The Chicago Blackhawks have a major offseason coming up with the top priority coming from behind the bench for the future of the franchise. Luke Richardson was relieved of his duties as head coach in December and was replaced by an interim candidate. Anders Sorensen was pulled up from Rockford to lead the team for the rest of the season and not much has changed in the win column since his tenure began.
Chicago will hold a top-four pick in this summer’s draft and the front office has money to spend if they want to pursue a top free agent on the open market like Mitch Marner. No matter what management does with their resources this offseason, it will all be for nothing if they can’t get this head coaching hire right.
An outside-the-box hire for the Blackhawks could very well be the best option available to them. It won’t be easy to take the best collegiate head coach in the country away from his current home, but Chicago might have the perfect situation for him to make the jump to the NHL.
David Carle would bring a winning mentality to Chicago
David Carle is the top college hockey coach in the nation right now, and he certainly has a future coaching in the NHL if he wants to make the leap. Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff thinks that it won’t be an easy task to get Carle to leave Denver University, but he believes that there is a world where the Blackhawks make sense as a potential landing spot for him.
“And then there’s David Carle, the winning machine, Marek wrote. “I’m told it would take a lot to get him to leave a great setup with Denver, but is there a team out there ready to make his accountant happy and bring in one of the best coaches in college hockey? Maybe a team loaded with young prospects. Could the Chicago Blackhawks make sense here?”
Carle has a 179-73-17 record in his time as the Denver head coach. He has led the program since 2018 and has a 12-2 NCAA tournament record in his tenure. Prior to being named the bench boss, Carle served as an assistant at Denver for two different stints and as an assistant for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL.
The 35-year-old is a two-time NCAA champion, as he lead Denver to glory in 2022 and 2024. Carle won the NCHC tournament in 2024 as well, and has taken home two NCHC regular season titles. There is no denying the fact that Carle is a proven winner at a high level. Despite not having any NHL experience, a winning mentality travels and he would bring a different energy behind the Blackhawks bench that they haven’t had in years.
Top Chicago Blackhawks prospects have played under David Carle
Along with working at Denver, Carle was the head coach for the U.S. National Junior Team for the last two years. He helped them bring home the gold medal both years and got to work with a few Blackhawks prospects while doing so.
Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel all played under Carle in 2024 when the team won gold in Sweden. Moore remained with USA Hockey for the most recent tournament in Ottawa where they repeated as champs by defeating Finland in the gold medal game.
Carle winning at another high level only bolsters his head coaching resume and the fact that he accomplished what he did with USA Hockey while having Chicago prospects on the roster is a bonus. It will be tough for general manager Kyle Davidson to pitch Carle on leaving his great situation at Denver, but his track record is incredible enough to the point where he needs do all that he can to recruit another young name on the rise in the hockey world to come to the Windy City.
Well-respected Chicago Blackhawks veteran nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
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