The Florida Panthers announced that they have hired Joel Quenneville as their head coach. This deal will be announced at a media press conference to be held at 12 PM EST at the BB&T Center.
Quenneville has arrived.
Welcome to South Florida, Coach Q » https://t.co/RDTreMCKac pic.twitter.com/sxnl8oVa6L
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) April 8, 2019
Joel Quenneville Joins The Panthers
Over his 22-year NHL coaching career, Quenneville has split his time between St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks. Overall he has a record of 890-532-77-137. He is second in wins all-time for coaches, Scotty Bowman is ahead of him with 1,244 wins. His greatest success was with the Blackhawks. In his 11 years with the Hawks, he led them to two Stanley Cup Championships and nine Stanley Cup Playoff appearances. Quenneville also won the Jack Adams award in 2000 with the Blues. He led the team to a 51-19-11-1 record including their first 50-win season in franchise history. The Blues would lose in the quarterfinals in seven games to the San Jose Sharks.
Per Floridapanthers.com:
“Joel is a three-time Stanley Cup champion head coach who will be a transformative leader for the Florida Panthers franchise,” said President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Dale Tallon. “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.”
What This Means for the Future
Quenneville was fired from the Blackhawks in November after the team dropped five in a row. He finished with a 452-249-96 during his time with Chicago. The Hawks were 6-6-3 when Quenneville was relieved of his duties. The Ontario native was one of the best coaches on the market before being hired.
Moving forward coach ‘Q’ will look to get back behind the bench and lead the Florida Panthers to the playoffs next season. There is no question that he can turn a team around and has a ton of experience behind the bench. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Quenneville look to possibly pass Bowman’s all-time win record over the next few years. Let’s see how long it takes for Quenneville to get adjusted with his new team.
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