The Chicago Blackhawks were one of the NHL's worst teams last season, and their general manager is talking about a potentially long rebuilding process. They are listening to trade offers for their top goal scorer, and the situation at goaltender is murky at best.

Enter Luke Richardson.

"I like a challenge and I'm ready for it," Richardson said.

The Blackhawks think so, too, and that's why they hired Richardson as the 40th coach in franchise history. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning fell short of the first Stanley Cup three-peat since 1983 -- but they don't believe their dynasty has crumbled.

"Who said we're done?" Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said after his team's 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday night. "This core is here. We've battled. We've been through everything you can think of and, for the most part, we've found a way to come out on top."

Zdeno Chara is not ready to decide on his NHL future and will do so in September, his agent told The Boston Globe.

The 45-year-old defenseman played for the New York Islanders this season, his 24th in the NHL, and can become an unrestricted free agent July 13.

"He's going to take the summer with his family and assess where he's at physically, where his family's at, and make a decision in September," agent Matt Keator told the Globe in comments published Saturday. "No rush."

Barry Trotz will not coach in the NHL next season, saying he's certain he's not in a position to give the time and commitment required to do any job to his standard.
In an exclusive interview with NHL.com on Friday, the 59-year-old said he wrestled long and hard with the decision about taking another job in the League since being fired by the New York Islanders on May 9. He determined that it is time to put family and personal matters first.

"I've got some things personally that I've got to take care of, family-wise that I've got to take care of," Trotz said Friday. "I didn't feel… if I'd said I'll take the job, I think I would have done any team a little bit of a disservice and myself a disservice because to be a coach in the NHL, it is demanding and it requires your all. It just does, emotionally it just does, mentally it just does. So I couldn't go down that path.

"It doesn't mean I'm not going to coach. Just not going to coach right now."

Oddsmakers believe the Colorado Avalanche are on the verge of a dynasty.

The Avalanche went wire to wire as the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season, and they have already been installed as the favorites by sportsbooks to lift the Cup next season too.

The Avalanche, who finished off the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday with a 2-1 win in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, are the favorites at 6-1 for next season at Caesars Sportsbook. The Lightning are next at 8-1 and are the only other team with single-digit opening odds heading into an offseason with a deep pool of impactful free agents.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar wasn't happy about a controversial penalty call in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday that helped determine the Avalanche's fate in a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay.

Bednar's team led the series 3-1 entering Game 5 with a chance to hoist the Cup on home ice. The Lightning earned a victory in part because of a tripping infraction levied against Cale Makar in the second period, leading to a 4-on-3 power-play goal from Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov.

That wound up being the difference in Friday's outcome, which didn't sit well with Bednar.

Colorado has a chance to clinch its first Stanley Cup since 2001 with a victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 on Friday, and the Avalanche are managing their emotions accordingly.

Instead of shying away from the naturally occurring nerves, coach Jared Bednar is encouraging his players to use those as fuel to be at their best come puck drop.

 "You always hear about controlled emotion. I'm kind of the opposite with our team," Bednar said on Friday. "Besides running around and getting out of our game plan, I want us to use our energy and nervous energy and emotion to go play the game with passion, play hard and stay on our toes and getting after it. That's my message to our team, has been all year. I want to harness that. I want our team to get on the attack."

The Tampa Bay Lightning know their quest for a Stanley Cup three-peat is one loss to the Colorado Avalanche away from ending.

"There are no tomorrows now. Like this is it, and so there's no more mulligans. We've got to pull this one out," said head coach Jon Cooper, ahead of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday in Denver.

Luke Richardson is expected to become the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, an NHL source confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

Richardson would replace interim coach Derek King, who went 27-33-10 after taking over for Jeremy Colliton 12 games into the season. Richardson, an assistant coach for the Montreal Canadiens, was offered the head-coaching job this week, sources said.

Jared Bednar said there was "nothing" to the controversy surrounding Nazem Kadri's game-winning goal in the Colorado Avalanche's 3-2 overtime victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday.

Kadri scored midway through the extra frame to give the Avalanche a 3-1 series lead, with a chance to close the Lightning out in Game 5 on Friday.