Ducks set to hire Quenneville as new head coach
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The Anaheim Ducks are set to hire Joel Quenneville as their next head coach, TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger report.
Dreger adds an official announcement will be made on Thursday.
Quenneville resigned as head coach of the Florida Panthers in the fall of 2021 after specifics were revealed of how the Chicago Blackhawks mishandled allegations that a player was sexually abused by an assistant coach in 2010 during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup that season.
The 66-year-old was Chicago’s head coach when the alleged abuse occurred during the 2010 playoffs, and former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and executive Al MacIsaac also resigned from their positions with the Blackhawks in 2021.
"Sources say the Ducks did an extensive background check specific to the Kyle Beach case, including the work Quenneville has done to reform from mistakes made during that time," Dreger wrote on X Thursday.
Quenneville, Bowman and MacIsaac required league permission in order to return to an NHL position, which was granted in July of 2024.
“For more than the last two and a half years, these individuals have been ineligible to work for any NHL team as a result of their inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ player Kyle Beach had been assaulted by the club’s video coach,” the league said in a statement in July, “While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals ... has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership.”
Quenneville would the second member of the group to return to the NHL after Bowman became the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers shortly after he was reinstated in July of 2024.
He will replace Greg Cronin behind the Ducks bench after the team finished sixth in the Pacific Division with a 35-37-10 record and missing the playoffs for the seventh-straight season.
Quenneville is the second-winningest coach in NHL history, with his 969 victories trailing only the 1,244 amassed by Scotty Bowman.
The Windsor, Ont., native won three Stanley Cups during his tenure as coach of the Blackhawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015 and also won the Jack Adams Trophy in 2000 as head coach of the St. Louis Blues.
Quenneville has a career record of 969-572-150 with 77 ties split between the Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Blackhawks, and Panthers.