The Panthers are on the lookout for a new head coach after the team announced on Thursday that Joel Quenneville has resigned. Panthers President and CEO Matt Caldwell released the following statement:
After the release of the Jenner & Block investigative report on Tuesday afternoon, we have continued to diligently review the information within that report, in addition to new information that has recently become available. It should go without saying that the conduct described in that report is troubling and inexcusable. It stands in direct contrast to our values as an organization and what the Florida Panthers stand for. No one should ever have to endure what Kyle Beach experienced during, and long after, his time in Chicago. Quite simply, he was failed. We praise his bravery and courage in coming forward.
Following a meeting today with Commissioner Bettman at National Hockey League offices, which was part of the league’s process to decide how to move forward, Joel made the decision to resign and the Florida Panthers accepted that resignation.
The independent investigation referenced in the above statement was released on Tuesday with Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman and Senior VP of Hockey Operations Al MacIssac both leaving the organization immediately thereafter. Quenneville had previously denied being aware of the allegations having been made but the report squashed that assertion. As a result, Quenneville met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday.
Shortly following Florida’s announcement, Quenneville released a statement of his own:
With deep regret and contrition, I announce my resignation as head coach of the Florida Panthers.
I want to express my sorrow for the pain this young man, Kyle Beach, has suffered.
My former team the Blackhawks failed Kyle and I own my share of that.
I want to reflect on how all of this happened and take the time to educate myself on ensuring hockey spaces are safe for everyone.
Should Quenneville wish to return to the NHL at some point, Bettman indicated in a statement of his own that “a meeting with him in advance in order to determine the appropriate conditions under which such new employment might take place”. No further disciplinary action will be coming to the 63-year-old.
Quenneville had three years remaining on his contract (including this one) with a $5.25MM salary plus more than $1MM in bonuses, per CapFriendly. It’s unknown at this time if there is any sort of settlement agreement in place between Quenneville and the Panthers.
The Panthers are off to a hot start this season with a 7-0-0 record to sit first in the league and assistant coach Andrew Brunette will take over as interim head coach, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). A search for a permanent head coach will soon be underway.
In the meantime, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, who first reported that a change was coming, suggests that veteran bench boss John Tortorella could be a potential candidate to take over behind the bench. Florida GM Bill Zito is certainly familiar with Tortorella having been with Columbus between 2015 and 2020 and with the team performing well for a veteran head coach, it would make sense to go down that path again. Bruce Boudreau, Rick Tocchet, Claude Julien, and Mike Babcock are among the other veteran head coaches that are currently not working in the NHL at the moment.
Well yeah they should definitely do that
Will he be interviewed down for the New York Mets job
Might be the only guy left for them but on a serious note everyone needs to go. Chevyldayoff included and I’m a Jets who think he’s done a good job. Get him the hell out of there
It’s about change what happened 10,20 plus years ago should have been reported…GM’s coaches etc of any sport that knows what is being done to any player or employees that didn’t report this S*** should never ever be involved in any aspect of any sport again….Bettman is much at fault as any …maybe it’s his time to go as well…little weasel…
Apparently the NHLPA did nothing either despite it being reported to them. Incredible failure by all involved, anybody who covered it up should not be allowed back again. The old boys club needs to go.
@jdgoat
You re right. They should probably listen to your words on here. Praying for you for shedding a light on this story with your wisdom brother
Glad someone makes this point about Bettman. He cares about $$$ to the exclusion of all other considerations. His time is up.
Seriously, people were sexually molested. There lives are damaged, and you joke about it. You just showed all what a imbecile you are. Go F yourself
@cars
So glad to hear the words of wisdom from you,youre doing a great job not letting this ghoulish behavior slip through. I pray for you and your family
I don’t disagree, but I wonder why the victim himself felt the need to report a crime only to a coach rather than to the police as well. Why is Quenneville, or any other executive for that matter, fired or forced to resign for not doing what the victim himself did not do? I’m troubled, moreover, by the fact that people who commit criminal offenses seem more likely to be fired from their jobs rather than incarcerated.
Let’s not victim blame here. A young prospect whose career hangs in the hands of the organization probably thought keeping it in house and advising those in charge would be the best way to address it. Also, male victims also run through a ton of emotions and feel shame for making such an allegation in a testosterone driven business. Looking at his career this situation obviously seemed to have hindered his career trajectory.
@polish hammer to piggyback on your point most victims are just that victims and feel afraid or embarrassed to say anything. a lot of that is our culture especially if your a male that gets assaulted, because it can go many ways i.e. “what are you a cat (the p word for a cat), man up bro” or if it’s a female superior and your a male you get, “what do me mean you felt assaulted she was all over you hit that s#%^ bro what are a (insert homophobic comment here). when it comes to being the “new guy/gal” your in an even tougher spot because your new and until you become established you have no voice. it’s always easier to get rid of the new guy because that’s how we always done things than change a whole system. then again we live in a different era where stuff like this matters and either you adopt or go enjoy retirement, for better or worse (i’ll let jury decide on that) with social media and thanks to it everyone’s voices are heard more so than 20 years ago and being in an industry that relies on the public to show up you have to cater to them. now this is my opinion but if the pho/gm has to step down (and everyone underneath) maybe ownership needs to step down as well. owners can place blame all they want and claim ignorance but in essence they run the show, albeit they hire skilled people to do it for them it’s still no excuse. things like this happen in all industries because ownership for the most part burry there heads in sand and pretend nothing is happening. stuff like this happens because the head allows it because it makes money and sometimes guys underneath are left holding the bag even though all they did was listen to there boss. yes i know everyone has a morale code and they should follow it but i can tell you in my own personal experiences i had to swallow some pride and just do what i was told because well i want to “eat tonight “. i can you this i have eaten my pride a few times and did what the boss told me because of my position and the fact i couldn’t afford to lose my job, and yes i’m just as wrong as management and i applaud anyone that can walk away from any job because of morals, but for most of us we just can’t “walk away” and a lot of that blame goes to the higher ups and imo they need to be held to the same standard regardless of what there checkbook says.
Glenn Sather traded with Chicago to acquire this player. The question is did Saether no about the situation? Because sailor has a history of acquiring reclamation projects such as Billy Tibbetts Sean Avery and other players
Hello sailor
Shouldn’t have coached last nights game. And considering Elliott’s reaction last night think there’s potentially more that general public doesn’t know yet
Also I seen Patty Kane saying that the players didn’t know, being the captain like Toews and Kane as assistant capt..like you didn’t hear even years after and like the players you are you had no B***s to say anything..just cowards…I bet the player in 2014 to say to this kid how did you like that b job was a real smart player too….like collage sports when a scandal happens and the brass knows the team gets dealt with and kick out of their sport for some time..Blackhawks should be dealt with like that….like not to have any draft picks for a couple of years…..any ….
True. All the lying brass must go. Who needs Kane when you have Matthews anyway?
Absolutely disgusting that he even coached yesterday. He should’ve been fired as soon as that report came out. I don’t know how any of the Panthers players can respect him. He needs to be fired immediately
Torts will add some spice to that inner state rivalry.
He was basically interviewing for the job today saying Barkov is the best player in the NHL… better than McDavid and McKinnon, lol
Torts is Torts. Always entertaining.
He brought the first cup to Florida i wonder if he can be the first to bring one to sunrise as well
Shows again. It better to admit wrong immediately then lie. Quenneville should have said . Yes he knew but he was a lousy human being did nothing. He thought his superiors would do something.
Even if he admitted to wrongdoing he should still be gone. He is complicit in all of this
he would be fine if he went to the police as soon as it happened.
Huh? Serious?
Everyone involved should never see NHL competition again. There’s so much blame to go around but front office guys coaching staff captains all of em should be banished from the league. I’m sure anyone having anything hint to do with the blackhawks would have no problem getting to play even MORE golf. Losers.
Duncan Keith sounds like such a loser saying he didn’t accept the interview cause he didn’t know anything and it would be awkward for him. Like it wasn’t 100000000x worse for Kyle. Like he didn’t even care. It was disgusting
respectfuly, this is beyond optics. i would imagine it IS rough for the other players. maybe less, but that doesnt mean anyone who says so is lying. someone can have it off worse than you, but that doesnt mean things are fine and dandy for you.
That is true but at the bare minimum you can go be interviewed. Info that Keith may not consider important could help. It most likely has to do with the fact that you can’t lie about things. Maybe I am wrong and he doesn’t know anything at all and I will apologize if that ends up being the case but I find it very very hard to believe he just found out
its amazing so many people find it so hard to be anything better than human scum…
Its amazing so many people find it so hard to be anything better than sorry loser online
excuse me?
U got it why ask?
Maybe not the time Danny. There was nothing wrong with his statement
Nothing wrong with mine either. There are many sorry losers online its where they weep. U gonna argue with that?
I think you’re using his statement to attack him when he’s condemning people for sexual assault and a cover up
I mean i’m condemning sorry blood lusty losers online whats wrong with that? You can think that im attackin its your opinion and i appreciate that. Not even gonna throw nasty words at you
I appreciate that. I’m not going to throw nasty words at you cause I’m not here for a fight. Just thought it was a bit untasteful and maybe not exactly the right time to do that
You can think what you want. I dont really understand what you want from me here
The NHL is enabling sexual abusers. Close the NHL its a disgrace of a sport beloved by many. No excuses for the people involved or the league. Start the purge
I sense you like to create chaos. Cool. Thanks for amusing everyone.
I agree, shut down all pro sports.
Amateur is far more entertaining.
How dare you accuse me of smth like that? I’m just echoing the common sense here. The way you attack me makes me think you have no sympathy for a 20 year old male hockey player being sexually abused. You re no better than any of the enablers. To add to your take: women sports are so underrated, we as men must make way for them, we must empower them and pay gap must not be a thing anymore. I also think its quite sexist not to mention womens sports before amateur
How does he dare accusing you like that? Because you’re a troll and an a-hole.
Youre an a hole
He is illiterate. Dont feed the troll.
Me troll? Says the guy who spreads blatant lies. Dont listen to @itsmeheyhi. HE IS A LIAR!
That is true. Itsmeheyhi does lie and not admit to it when he gets caught.
Here comes Gbear, adding defending rapists to his arsenal of character qualities. I’m saddened but not surprised.
Gavin, I ask that you remove this reprehensible individual from this site. He once again makes up a lie to cover for his previous lies.
Ironic that you think a barely adult player should have stood up on his own against his rapist and “punched him” yet you are asking for a mod to defend you in an internet comments section. So you’re a hypocrite, too.
Unfortunately, we’re not face to face where I could handle this on my own terms. But to suffice to say, you’re a liar and a coward hiding behind a computer.
We get it, you condone violence. I bet you hit women too. Your character flaws are evident with every post but by all means, continue.
Every player knew that sh** doesn’t stay under the rug for long…and having a guy on your team like Carcillo doesn’t help either..he would be the guy probably nagging him on … It’s just classless…
No need to go after Crash like that. Pick on the upstanding captain first.
I must say it’s quite something to see the messages on this board – I was expecting a dumpster fire but maybe there is hope for sports?
How dare you talk sports when lifes of victims are at stake? You clearly have no sympathy for Beach.
Not sure how I feel about this. I don’t fully trust Beach…why not go to the police. And ever heard of innocent until proven guilty? They were supposed to act without an investigation? Ruin the dudes livliehood for a potential lie. And yeah it turns out the dude was a pos, but this is America. Innocent until proven guilty. I hate cancel culture and because one person may have committed a crime, everyone else should be fire because they didn’t play judge, jury and fire them without proof… ridiculous
How dare you say these people are innocent? Not reporting a crime is worse than a crime itself. What u saying is such a scum thing to say.
This isn’t cancel culture bro. They covered it up. In the report it states that quenneville said that winning a Stanley cup is more important than the sexual assault. Did you even watch the interview? Beach said he was told it was his fault and made to feel invisible. That’s likely why he didn’t go to the police. There’s a reason people refrain from reporting their abusers and it’s the shame and attention that can be brought onto them. This is accountability and facing the music. Not cancel culture. Horrible take
He resigned…it was his choice. Gruden 2.0.
@wow – You really need to read the report, has nothing to do with “cancel culture”.
This isn’t really the right forum to delve too deeply into what leads to incidents such as this, but I’ll agree with an earlier poster who calls Bettman out too. How nice of GB to act like Virtue Man once again, but he’s presided over this league while many bad things have taken place. Leadership starts at the top and it’s time for his little show to close.
As for Coach Q, I hate to see a succesful career come to an end like this, but the fact that he didn’t put up a fight here is rather telling.
True! NHL is a deeply flawed organization as a whole but i think letting Bettman go isnt enough to exterminate institutional player abuse by NHL. The league must perish. Its been 100 smth years filled with glory for minority and misery for majority. #NHLNEEDSTOGO
Frankly, my hope has been that a new league will take the place of the NHL someday. This incident just adds to that desire.
By the way im watching games right now and noone of the broadcasters mentioned the breaking knews. Its just goes to show how terrible the whole organization is, yet they still pretend like nothing happened.
I think not reporting this stuff must be illegal. #actionshaveconsequences
Imagine disliking “virtue” so much that you paint in yourself into the corner of defending people who cover up and enable sexual predators and getting mad when they suffer any consequences.
Youre right! Its a mystery to me how such terrible people get by with their lives daily. Such a holes must be shunned from society of good people like us
And who might that be, Josh?
Fake virtue, such as you display on a regular basis, is loathsome. One can lament the fact that someone like Coach Q, who has accomplished much in his life and to our knowledge has lived a decent life, tarnished all that by looking the other way over an incident such as this.
Anyone can come on a forum and express their deep, deep outrage, but when its fake, everyone can see thru it.
Imagine painting yourself into a corner of having to declare the idea that “covering up sexual assault is bad” fake and loathsome and so shunning virtue that you can’t imagine anyone actually possessing some of it and assuming everyone else is just pandering when they say “covering up sexual assault is bad”.
He is a deeply disturbed individual.
It must be a painful existence to be Josh and have to use a comment board to seek accolades from people he doesn’t know. Your lack of real world experience shows thru.
One can condemn the actions taken or not taken by individuals and still lament the fact that all the good they’ve done elsewhere in life is now diminished. But a fake virtue signaler wouldn’t dig deep enough to get that nuisance.
As for the severely demented itsmeheyhi, I’m glad you two have hooked up.
I am going to say the horrible thing. I expect to be lambasted over this…. woot!
This is about Economics and human selfishness
.
If someone feels their employment / income / roof over their head / food in the mouths of their children / is in jeopardy they will do or say nothing.
99.999% of humans will do this.
We can all post about how horrible this is and how others should respond but the reality is we’d all turn a blind eye if it would cost us our livelihood.
History repeats itself. This has played out before, and will do so again.
These people dont care about reality. They dont care about real victims of sexual assault. Its all farce. They are here only for the thrill of watching chopped heads roll and the joy of self indulgence and righteousness. 99% of the people on here who preach “accountability” and “actions have consequences” would do the same thing if it were them and not coach Q and Stan B and others. I dont understand how this simplest idea isnt obvious. Just a bunch of pretentious jerks surfing the woke crap waves online
This Danny Dekeyser guy just might be the dumbest person on the internet. How can a thought like this come across somebodies mind and not be parody? To have no empathy or compassion for what other people go through and to instead focus on “woke”. You understand by hiding this assault, they almost directly lead to a different minor being abused, right? But the “woke” part is the problem to you? What a sad life that must be. Literally none of what you just said is true and every single one of your other posts are dumb exaggerations. If you’re sole reason for being on this website is to attack people, you are such a loser at life it’s not even funny.
Why would any of them lose their jobs had they done something? Unless you mean about lying about it after then I can kind of see your point but still most people would never put themselves in that situation in the first place.
Ahahahhaa yeah sure i bet they chose to cover up for some idiot in their organization just because there was nothing better to do for them. Yeah things really work that way irl. Omg you just cant skript it any better. “Stan! We need to sweep that dudes issue under the rug just for the sake of doing it” “Lets do it coach Q! Cant wait to put my hands on it”. I mean what planet are you a resident of? “Most people would not put themselves in that situation in the first place” omg you know what a train of thought for a five year old
“If someone feels their employment / income / roof over their head / food in the mouths of their children / is in jeopardy they will do or say nothing.”
Hello?
Turning a blind eye IS what cost Quennville his livelihood.
KAR, yes if they had a job where they thought they wouldn’t be able to feed their children if fired for not towing the company line I could agree.
If I was a person who was making 2+ million a year, and had multiple positions prior at 1+ million a year prior… I would probably let my personal opinion take effect first.
This was not a guy making low wage at Walmart. This was a guy making multi millions per year as a person at the top of his group of candidates
their careers would have been fine if they cane forward in 2010 about this.
This happened in 2010. If they had done the right thing they would have been fine career wise. If not you can’t tell me the GM of a hockey team wouldn’t land on his feet elsewhere even if it’s not in hockey. Totally out of touch with reality with this post
In this situation reporting it would have no consequence once the facts were out. If handled correctly the only person to be affected would have been the abuser as far as loss of livelihood. Aftermath, would have been rough for the organization to get through but they would have came out so much better respected in the end. I went to every one of those Stanley Cup games and I just feel dirty now.
@forwhom…. It only just NOW cost him his job. If everything has stayed under the carpet, as it has done so often before he’d still have his job.
I cannot say for sure, but it seems unlikely this was not the first he or any others involved crossed paths with this situation and nothing came of it.
Thankfully, now yes, something is coming of it.
Maybe now… people will come forward or try to prevent this….
But it will be for one single reason… to cover their own arse.
@wreckage I would be inclined to agree with you on the premise that millions of dollars is enough for 99% of humans on the planet. But that’s NOT how people operate (sadly).
If you make a million dollars a year, do you continue to live in a one bedroom basement house rental? Not likely. Your expenses increase due to the desire to “get ahead”.
I’m not saying you do this, I certainly don’t, but most people do.
So their one million doesn’t go far enough to cover their “newer” expenses with their increases lifestyle.
Humans hoard as much as they can for themselves… kinda like squirrels but without the cuteness.
@kar i agree with your points, and i’ll put into this example. i’m a blue collar worker (which i am) and after years of hard work i’m now part of management and things are good until something like this happens. i would love to say i’m the type of guy that wouldn’t let this bs stand (and for the most part i am but read the rest) but i got the promotion things are going good and i moved myself and family up and things have been kosher until this point. now something heavy comes up (just like the stuff in the article) and even if i feel like it’s wrong but i got people above me saying stfu and ignore it or find a new job. well that’s easier said than done for most of us finding a new job means big changes unless we’re established and can afford to find a new job or career but most of us are not in that boat. so for 99% of us even if we know what’s going on is f’ed up we say nothing because we have our own problems and finding new employment is not another i need.
@brodie-bruce Your honesty in this regard is possibly the most refreshing internet post I’ve read all year, and the year is almost over.
I, or we, or everyone could have a big ole discussion about how to solve the worlds problems, but I just do not see utopia happening.
Dear @khabib mcgregor
Oh just listen to the coward whos arsenal is only full of empty baselless slurs and moralist demagaugery. What a sad life it must be for you that you need to mash people that you disagree with with your verbal mud to feel dominant in an argument. And this same guy who accuses me of attacking people on this site called me pedo first like really? So evidently you dont apply your own standarts to yourself. I dont know how can i be in a competition for the dumbest person on the internet with you who fails over and over to point at where exactly i defended those people. Yeah right keep on your mouth running about pathetic morale.
Ps: youre such a loser at life it’s not even funny
You’re quite the white knight for sexual assaulters. Does them being cancelled hit a little too close to home buddy? We all have our demons I guess but that’s pretty messed up.
@mcgregor can you please enlighten us all here how danny has no empathy for victims. i’ve read his main post and no where in it does he state what your argument about him is about. all he is stating what the rock band tool stated in there song vicarious. the long and short of the song for those not a fan of tool or rock (maybe both) from what i interpreted the songs meaning (and i could be completely wrong on this one) is that we can watch the vilest thing on tv and enjoy but outside of the privacy of home i’m all against it. example in the 1800’s in this country we had public executions everyone in town came to watch. fast forward to today fox or pay pre view could broadcast an execution and it will be the highest rated show. then go ask the populous they will tell you “no i didn’t watch that, stuff like that is wrong and immoral” then again them same people are in there homes popping popcorn to watch the next guy get fried. so please tell me how danny is immoral because he brought up a good point on how people act on a social media platform but with there other face either don’t care or it’s not my problem because it’s not me
@khabib mcgregor
Yeah keep on playing your broken record on how im a pedo like its gonna change things. Its such a pity people like you cant get qualified mental help in this country
Guys, really just ignore or “mute” Danny. Don’t bother responding to him. he just posts to generate a response. If the general consensus said the reaction by the NHL was inappropriate he would be saying its not enough. He was left alone at home growing up and seeks the attention now. Just ignore him when on one of his (possible) drunk tirades and he will go away. It’s not like he regularly showed up anyways.
And if he returns… who cares if ignored or muted. the guy provides nothing of substance to the conversation… Just move on.
Seems like majority of the sensible ones already have anyways.
Guys, really ingore or mute @mentalwreckage hes a mental istitution patient on the run and provides nothing but a common bull crap to the discussion.
Yeah, I just muted the troll myself.
I muted @DD as well. I’m guessing he is Tony DeAngelo up to his old games or maybe someone trying to run up the “interactions” with the articles. What a Adam Henry.
Wow, Danny DeKeyser needs some basic human empathy and a job!
Wow i see you have half a brain. You only need the other half.
Wow “you need some basic human empathy” says a guy with @the mistake of giving eugene melnyk a liver transplant name, juat wow. Also you can curb your job assumption
Yeah, when someone with that name is calling you out for not having any basic empathy: here is your sign. But of course you won’t take it because you are always right and smarter than everyone else and it is everyone else out to get you because you are so much more special and more smarter and the awesomest. Too bad the rest of the world can’t appreciate it so you are left spending literally hours posting on a hockey board defending sexual abusers. Yep, you are the good guy here! Nobody can dare to threaten you with reality.
@liver transplant can you please state anywhere in any of dekeyser’s posts that he shows no empathy or defends sexual assault. the only thing he is guilty of is making a valid point and when you get higher up on the food chain your more acceptable of bs to keep the status quo. the point i derived from de’s post was this is the outlook of the guys who signs your check and those underneath that rely on that job might pack away there morals and turn that blind eye because they need there job and don’t want to get blacklisted. just because someone makes a pretty penny and money we only dream of doesn’t make there situation any less.
2 days now and no other news to report about possible new coaches?
Up to two white knight apologists on this website now. Oh, the joy of anonymous commenters. These people in real life are probably the biggest cowards.