Joel Quenneville - Hockey Career

Hockey Career

As a player, Quenneville was drafted 21st overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft. He has played for the OHA Windsor Spitfires, AHL New Brunswick Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies, New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers, AHL Baltimore Skipjacks, Washington Capitals and AHL St. John's Maple Leafs. He has also been a player/assistant coach for St. John's, head coach for the AHL Springfield Indians, and assistant coach for the Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche. He won the Jack Adams Award with the Blues in the 1999–2000 NHL season.

Quenneville won the Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with the Avalanche in 1996. He then moved to the Blues franchise, becoming head coach midway through the next season after Mike Keenan was fired. He led St. Louis to 7 straight playoff berths. In Quenneville's 8th season with the Blues, the team started poorly. Late in the year, St. Louis was in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century. As a result, Quenneville was fired.

Quenneville was hired to coach the Avalanche in June 2004, before the 2004–05 NHL lockout resulted in the season's cancellation. In his first year with the Avalanche, he led the team to the playoffs and a first round upset of the Dallas Stars. On March 25, 2007, Quenneville coached his 750th career game. He became one of only seven currently active coaches to reach 750 games as of the 2006–07 season. Quenneville reached his 400th coach win on October 26, 2007, in a 3–2 OT win in Calgary against the Flames. On May 9, 2008, the Avalanche announced that Quenneville was leaving the organization. Quenneville was hired as a pro scout by the Chicago Blackhawks in September 2008.

On October 16, 2008, Quenneville was promoted to head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, replacing former Blackhawk Denis Savard. On December 1, 2009, he received his 500th win as a coach in an 11 round shootout battle vs Columbus. In his two seasons with Chicago, he led the Hawks to the 2009 Western Conference Final and the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. With the Blackhawks' victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in the latter, Quenneville earned his first Stanley Cup as a head coach. On December 18, 2011, he earned his 600th career coaching win, winning 4-2 against the Calgary Flames.

Read more about this topic:  Joel Quenneville

Famous quotes containing the word career:

    I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.
    William Cobbett (1762–1835)