Chicago fires head coach Gerald Gallant

The Chicago Blackhawks, after a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, found themselves in a 3-6-2 funk over their past ten games. Thoughts of competing for the Central Division title have been replaced with just making it to the post-season, as Chicago now sits 13 points out of the division lead and just four points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets, who occupy the top non-playoff spot in the Gretzky Conference.

Those thoughts were unacceptable to general manager Thomas Gidlow, who fired Gerald Gallant, the only coach the Blackhawks have known in the EHE, early on Saturday morning.

"Gerald is the kind of coach any team would want," said Gidlow. "He's a tough but fair guy who gets the most out of his players. This isn't about the coach - it's about these players and the expectations we have here."

"This is meant to send a message to the guys in our locker room. Failure isn't an option here. Every team goes through slumps, but we've been sliding for a while now, and hopefully, this change will wake us up."

Gallant, 55, has amassed a 193-142-20 record over five seasons in Chicago, taking the club to the playoffs in each season except for the 2016-17 campaign. Beloved by the fans and his players alike, the move is sure to send shockwaves in and around United Center.

"To be honest, it really sucks," said alternate captain Jordan Staal. "Coach Gallant is a great leader and a good mentor for the guys. But it's on us in the room and on the ice to be better than we've been, so we need to use this as motivation to go out there and prove we're as good as we feel we can be."

Early reports have indicated the Hawks have reached out to several potential candidates about the new coaching vacancy and plan to fill the role as early as Saturday night.

"Am I shocked? Nothing shocks me in this business much anymore," said Gallant. "Listen, we're all here until we aren't, and we can only do the best we can night in and night out. We aren't where we need to be just yet, I think that's fairly obvious. So that falls to myself and my staff. We've had the tools to be a real contender, and we've just been a bit flat in some big games this season."

"I'm not happy it came to this, but it's the nature of the business."

Chicago has back-to-back contests on Sunday (at home against San Jose) and Monday (at Columbus), the latter of which starts a four-game road trip that concludes with three games in California (San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim).

"We've got 21 games left to find out just what kind of team we have here," stated Gidlow. "We can only make so many changes before it gets back on the players' shoulders. It's up to them to take us where we need to be, and sometimes management has to send a little reminder like this."

"We all wish Coach Gallant nothing but the best and expect it won't be long before he's back coaching in this league again."