Luke Richardson benches Philipp Kurashev, sending message to Blackhawks

With more NHL-caliber players at his disposal, Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson can distribute playing time with a more critical eye this season.

He demonstrated just how freely he’s willing to wield that hammer Monday. Philipp Kurashev, the Hawks’ second-line center in their first six games, was demoted to an extra forward in practice and likely will be a healthy scratch Tuesday against the Canucks.

“I don’t consider it my own leash,” Richardson said. “It’s [the players’] own leash, really. That’s how they have to look at it.”

The reason for the drastic change was simple enough: Richardson considered Kurashev’s performance in the Hawks’ 4-2 loss to the Sabres on Saturday unacceptable.

The way Richardson addressed it with Kurashev was reasonable — they met one-on-one Monday morning before practice to review video clips of things he did wrong — and the transparent way he explained the situation publicly was wise, too.

But this move not only shuffles the Hawks’ lineup, with Andreas Athanasiou taking Kurashev’s spot between Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi, it also sends an eye-opening message to the rest of the team about the consequences for poor play.

The days of Richardson being patient with mistakes and losses — days that aren’t too far in the past; that’s how things worked the last two seasons — are over, as players can now see.

“[Kurashev was] just not physical in the one-on-one battles to get a puck,” Richardson said. “He was on the wrong side of the man, and part of that is a subconscious choice of trying to steal a puck and go on the offense and not play the right way. He didn’t really have much argument.

“I’m not saying he was the only guy [at fault], but he’s a guy that I’ve gotten used to counting on. He can’t play like he did the last game for me to continue to count on him like that. I know he’ll use it as a wake-up call and be better.”

Kurashev’s stats are subpar. He has only one point after notching a career-high 54 last season, mostly as Connor Bedard’s first-line winger. Entering this season, one major question mark was whether Kurashev had the ability to drive his own line without Bedard. The early results aren’t encouraging.

In the last three games, he has no points, one shot on goal, a minus-four rating and two minor penalties.

In the seconds leading up to Sabres forward Tage Thompson’s opening goal, Kurashev was ineffective on a forecheck, got behind the play, then didn’t hustle on the backcheck. The Hawks did outshoot the Sabres 5-0 in his other five-on-five shifts combined, so he wasn’t getting burned regularly.

“I even talked to [Hall] today, and he said he wasn’t at his best last game,” Richardson said. “Maybe some of that leads to his linemates, like [Kurashev], not playing well.

“[Kurashev] took ownership and said, ‘I’m going to be better tomorrow.’ He doesn’t say, ‘I have to be better.’ He already knows that. We all know that.”

As a team, the Hawks appear significantly better than last season — as they should, considering the upgrades made to the roster.

Their analytics are impressive. Their 51.1% expected-goals ratio during five-on-five play ranks 14th in the NHL, and their rates of expected goals created on the power play and allowed on the penalty kill rank fourth and 11th, respectively.

They’ve been competitive in all six games, too. But it’s concerning that they have only two wins and five points, considering some regression could be imminent.

Richardson thought losing to the Sabres at home was a particularly major missed opportunity, prompting the need to “rattle the cage.”