Ducks speak to Woodcroft, Carle about vacancy; Quenneville to have second interview
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The Anaheim Ducks are ramping up their coaching search for a successor to Greg Cronin.
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft and Denver's David Carle have been interviewed and contact has been made with ex-Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss Mike Sullivan.
Former Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville is set for a second interview. Other names are also in the mix.
Cronin was fired last week after two seasons on the job in which the Ducks missed out on the playoffs.
Woodcroft, 48, was a midseason hire by the Oilers in 2022, promoted from the American Hockey League's Bakersfield Condors upon the firing of Dave Tippett. He amassed a 79-41-13 over parts of three seasons, reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2022.
Carle, 35, has been behind the bench of the Pioneers since 2018. He's led the team to National Championships in 2022 and 2024. The Anchorage, AK native also coached the United States to back-to-back gold medals at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships. Carle had been attached to the Chicago Blackhawks' vacancy.
Sullivan, 57, parted ways with the Pens earlier this week after 10 seasons on the job. He became the first American-born head coach to win multiple Stanley Cups when he led the Pens to back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017.
Quenneville, 66, has been out of hockey since the fall of 2021 when he resigned from the Florida Panthers in the wake of the investigation of the Blackhawks' handling of allegations of sexual assault against video coach Brad Aldrich during the team's 2010 Stanley Cup run.
After previously claiming to have no knowledge of the allegations, multiple witnesses during the investigation claimed that Quenneville was present for a meeting ahead of the Stanley Cup Finals in which the matter was discussed.
Quenneville was officially reinstated by the NHL last summer.
Quenneville's 1,090 regular-season victories behind the bench of the Panthers, Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues are second all-time behind only Scotty Bowman's 1,467.
The 66-year-old Windsor, Ont. native won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks in 2010, 2013 and 2015.