12:30 PM: The Ducks have made the hiring of Joel Quenneville official. He will man an NHL bench for the first time since 2021 next season.
10:00 AM: The Anaheim Ducks are expected to name veteran NHL head coach Joel Quenneville as the 12th head coach in franchise history, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. This will be Quenneville’s first coaching job since resigning form the Florida Panthers organization in 2021 due to his involvement in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2010 sexual abuse case. Quenneville was barred from returning to the NHL until being reinstated late last summer. Dreger points out that Anaheim did extensive background checks on the sexual abuse case, and what Quenneville has done to reform his actions in the years since. He was the first candidate they interviewed after firing Greg Cronin.
There was only one head coaching vacancy by the time Quenneville was reinstated, limiting his options to return quickly to the league. He’ll find a path back in before the next summer hits, though – and join the sixth organization of his 27-year coaching career. Quenneville has racked up three Stanley Cup wins and the second-most wins in NHL coaching history, behind only Scotty Bowman – who he had a chance to succeed in roles with the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. Quenneville is a whopping 275 wins behind Bowman’s record – and would need a healthy extension to his career, and a resurgence from the Ducks organization, to rival the mark.
Quenneville’s lengthy NHL career began as a player originally drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second-round of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. He joined the NHL in the following season, and quickly found a rut as a bottom-of-the-lineup utility player routinely posting meager scoring and lofty penalty totals. Quenneville played two years with the Leafs, three years with the Colorado Rockies, and one year with both the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals – all split around spending the heart of his career with seven years with the Hartford Whalers. His career as an NHL player spanned 12 years and ended with Quenneville totaling 190 points and 705 PIMs in 803 games.
Quenneville operated as a player and assistant coach hybrid with the AHL’s St John’s Maple Leafs in 1991-92 – the final year of his playing career. Two years later, he was promoted to an assistant coach role with the Quebec Nordiques that continued on when the club became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. After three seasons as a second-rank in Quebec and Colorado, Quenneville was awarded the head coaching role for the St. Louis Blues – where his prowess quickly became noticeable. Quenneville championed St. Louis to seven consecutive postseason appearances, though the club never made it beyond the Western Conference Finals. He was only fired when the team eyed a postseason absence in 2004. He took the lockout season of 2004-05 off of work, and returned as the Avalanche’s head coach in the 2005-06 season.
Colorado made the playoffs in one of two seasons with Quenneville at the helm. But after not
gaining much ground, they opted to punt him to the Chicago Blackhawks for the 2008-09 campaign. It was in Chicago that Quenneville became a legendary coaching figure, joining hands with a young Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to form one of the most formidable clubs in the NHL. The Blackhawks took a run to the Conference Finals in Quenneville’s first year, then won the Stanley Cup in year two. That pair of seasons would spark a nine-year streak of postseason appearances for Chicago, headlined by two more Cup wins in 2013 and 2015.
Quenneville left Chicago after a missed postseason in 2018 and a poor start to the 2018-19 campaign. He found work with the Florida Panthers from 2019 to 2021, though couldn’t push the club beyond the first round of the postseason.
Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek made one thing clear in the club’s exit interviews: the goal of next season is to make the postseason. That’s a lofty goal for a club that finished with 80 points and a sixth-place divisional rank this season – but they’re looking to find a spark by bringing on the man with the second-most playoff games coached in NHL history (again behind Bowman). Quenneville will inherit a roster that features burgeoning youngsters like Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish (pending contract), Olen Zellweger, Lukas Dostal (pending contract), Trevor Zegras, and more. The young core are flanked by strong veterans in Troy Terry, Alex Killorn, Jacob Trouba, and John Gibson. That’s a hardy makeup for a pro club, but the Ducks still haven’t found a postseason berth since 2018. Following a thorough background check and multiple interviews, Anaheim will stake their playoff hopes in Quenneville beginning next season.
Photo courtesy of Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images.
Joke franchise
You sure told ’em!
Wow. Yeah this is the guy you want leading a young team. When he was with the Hawks he hated young players. Key example was Nick Leddy. He ran Leddy out of town. This is not gonna end well, Mark my words.
One guy is your sample size? He coached a bunch of young guys in Chicago and won multiple Cups. If Nick Leddy is the centerpiece, your argument is not strong.
Hey take my word for it. Is the Pope from Chicago?
If the Ducks get in the playoffs watch out for pervs. They have free reign to not distract from the playoff run
I guess you can say he didn’t know. But the fact everyone didn’t appeal the ban proves they did. He’s a good coach but as bad as the person that did the crime. Say something get fired who cares and land somewhere else would’ve been the right choice
If I remember correctly, was Quennville not far less responsible for all that stuff than the GM and other front office staff were? I’m not excusing anything that happened in that Blackhawks organization, but I think the punishment for Quennville has been reasonable – four years of no head coach job. I really, really hope Verbeek is telling the truth here, and that work was done to ensure that lessons were learned.
You’re correct, but it matters not for those looking to virtue signal.
If the justice system was run by Reddit and Twitter, most of the world would have been executed by now…
@pyramid. He could’ve appealed or taken the nhl to court. They obviously have something on him.
Obviously? Please tell us.
@kesler. Well everything was settled and sealed up. The obviously part is if you were innocent wouldn’t you sue the nhl for being banned. I know as much as everyone else which is nothing just going off logic if you were innocent you would take action. Quenneville didn’t
Don’t believe coach Q ever said he had no fault in the scandal, which is why he accepted the 4 year ban. Why would he sue the league?
@gbear. I know kesler was coming off like i was making assumptions.
@Rexhudler86. I’m just pointing out that Q never said he was completely without fault for what happened, just that his part in it was far less than others involved.
@gbear so you’re agreeing with me
So you are just guessing. Thanks for admitting that.
Yes in a perfect world that’s how it would work. But you’re wayyyyy oversimplifying it. The real world is more complicated. A lot of shades of grey, not black and white. The guy who did it can obviously get the wood chipper though. That’s pretty simple.
@kesler and your trolling so what’s your point
If Kyle Beach is okay with Coach Q being reinstated, then so am I.
If Kyle Beach can forgive, so can I.
According to his testimony, Kyle says yes to anything ..
lol yikes…dark comedy over here…
Gross.
But can he coach in the era of victimization?
Woof
Great hire!!! Go Q!!!
Ducks will make playoffs next year. I’m not sure I like the signing, but who the hell am I to judge that situation only knowing 10% of the story. Ducks youth impressed me this year.