SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When the Blackhawks replaced future Hall of Famer Joel Quenneville with 33-year-old rookie head coach Jeremy Colliton in early November, there was an obvious sense that it would take some time for everybody to adjust and adapt to a new voice and new system.
During that adjustment period, the Blackhawks were 3-12-2 in Colliton's first 17 games as head coach, which included an eight-game losing streak where they gave up 4.86 goals per game and an 11-game span where they were outscored by 21 in the first period alone.
It was a challenging time, to put it lightly.