 11 G, 20 A) and found himself in the Canucks top six often. But was unable to take advantage of the opportunity to solidify himself in the lineup.

Luke Richardson complimented his play this past week:

Richardson said, "He's an aggressive guy out there at times and very intense...I love the competitive nature and he's starting to produce a little bit of offense as well as being really responsible defensively." Both of Mikheyev's points have come in the last four games and the team has won three of those games to pull out of the bottom of the league.

But is his play passing the eye test?

MoneyPuck'sadvanced stats give us an idea of how he performs, and he was best placed on a line with Jason Dickinson, and Ryan Donato. Who excelled on the ice with anCF% of 51.4.

The stat's main objective is to track shot differential. Corsi takes shot attempts, missed shots, and blocked shots along with shots on goal into account both on offence and defence. It's essentially a plus/minus tracker for shots that tries to communicate how often a player spends time in the offensive zone vs the defensive zone through the use of shots, thus indicating the puck possession of the team while the player is on ice.

Is this a case of Luke Richardson's blender breaking up chemistry, and a line which had a great chance of producing? Or is it just a case of player doing badly.

It could be both if we examine it through an objective lens.

Either way, Mikheyev hasn't played up to expectations on the fourth line and will ride pine in the press box.