Joel Quenneville Hired By Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers have hired the biggest name on the coaching market, bringing in Joel Quenneville to take over from the recently fired Bob Boughner. Panthers GM Dale Tallon has a long history with Quenneville from their days together with the Chicago Blackhawks, and released a lengthy statement about the hiring.
Joel is a three-time Stanley Cup champion head coach who will be a transformative leader for the Florida Panthers franchise. We’ve seized the opportunity to add one of the most successful head coaches in hockey history and we’re thrilled that Joel has agreed to take on the challenge of leading our promising young team. I’ve worked with Joel previously and have seen firsthand how his passion for the game, head coaching experience and leadership can impact an organization. Joel will accelerate our growth into a club that qualifies for the playoffs consistently and competes every year toward our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that Quenneville’s contract is a five-year deal worth more than $6MM per season depending on his bonuses. Quenneville had been making $6MM with the Blackhawks. This new deal will put him right back near the top of the heap in terms of coaching salary, a huge commitment from a franchise that is obviously sick of missing the playoffs.
Bringing in Quenneville is the first move of what should be a very exciting summer for the Panthers organization, as the team moved out quite a bit of salary at the deadline in order to be active players in free agency. Already there have been rumors of Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin being the top targets, and Quenneville’s familiarity with the Russian sniper can only help that chase. Florida has several top players already like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck and Aaron Ekblad, but weren’t able to find much consistency under Boughner.
In Quenneville, they will now bring in one of the most successful—and consistent—coaches of all-time. In fact, the 2017-18 season is currently the only year that Quenneville has finished with a losing record, even coaching the Blackhawks to a .500 record (6-6-3) in the 15 games before being fired this year. Overall he will join Florida with a career .609 winning percentage and more wins than any coach not named Scotty Bowman. Three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks solidifies him as one of the greatest, and will get him into the Hockey Hall of Fame at some point regardless of what this next chapter brings.
Rangers Notes: Free Agency, Kravtsov, Fast, Lundqvist, Kreider
The New York Rangers wrapped up their regular season Saturday and began cleaning out their lockers, but after a season in which the team finished in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division with a 32-36-14 season, general manager Jeff Gorton admitted that while he likes what he sees in terms of the team developing under head coach David Quinn, he expects to see changes.
NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reports that Gorton said the Rangers will likely look to add through free agency this summer to speed up their rebuilding project that the team started last season in February when they decided to make changes to the team.
“There’s a lot of things that can happen this summer to speed that up,” Gorton said. “I think we will try to do everything we can to advance it.”
One obvious possibility would be for the Rangers to try to persuade free agent Artemi Panarin to come to New York. The star winger has been rumored to be interested in signing a free-agent contract with either the Rangers or Florida Panthers, although the Panthers likelihood of bringing Panarin to Florida may have improved if they can sign his former head coach Joel Quenneville to a contract. Regardless, the Rangers could be in play for a number of intriguing free agents, including center Matt Duchene.
- In the same press conference, Gorton added that the Rangers are doing everything possible to get their two top prospects signed, including 2018 first-rounder Vitali Kravtsov and goaltender Igor Shestyorkin. Kravtsov played 50 games in the KHL, posting eight goals as an 18-year-old, but the team must wait until his contract expires at the end of the month. Shestorkin has dominated the KHL for a number of years now, putting up an unreal 1.11 GAA and a .953 save percentage.
- The Rangers also announced that forward Jesper Fast undewent thumb surgery and is expected to be ready to train in six weeks. Fast had surgery last Monday to repair torn ligaments and a fracture in his left thumb. The injury, which Fast sustained near the all-star break, didn’t heal properly, which then required surgery. The 27-year-old had eight goals and 20 points in 66 games.
- Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist also spoke about his disappointing season, according to Rosen. The veteran goaltender had a strong first half, but struggled mightily after that. He played in 35 games before the all-star break, winning 15 games, a 3.o1 GAA and a .908 save percentage, but that number dropped to just 17 appearances after the all-star break where he had just three victories with a 3.18 GAA and a .904 save percentage. Lundqvist said he felt really good when he was hoping the Rangers would surprise people, but admitted it was tougher when he knew they weren’t.
- The Rangers announced that forward Chris Kreider will play for Team USA at the World Championships this summer. Rosen reports that Kreider hopes that he and the Rangers can iron out a long-term extension this summer as he is eligible to sign an extension on July 1 as he will be in the last year of his contract. Gorton also had a comment on the situation, “Chris is a goal scorer and they’re hard to find. We’ll figure out what’s the appropriate way to go here in the coming weeks.”
Los Angeles Kings Request Permission To Speak With Todd McLellan
With the Los Angeles Kings’ announcement today that interim coach Willie Desjardins will not return to the team, the Kings haven’t wasted any time in beginning their search for the next man to lead their team on the ice. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Los Angeles Kings have asked the Edmonton Oilers for permission to interview former coach Todd McLellan.
When the announcement came out this morning, The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman reported that the team was already working on a coaching hire, but nothing was imminent. However, the request and rumors around the league suggest that it’s McLellan that the team wants to bring in as their head coach.
McLellan has put together a solid coaching resume with a 434-282-90 record, including seven seasons with the San Jose Sharks and another three and a half seasons with the Oilers before he was dismissed on Nov. 20th this season. However, despite taking an impressive Sharks team to the Conference Finals in his second and third seasons with San Jose, McLellan has struggled throughout the playoffs, totaling a 37-38 record. His most recent tenure had some success in his second season when Edmonton got to the second-round of the playoffs in the 2016-17 season and looked like an up-and-coming team, but he wasn’t able to duplicate that afterwards. Of course with much of the blame of the Oilers placed on McLellan, Ken Hitchcock was not able to right the ship either, with the eventual blame going to now former-general manager Peter Chiarelli.
There are also rumors that the team will consider current assistant coach Marco Sturm, who the team had interest in developing into their future coach.
Los Angeles Kings Will Not Bring Back Willie Desjardins
The Los Angeles Kings have informed interim coach Willie Desjardins that he will not be brought back. The team will look for a new head coach immediately. The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman also adds that the team is currently working on a coaching hire, but nothing is imminent.
“Today we thanked Willie Desjardins for his effort and dedication while serving as our interim head coach,” said Los Angeles Kings general Rob Blake, in a statement. “We wish Willie and his family nothing but the best going forward. The process for hiring our next head coach is underway and we look forward to conducting a thorough search for the right person to lead our team.”
Desjardins was brought in on Nov. 4 when the team fired head coach John Stevens after a miserable 4-8-1 start to the season. This came after the team reloaded their team with free agent Ilya Kovalchuk in hopes of challenging for another Pacific Division title. The team hired the veteran Desjardins as well as coaching hopeful Marco Sturm to stabilize the team in hopes the team could bounce back and compete. Instead, injuries and struggles from many of the team’s veterans led to the team struggling and the Kings ended up with a 31-42-9 overall record, good enough for the second-worst record in the NHL behind the Ottawa Senators.
Desjardins has put together an impressive resume, including plenty of international tournament and junior league success, but has also found himself in a number of tough NHL coaching positions over the years, including the aging Kings. He also coached a struggling Vancouver Canucks team for three seasons, compiling a 109-110-27 record.
Despite having a good chance to nab one of the top two prospects in the 2019 NHL draft in Jack Hughes or Kappo Kakko (depending on their lottery luck), the team is still heavily encumbered by multiple long-term deals of players over 30 and will likely have to deal with a overburdened salary cap for a number of years in the future, which could make it difficult to truly compete in the next couple of years.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta was the first person to report this.
Buffalo Sabres Fire Head Coach Phil Housley
Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill announced that the Sabres have fired head coach Phil Housley after two years behind the bench. The head coach went 58-84-22 in those two years and struggled to inspire a young team with a tremendous amount of talent.
Housley, who was hired without any coaching experience, often struggled to adjust his system to his team and seemed to be lacking in his post-game messages to the team. The team especially struggled in goals allowed as they were outscored 546-419 this season, allowing an average of 3.33 goals per game, which ranked 30th in the league. It’s a far cry from where the team stood in November this past season when the Sabres had the best record in the NHL and eventually plummeted to sixth overall in the Atlantic Division with a 33-39-10 overall record. Regardless, many people felt that Housley was likely to be given another year, but the team really struggled down the stretch as they lost 16 of 17 games to finish the season before winning their last two games of the season.
While Botterill and the Sabres are expected to make an extensive search for a new head coach, the team also will give serious consideration to their AHL coach, Rochester Americans head coach Chris Taylor. Other names already mentioned in association with the opening are Alain Vigneault and Todd Richards. Once the team hires a new coach, the Sabres will have had six coaches over the past seven years.
With multiple coaches having been fired during the season and the firing of Florida’s Bob Boughner this morning, there are now eight coaching positions open this offseason.
Florida Panthers Already Close To Hiring Joel Quenneville
1:52: Richards reports that Florida is still trying to get a deal done, but other teams have no gotten involved, including both the Philadelphia Flyers and most recently, the Buffalo Sabres.
12:51: ESPN’s Greg Wyshinski writes that the Florida Panthers have offered Quenneville a multi-year contract in excess of $6MM per year, including bonuses. Currently, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock is the highest paid coach at $6.25MM.
12:44: New York Post’s Brett Cyrgalis reports that the deal between Florida and Quenneville is done with an announcement coming tomorrow. He also adds that former New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow, who was fired last summer, is likely to find a role with the Panthers in some capacity as well.
12:12: The Florida Panthers are holding a press conference on Monday, according to The Athletic’s George Richards, who asked Tallon whether it will be to introduce a new coach.
“I can’t tell you,” Tallon responded. Then.. “That would be our goal. Yep.”
12:01: It’s been just a few hours since the Florida Panthers fired head coach Bob Boughner, but that hasn’t stopped the team from pursuing their replacement quicker than many people expected. While the name of Joel Quenneville was already rumored to be a legitimate candidate for Florida to hire, it is now believed the two sides are already closing in on a deal.
In fact, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that a potential deal between Quenneville and the Florida Panthers is much closer than anyone realized. While it’s not a done deal, they are close. The Athletic’s George Richards also writes that something could be worked out soon and that the team has already asked the Chicago Blackhawks for permission to interview Quenneville.
“We have to raise the bar here,” Florida general manager Dale Tallon said today. “We’re not happy right now.”
Adding Quenneville could turn Florida into an instant contender as the team is already loaded with offensive talent and only needs a few pieces, which the Panthers are hoping to get this offseason with their available cap space. Quenneville already has a great relationship with Artemi Panarin, who played for him in Chicago. Already having been rumored to be interested in playing in Florida, the addition of Quenneville might tip the scales for Panarin. The team is also rumored to be interested in goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who would also fill a major hole on the team.
Hiring Quenneville would be a change from their normal hiring practices as the team hasn’t hired a head coach with extensive experience since the days of Mike Keenan or Jacques Martin.
Regardless, the Panthers already have a tremendous amount of talent on their top lines, including Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent Trocheck. The team also has some promising young players, including Henrik Borgstrom, Owen Tippett and eventually Grigori Denisenko.
Florida Panthers Fire Head Coach Bob Boughner
The Florida Panthers wasted no time in making major moves at the start of their premature off-season. The team has announced that head coach Bob Boughner has been relieved of his duties. Boughner just finished his second season as the coach of the Panthers, his first NHL head coaching position. Assistant coach Paul McFarland has also been fired.
The team release from GM Dale Tallon read as follows:
We made a tough decision today and have relieved Bob Boughner of his duties as head coach. We didn’t meet expectations this season and share responsibility for that fact. After careful evaluation, we have determined that this is a necessary first step for our young team and we will seek to identify a transformative, experienced head coach with Stanley Cup pedigree to lead our team going forward. We’re grateful to Bob, Paul, and their families for their hard work and their dedication to the Panthers organization and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.
Boughner’s departure should not come as any great surprise. As a first-time NHL head coach, Boughner was on a short leash from the start. After a slow beginning to his tenure, the Panthers were one of the best teams in the NHL down the stretch last season, but just narrowly missed the playoffs nonetheless. The expectation was that the team would ride that streak right into the new campaign, but 2018-19 did not go as planned. The team could never quite keep things together long enough to stick around the playoff picture. It was a disappointing finish for a team with high expectations.
If the Panthers were a rebuilding club, perhaps two finishes just outside the top-16 would have been enough for Boughner to keep his job. However, Florida is a deep, talented team with many players in the primes of their careers. Especially up front, the Cats had enough talent that they should have rivaled nearly any team in the league. Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau each cracked 90 points this season, while Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov reached 70. The Panthers were the first squad this season to have five 20-goal scorers, finished ninth as a team in goals for per game, and their power play – led by McFarland – was second only tot the rival Tampa Bay Lightning. Where Boughner and his staff clearly fell short was in preventing goals to the same extent they scored them. The Panthers were 28th in the league in goals against per game, allowing ten goals on average over a three-game stretch. Ironically, that did not come from allowing too many shots or struggling on the penalty kill, as Florida largely succeeded in both areas. Instead, Boughner’s scheme seemed to allow for too many high-danger chances and put his defensemen and struggling goaltenders in tough situations.
Admittedly, it’s not all Boughner’s fault. Roberto Luongo, 40, and James Reimer, 31, were a tired and injury-prone duo from the start that made keeping pucks out of the net a difficult task. The defense corps also lacked difference makers behind Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad, as Mike Matheson took a step back and others on the blue line were overexposed. However, as a former standout defenseman himself, the expectation was likely that Boughner could adjust to his personnel and do a better job of defending against goals. Given the individual talent of many of his forwards, the team could have survived with a more conservative style. However, that move was never made and it likely cost Boughner his job.
As for the next bench boss in Florida, the team’s desire for a “transformative, experienced head coach with Stanley Cup pedigree” is likely a not-so-subtle plea to former Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville. Quenneville is the best free agent coach available and really the only name that fits that description. He also shares a history with Tallon. Additionally, the Panthers are expected to pursue both Columbus Blue Jackets stars Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky this summer and know Quenneville could be the key to bringing in former Blackhawk Panarin and his best friend. Quenneville has been linked to other teams around the NHL, but while other vacancies have since been filled by interim coaches who will receive further consideration, the job is open right now in Florida and Quenneville could be tempted to take it.
Evening Notes: East Playoff Race, Rantanen, Dumoulin, Parayko
The Eastern Playoff race has been decided. The Carolina Hurricanes have drawn the first wildcard spot and will face the Metropolitan Division-leading Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. The New York Islanders will be the second seed in the Metro and will have to square off against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the Atlantic Division, the Columbus Blue Jackets end up with a tough match-up as they will face the Tampa Bay Lightning, while the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs will meet once again, as everyone has known about for quite some time. The final results of the night will determine how the Western Conference Shakes out.
- The Colorado Avalanche’s Mikko Rantanen was spotted on the ice Saturday in San Jose wearing a non-contact jersey, according to The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark. The injured forward, who hasn’t seen action since March 21st with an undisclosed injury, traveled with the team but will sit out once again. While that doesn’t sound like great news, considering the playoffs are right around the corner it is better to have him skating than not. If Colorado has any chance of advancing out of the first round, they will need their young scorer. The 22-year-old will have played eight less games than last year, but has a career high 31 goals and 87 points in his sophomore season. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said later today that he is hopeful that Rantanen will be available for the playoffs, according to BSN’s Adrian Dater.
- Speaking of injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins got some good news as defenseman Brian Dumoulin skated on his own after missing the past three games with a lower-body injury, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Dumoulin, who normally skates alongside Kris Letang, would make a big impact on a lineup that is preparing for the playoffs and could use the player tied for fifth in the NHL with a +31 rating. “The fact that Dumo is on the ice is really encouraging from our standpoint,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. He added that the injury isn’t considered major and Doumolin remains day-to-day.
- The St. Louis Blues expect to get back defenseman Colton Parayko, who has sat out the past two games with an undisclosed injury. The 25-year-old defender is expected to play in the playoffs, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas. Thomas added that Tyler Bozak was just held out for precautionary reasons Saturday after he was in a car accident getting to the game. The veteran center was rear-ended, but wasn’t seriously hurt. He too is expected back for the playoff opener.
Pacific Notes: Karlsson, Meier, Hutton, Goldobin
Despite his long-awaited return Saturday, the San Jose Sharks remain somewhat concerned about the long-term status of star defenseman Erik Karlsson. The team gave Karlsson as much time to rest his injured groin as possible, but with the playoffs around the corner, the team hopes the injured blueliner can stay healthy throughout the playoffs, according to Mercury News’ Paul Gackle.
Karlsson, who has played in just five games since Jan. 16 before aggravating his injury, is dealing with an injury that could resurface at any time, according to Sharks’ head coach Peter DeBoer. “You don’t know,” DeBoer said. “It could be like last time where he was healthy, but he caught it awkwardly and it ended up being a different injury. You don’t know. But you get these guys to a point where you get the green light that they’re healthy and you go.”
Regardless, DeBoer adds that the team isn’t rushing Karlsson just because the playoffs are here, claiming that Karlsson is ready to return to the ice now. The 28-year-old has three goals and 45 points in 52 games this season.
- The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reports that San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier will not play Saturday in the team’s regular season finale, but DeBoer expects him to be ready for the first game of the playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights. Meier went down Thursday after falling awkwardly during the third period and having Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse then fall on top of him. The 22-year-old picked up a career-high 30 goals and 66 points this season.
- The Province’s Ed Willes writes that Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning has said the team wants to add a defenseman, but with little interest in paying out big bucks on the free-agent market. The scribe believes the team is thus likely to acquire one via trade, suggesting they may be looking to send off forward Jake Virtanen and defenseman Ben Hutton to upgrade the defense. The 22-year-old Virtanen continues to improve as he scored 15 goals last season, but has been somewhat underwhelming considering he was the sixth overall pick in 2014. Hutton, on the other hand, had an impressive season this year, making up for two down seasons, but his consistency is still in question.
- The Canucks will have other decisions to make as the team will have to decide on whether they want to keep forward Nikolay Goldobin going into next year as he will become a restricted free agent this summer. The 23-year-old finished the season with seven goals and 27 points in 63 games, but the team has used him sporadically in the second-half of the season. “You hope he takes the next step, he did make strides this year,” Benning said, via Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal. “We will sit down with the coaching staff and decide if we want him back and continue to work with him and develop him.”
Central Notes: Boudreau, Kunitz, Stars
Although the Wild will miss the playoffs this season, GM Paul Fenton and owner Craig Leipold have not discussed a coaching chance, reports Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. That suggests that Bruce Boudreau will be back behind the bench next season. He has one year remaining on his contract after this season so it will be interesting to see if the two sides work out an extension or if Fenton opts to wait and preserve some flexibility to make an in-season change if they get off to a slow start in 2019-20. Boudreau has the third-highest points percentage amongst active NHL coaches at .641.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- Blackhawks winger Chris Kunitz has yet to decide whether or not he wants to play next season, notes Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago. The 39-year-old has played a very limited role with Chicago this year, collecting just ten points (5-5-10) in 55 games while logging just over nine minutes a night. However, given his previous postseason successes (including four Stanley Cups), there still may be teams interested in him this summer if he decides that he wants to keep playing.
- While Stars winger Mats Zuccarello suited up on Tuesday, he was noticeably absent from Friday’s loss to Chicago. However, Sean Shapiro of The Athletic notes (subscription required) that Zuccarello’s absence wasn’t injury-related but rather just precautionary. He’s available to play tonight but head coach Jim Montgomery indicated that he’s confident that Zuccarello is ready to play in the postseason without another tune-up game. Meanwhile, goalie Ben Bishop is expected to start tonight after missing four straight contests due to a lower-body injury.