Mark Eaton began to grasp that, too. Eaton had just been moved over from his job as Blackhawks assistant general manager of player development to be the Rockford IceHogs head coach in the AHL.

Nightingale takes over for interim coach Mark Eaton, who filled in as a first-time coach when the Hawks promoted Anders Sörensen to interim coach in Chicago on Dec. 5 after firing Luke Richardson.