Blackhawks Fire Joel Quenneville
In stunning news on Tuesday morning, the Chicago Blackhawks announced the team has fired coach Joel Quenneville.
Jeremy Colliton has been named the 38th head coach in franchise history. Colliton, 33, was named the head coach of the IceHogs after the 2016-17 season. Duncan Keith is 18 months older than his new head coach.
In addition, the Blackhawks have named Barry Smith an assistant coach on Colliton’s staff. The Blackhawks have also parted ways with Assistant Coaches Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson. The rest of the Blackhawks coaching staff will remain with the team.
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 6, 2018
#Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz statement on Joel Quenneville: pic.twitter.com/MJb38PGGC1
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 6, 2018
The corresponding move in Rockford came later on Tuesday morning. The Blackhawks announced that Derek King will serve as interim head coach of the IceHogs. Assistant Coach Sheldon Brookbank will remain as assistant coach.
From the IceHogs release:
King, 51, was named assistant coach of the IceHogs on July 7, 2016 and is currently in his third season with the team. Prior to joining the Blackhawks organization, he worked as assistant and associate coach with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL from 2009-15. With the Marlies, he helped the team win one Western Conference Championship (2012) and three North Division Championships (2012, 2013, 2014).
Holy Crap. How soon before St Louis hires him… hours, days?
WOW! sure his handling of some players can be criticized; however find a coach where that is not the scenario; please tell me who it is.
Stan should be the one to go. Kunitz lol, Ward for 3 million, crazy. Rutta for 2 million, why?
Bad decisions by Bowman ( Saad for Panarin) and there are many. And Q becomes the scapegoat. What’s next, no home games on TV? Thanks for your work Q.
When does the US scouting team get the axe? Bowman just bought himself another season.
Thanks for the Great Memories Coach Q! Wish you the Best!
I have criticized Q countless times re: Bollig, Mashinter, and currently Martinsen, as well as the Kempny situation. That being said, this is an utterly misguided, baseless, incorrect decision. Bowman is the culprit who has saddled Q w/ players like Martinsen currently and in the past. The current roster (particularly the forwards) is solely Bowman’s doing. He is the architect. He is the construction manager. He is the general contractor.
Extremely poor NHL level decision making transactions by Bowman (starting w/ the Danault trade thru the present) is what has led to the state of the current roster. This is Bowman’s fault 1000%, not Q.
Good luck to Q.
Jesus. Almost everyone wanted him fired and when they do it they get criticized. Can’t win with you folks. Im surprised they fired Samuelson and Dineen but not upset they did so. Was time for a new voice.
Solid move stan, now #trade19 and let’s go!
P.S. Jeremy Colliton is going to win w/ the current roster, particularly less than two lines of competent NHL forwards? LOL x infinity. This is hilarious. And he has a front office mole hired to baby sit him. This has all the earmarkings of a Bowman (SR.) special. Scotty Bowman not a nice guy, he never has been. Selfish man throughout his life. And McDonough and Rocky went along w/ it. They must be preoccupied w/ other matters.
I would rather see Jeremy Roenick as the coach, at least it would be entertaining to listen to him press conferences and the like.
Well when half the roster belongs in the AHL it only makes sense you have an AHL coach.
I was never in favor of firing Joel. Why did they not do this in the off season? Q could only run the horses he was given. Sb and Mac are on the hook imo. Joel was not perfect, but this falls more to Bowman and his scouting staff! Sad to see Q go. He gave this franchise and the fan base much to be proud of. Things change…
Thank you Joel for some wonderful memories, and good luck.
Let’s Go Hawks!
P.S. #2 The new coach is the same age as Seabrook, meaning he is two years younger than Keith. He is going to command the respect of these two, Crawford and Kane & Toews? Ok, sure. As Q liked to say, “we’ll see.”
Shocking but Think he may have knew it was coming saying after Saturday’s game he said was giving the players a couple of days off to rest up.
Ernie, I don’t think you’re correct when you said nearly everyone wanted Q to go. Never really got that impression on this board.
Rocky needs a new speechwriter. He has a gaff where he says “this organization never shies away from making tough decision or ones based on emotion”. So they DON’T shy away from making decisions based on emotion? Wrong words to use Rocky. You can do better. Get a proof reader.
Maybe Q does need to go considering how the roster is right now. Who knows. I am glad that the lump of a coach Ulf Samuelson is gone. Don’t know if he was Q’s pick or not, but that guy sure didn’t do sh*t with the defense.
My top pick to be gone is Marketer John McDonough. New coach Jeremy will feel right at home at the UC with the minor league experience they’ve cultivated the last two years. I’m a broken record on this, but NHL hockey should not be about t-shirt drops, girl with a microphone running through the stands playing games, and no organizational effort to pay attention to what is going on with the game. Yeah, McDonough came to the Blackhawks and helped along the way to building the brand. He was also freaking forever with the Cubs when they were the biggest losers in MLB. I hope that that guy is not involved in making personnel decisions. If he is there is something wrong.
All the same, Go Blackhawks!!!!!!!!!!
Barry Smith an interesting choice as assistant, a part of stanley cups with Pens and Wings in the 90s in an assistant/ associate role. Those teams had very good pp records. Lately in khl and Switzwerland as head coach and a scout for Blackhawks in Europe for a time too. Older school type may be an asset with younger head coach.
This is a tough one for sure. Both Q and Bowman have had their faults. There’s been times when what appeared to be a good signing didn’t get a chance with Q, and times when a bad signing got used by Q all the time, but there’s also been numerous times when Bowman made some really bad trades and signings. Hopefully, Colliton can take a more modern approach to the roster and style of play. And who knows, maybe this will bring up some of the players we’ve been waiting to see…My biggest fear is that the morale tanks with the core, who I think always believed in and respected Q. But I’m not in the locker room, so who knows…
This is stupid.
I wonder if he’ll take his “line blender” and “dog house” with him. Maybe there was an Uber recording of how the players felt (see Senators news).
Over the last 50 years, Q has been one of the best coaches the Hawks had. Gave all of us long time fans plenty to be proud of. My only criticism is he’s played the same system for so long that other teams knew how to defend. Sure as hell weren’t going to be physical. But as the years went by, the speed and finesse dropped and the guys that were brought in didn’t help much. Bummed that Q and Dineen are gone, but felt that maybe a change was needed. Samuelson I could care less about.
Solid move Stan, now relieve yourself.
I can’t wait to see Tab’s tribute to Coach Q. It has to have the gif of him grabbing his crotch at the refs. Maybe not Q’s finest or classiest moment, but boy did he ever encapsulate what everyone was thinking at that time…
thanks for all that you and the team accomplished over these years , it was a great run that Chicago will never forget. That being said this move is justified. The team is in last place and playing without a glimpse of being headed in the right direction. Terrible PP and PK for several years has killed this team time and again. Not to mention that awful move against the Flames that gave them extra PP time. This move today was needed for this team to move forward. Now it’s all on Bowman for once.
I’m suddenly feeling nostalgic for the Alpo Suhonen year. Colliton did a fine job with the Hogs but I can’t see how that will translate into success at the NHL level this year. I suppose it will be nominally interesting to see what a different head coach will do with this team in terms of lines and per game ice time for the younger players and if D. Sikura or Edsjell get called up from Rockford now. My gut says Colliton will only be a place holder for a more permanent hire in the off season but who knows. The mustache will be missed.
Priceless Tab. Thank you.
Also,
Q, thank you for a great run. Good luck and please don’t go to St Louis :)
This team was destroyed by Bowman with his contracts and trades. Period end of story. Q will be behind the kings bench. Kings will have him signed by day end
Thanks for everything to coach quenneville.
It’s a joke of a decision. He should have been let go in the offseason then.
It’s a cowardly situation by bowman and mcdounagh. To me they all should be tied to the hip together.
I thought (hoped) it would be Stan fired (I was thinking early in the new year), Q kept on to finish the year, a new (non-interim) GM hired at the end of the season, and the new GM allowed to bring his coach (with Colliton definitely in consideration).
I can’t believe Rocky is letting it play this way. Does he not get it or is there something else going on? And throwing this dumpster fire into Colliton’s lap and expecting him to turn it around (as clearly Rocky is deluding himself that we can win this year).
Love Car Bomb’s tweet. Maybe there will be more like that – Q is well-respected.
Thanks Q. You got us over the hump 3 times and it doesn’t get better than that. A true Hall of Fame coach, champion, a real hockey guy.
Here we go. FINALLY a decision has been made about the power structure of our organization. I only hope that it was the correct decision. Personally, I think this was necessary and here is why.
For years now we have wondered who was really determining the personnel side of the Blackhawks – Quennville or Bowman(s). Now we know. It was way too obvious that the two were not on the same page, simply based on playing time for players brought into the organization. Put Vermette in the press box? Seriously? Kempny wasn’t good enough to break our lineup last year? The list goes on and I don’t think many people will argue that there was an obvious disconnect between GM and Coach. Why they couldn’t or wouldn’t get on the same page – I certainly don’t know. But I will guess: Like most males in the world (and yes I am one), EGO got in the way. Two successful males had an argument over who had the bigger…. power. We now have a winner. An ownership decision was inevitable and necessary. Now we move on.
Quennville was the right coach at the right time. Savard was the right coach before him, but needed to go when he did. That likely was a tougher decision at the time than this one was. This setup was obviously stale.
What do I hope to see? Simple – some stability to the lines and the youth movement to commence. Our biggest problem of Q trying to win now can take a backseat to getting some player growth/experience at the NHL level for those who are on the border of being NHL players. Ownership needs to step up and make a comment of the current direction and ease the tension among fans by stating we are looking to grow the team for next year and the year after. Anyone – and I mean anyone – can see that this group isn’t going to contend for a cup, so let’s get busy on next year. And do it NOW.
We’ve seen numerous young players (and some vets) feel the wrath of Q over the years, in many cases apparently stunting – if not destroying – some players. Tevo was one. He was never going to make it under Q. TVR got wrecked when he was forced to play the other side on defense. Anyone get tired of watching him skate into the boards because he simply couldn’t figure out how to protect the puck any other way? A wonderful young player who got wrecked by switching sides. How many young wings have we seen moved to their “other” side? Some wings are better on their “off” wing – DCat, Hossa, Kane…. Not Saad. I can understand the attempt to change a side by a coach. Murphy flourished last year after he was switched. Hammer made the change and there probably wasn’t a more important piece in the 3 championships than Hammer – my opinion. He was always on the TOP DEFENSIVE PAIR. Keith and Seabrook were about offense more than defensive. Thank the pickup of Oduya for the last 2 cups. It allowed Keith to be his best as an offensive player, with Seabrook the more reliable defensive player in that pairing.
We have a bunch of good prospects for our defense, yes. But common wisdom says that D-Guys take 150-200 games to be reliable NHL level players. Do the math – about 2 years of full time play. Joki may be ahead of that schedule, but we are a long way from any others. Relax – this takes time. Q isn’t the guy that wants to take time – he wants now. That’s why he was right when originally hired. The team was ready for him. But certainly not now. We need a patient coach who can allow failures to be growing moments, not press box moments. Detroit let their players get super hungry in the AHL and then bring them up. It’s a delicate balance. Does anyone remember thinking we had a potential TOP PAIR in Ruuta and Forsling last November? How did that work out? They weren’t ready and hit walls – we now don’t have the coach that does that to players, but hopefully a coach that can back off their playing time and ease them into situations they can succeed at instead of fail when walls are hit. We need to build confidence in our young players – not destroy them. Sure. I want only NHL ready players on the NHL team too. But hard salary caps don’t work that way. We need to have good, young, inexpensive players for that to happen, trained in the AHL. Well, when you shoot for a cup every year and give up your top draft spots and young talent, you eventually have to pay for those moves. It’s time.
The current roster? Kunitz, Ward, Manning, Krueger…? Placekeepers, simply put. We don’t have players ready for those roles and Bowman tried to give Q some players who could fill the roles until we had home grown talent ready for them. Bowman knew that Q wouldn’t allow kids to grow with his win now attitude. Vets can handle the Q routine – kids get destroyed. This change now allows a coach to bring kids along without destroying their mental side. And Krueger – he took his low paying contracts for the team years ago and got overpaid this year. He finally got some money from us. Allow the gesture by Bowman – it didn’t hurt us this year. Seabrook got his too. Hopefully, and I expect to be the case, that contract gets moved at expansion. Our kids will be ready then. We free up space and get the pieces we need.
We all could see the family was fighting. We have a winner. Some are happy and some are sad. But now we have direction. We’ve said good bye to the playoffs, and hello to a 2 year rebuild, and hopefully a draft next summer that the organization needs. Yes, that is a forward and a goalie for starters.
Sorry for rambling. Thanks for listening.
Thats right Tab buys them the rest of the season, if no big turnaround Bowman and rest of front office are gone too.
I have said for years Bowman should be the first to get the axe. Ole Danny boy Carillo has it right. Thanks Q for your service to the club and fans.
This season is nothing more than a experience season for kids. They were going no where and don’t fool yourselves that there older & slower and no mojo. I for one think there years from being a force ! Q will make Kings instantly contender for cup once Quick returns ! Kings are no fools with Q out there and can afford him
there is no denying what Q has done for the Hawks and it’s success but as Seat 24 has mentioned his PP and PK schemes (that includes the assistants and why they are gone too) is old and outdated and inexcusable at times. The line combinations leave you scratching your head as well at times as well. It was time to move on. Bowman has made some blunders as well and the clock is on him now.
There is much more to this than just a simple firing of Q. Q was great and led the team to 3 cups and had a great run. What has happened the last 3 years? 2 first round exits and missing the playoffs last year. He lost the team. There were many rumbling of this from players, but no one flat out said it. Much of it came about when Vermette joined, was sent to the “doghouse” and played as a winger… for one of the BEST faceoff men in the game. After the 2015 cup he wanted nothing to do with resigning as a Hawk, due to Q. Many other players, including Toews and Hossa had complained off the line-blender that would come out of nowhere. How do you expect chemistry when every shift you are playing with different guys. Q was able to get through times with these philosophies and tactics. It hasn’t worked the last 3 years.
As far as an organization works… once the team stops winning, the coach is typically first to go. Especially when it is known that the GM and Head Coach don’t see eye to eye. The GM makes signings trying to bring in youthful talent but the head coach ignores and plays vets. Makes it very hard to rebuild on the fly when your internal talent doesn’t ever get a chance. That is why Q was first to go. What this does is it puts Bowman’s fate on the chopping block. If this doesn’t work and the Hawks cannot recover or rebuild, Bowman will be gone. Which is what everyone seems to want, except for ownership, who ultimately has the say.
Coach Q was never going to want to be part of a rebuild, or even a retool along the way. That is where the Hawks are at and he had become a hindrance rather than a help to overall growth of the team and organization. That is why Q is no longer with the Hawks.
I wish Q the best, and thank him for the cups and great runs! Let’s go Hawks and hopefully things can improve quickly!
End of an era in hockey history. Credit Rocky for reviving a long suffering franchise. Many future hall of famers were seen at UC including Q. A truly magic time.
great post Silent Spot
Agree with Big Indian on McDonough. Never been a fan of his. He’s had too much of a say in contract decisions
If Stan is now on the hotseat, as many have suggested, there is no way he is putting all his trust in a one year AHL coach. Barry Smith, a long time Bowman “good ole boy” will be the real coach, while Colliton will be the fresh young “face” of the coaching staff. Smith will be manipulating the puppet strings.
When people complain about wings playing their off wing and being less effective their post loses all credibility.
Thanks for the cups Q. You were the right coach at the right time but it is time for a change now. I will be cheering when you get the call to the HOF.
Bowman should be next to be shown the door. The Parnarin trade is inexcusable, and what can be said about Kunitz that has not already been said. The point about Ward is that we had no secession plan for Crow so we had to go out and drop money on a scrub. That is Bowman not being prepared.
We need top line talent evaluators to rebuild this team.
Only surprise here is Bowman kept his job.
But Colliton knows the talent in Rockford better than anyone, he brought them to the playoffs last year. What he makes of the season will be interesting. Hope he doesn’t find himself like Trestman did when da Bears fired Lovie.
To echo Silent Spot: Family fights get really ugly sometimes. Q was this family’s casualty. I hate that it ended this way. But all of us here knew deep down something had to give, and this time it was Q.
That C on 19’s chest will be well -earned the rest of this season. I have faith in 19.
Let’s Go Boys! Time to see your mettle.
Silent Spot – that was the best post I have ever read on this fan-ramble blog. Great insight!
And now, once the team settles back into a few years of mediocrity, I hope Rocky will realize that Bowman and McD should have been shown the door…no, actually booted out the door. Their personnel decisions have been atrocious. It was fun while it lasted.
Im hopeful Colliton can get the job done. I don’t think being young matters much. Paul Maurice was 28 when he got the gig in Hartford. And he coached a 31 year old Kevin Dineen. The guys in Sweden rave about Colliton. I’ll give the guy a chance. Q is and was obviously great. But a new voice was needed. When did we all begin to tune our parents out?
I’m too sentimental about some things, I guess. I loved Q as Coach, and we all loved the 3 cups. Everything ends though. If Colliton has some success Stan and the boys will look justified.
Pressure’s on now, though. If the Blackhawks slide downward throughout the season, or are just even mediocre, how long of a time leash is Colliton gonna get? I hope that the guys who made this decision are looking at themselves in the mirror, or that Rocky is looking at them. It can’t be all on one guy (i.e. Q). Interesting times ahead!
I wish Jeremy Colliton and his staff well. I’m a Blackhawks fan first. Best wishes to Coach Quenneville going forward. I’m sure he won’t be out of a job long unless he wants to rest up a bit. I have a feeling we’ll see him in the UC again soon.
Can’t help but notice that Florida is in last place on their division. Plus Hawks owe Quenneville 6m this year and next in salary.
Maybe, just maybe lightning can strike twice. As it was in 2008 it is in 2018. The difference, however, is HUGE. Colliton may be a fine NHL head coach some day. But to put him in this position now and without any NHL exp. is a disservice to Colliton, the Hawks and the fans who pay a FORTUNE to go to the games. If I were Colliton, I would have turned down the job. Hire an experienced coach and make Colliton first assistant……maybe.
Colliton has done a fine job with the Hogs……I wish him well
Hereismike, Many players are much more effective playing there normal side.
Especially at the NHL level when they have very little time.
A lot easier to pick up and make passes on the forehand.
While several players are comfortable playing there opposite side, not everyone is.
Not all of us have the same opinion and that is fine.
Well said “Time is Up” but if Bowman and co. knew the firing of Q after a bad start was an option (and I think they knew it was) they should have fired him in the off season. After 12 seasons there were no surprises on how and why Q used veterans and under used young players. If Bowman wanted a different coaching philosophy for this group of players he should have known that after last season and I think he did, which tells me it wasn’t his decision. The Q era was over and moving on is the right choice but I don’t like the way they did it.
The wrong guy got fired. Bowman should have been axed. Q could only do so much with the mediocre talent Stan has assembled. The Saad for Panarin trade may go down as one of the worst trades in Hawks history.
Well, let’s look at this logically……..Bowman is on borrowed time. That’s why they hired a 33 year old “kid”, so Bowman can play puppet master. Bowman will create the lineup and the kid will give it to the referees. If the Hawks miss the playoffs, Bowman is done and so is the kid.
The new GM(whoever that will be) will want to hire his own coach. And if anyone on this site believes that this team is a playoff team, they are sorely mistaken. The bottom 6 on this team are AHL at best. The bottom 4 D-men are turnover machines.
Q, on the other hand, will be coaching an NHL team by Friday. When Bowman finally goes, he’ll be working as a Zamboni driver in some rink in the Chicago area.
Thanks to Q for giving us 3 cups!! God bless!!
@Duncan Teeth – I agree with you completely. I am speculating, as we all are in some way, that Q was probably told “last chance” going into this year. The organization most likely did this out of respect for Q and what he has accomplished with the Hawks. There was some promise with the hot start but things fizzled quicker than they started. The team and Q couldn’t recover, leading to what upper management and ownership most likely deemed as “rock bottom.” To attempt to get out of “rock bottom” this was the change they decided to make.
Only time will tell, but I hope it all works out and the Hawks move forward from this!
Chicago fans get too sentimental and attached. With some of the contracts like Toews ($10M/yr) and Seabrook ($6.87M/yr), was there too much pressure on management to keep the core together versus unloading soon to be dead weight? I keep hearing about the Hammer trade, but Hammer was going to get $$$ in the following year. Same with Panarin. Where was the money to come from with a hard cap. While none of this justifies the Bowman moves, Bowman has choices to make. He is not going to fire himself. I am sure he sees the tea leaves if the Hawks keep losing.
Let’s discuss Q, who did a fabulous job when his teams were loaded. But over the past couple years, he does not seem to be changing and other teams are wise to his system. His PK and PP have stunk for years – that is on him. He also does not adjust his system for the players he has. While he will accept young players, he lacks patience to allow them to learn or finding ways for them to fit in the system and learn. Finally on the last road trip and many of the other games his star players (Toews, Keith, Seabrook) were making the mistakes as much as the kids. That is on Q; NOT Bowman.
Since we are not competitive why aren’t more of the youngsters here, instead we have Kunitz and Davidson. They are better than Sikura and Boqvist?
Again, Q did a great job; won THREE cups and no one can take that away from him.
But a change was necessary. Bowman needed to do something; otherwise he would have been fired. Then Q would probably be gone anyway.
We need to give up on the sentiment and face a change. If it is the wrong change, the Bowman change will come.
I caught the same thing as Big Indian in Rocky’s speech: “this organization never shies away from making tough decision or ones based on emotion”. Looks like the firing of Q was based more “on emotion” to cover up terrible trades, signings, and cap management, along with mediocre drafting.
Q was a great, although stubborn, coach. Yes, he should have played the youngsters more at the expense of some more losses. But anyone who thinks that changing coaches with this talent, including Rockford, will dramatically improve performance, they will likely be disappointed.
Hawks1961: The Saad-Panarin trade was bad, but hardly the worst. How about Leddy for, what turned out to be, no-one (although Q may have wanted to get rid of Leddy)? Or two 2nd round picks for Timonen?
If Edjsell or Entwistle do not make the team by next season, we can conclude that since Tallon’s departure the front office has been driving this team into the ground.
Tallon left before the 1st Cup. the 2nd + 3rd were largely built by Bowman. While I can appreciate that the core guys were drafted by Tallon, but guys like Saad, Shaw, etc were acquired by Bowman. Getting pissed about Bowman trading away Leddy ignores that he got Leddy for Cam Barker. There’s been a lot of good and bad on both ends, so I’m not ready to pin the whole thing on Bowman or Quenneville. The reality is that they haven’t performed well enough over the last 18 months and now one of the two is unemployed (for now).
I would say since 2015 the front office has been driving the team into the ground. Before that he did a great job of building around the core that was here already and trying to tap dance the salary cap. But after that last Cup, trading Johns and Sharp to Dallas after waiting too long and having no other options was the beginning of a series of deals that screwed this team ten ways till Tuesday as far as our depth is concerned.
It is going to take years of drafting and player development to have quality depth again. We finally, after ten years of Stan, have a dman pipeline. But nothing in the pipeline in goal, nothing on the wing, and nothing at center. Unless Wise develops and becomes a 2C but he was just drafted this year and is far away from the NHL.
The Leddy trade came about because it came down to having cap space to keep only one of two defensemen, Leddy or Oduya.
Long term, it was always going to be a better decision to keep Leddy due to their ages, as Leddy is about ten years younger. However, they traded him (far too late in the offseason so they got almost nothing useful back) and kept Oduya, and went on to win their third Cup the following year.
To me, the Cup win proves it was the right call. To be honest, my hunch is that it was Q’s call or at least his input. But either way, they had to choose one and just like I wish the Cubs still had Glyber Torres at shortstop instead of the Yankees, he got us Chapman and a World Series. So I’ll take the championship every time if I can get it.
“It is going to take years of drafting and player development to have quality depth again.”
Those years have started ticking already…
Jokiharju is playing well. There are more potentially elite defensemen coming.
DeBrincat is outstanding. Sikura should be in Chicago. And I believe this move means he’ll be in the NHL sooner than later. There are some talented young forwards coming, too.
The problem for fans is the gap between the last Cup and these guys making an impact in the NHL.
@CBHawk I’m actually surprised Hjarlmasson go so little; I guess the injuires played a role. He could have been the hottest free agent defenseman available if he didnt have the year before so injury filled.
In Q’s interview after the Calgary game I saw a very exasperated side of him that I’d never seen before as though he longer knew what to do – the team has been making the same mistakes for over a year now at least – the turnovers are relentless (part of that is coaching), the PP sucks (also partly coaching), the PK is bad, they crumble in the 3rd and play on the perimeter too much and so on
I loved Q and it’s sad to see him go but maybe he could no longer see the possibilities here with this roster – maybe he longer had a vision for these players other than to re-create the old one
I’m not blaming him – he’s had a longer run than almost any NHL coach gets and deserves all the accolades he will get for 3 Cups but it was time to move on probably for both parties
Now Stan is on the hot seat – if there isn’t at least a revived buzz about this team (even if they don’t make the playoffs) by year’s end he will be next out the door
I watched the post-practice pressers of #’s 88, 7, 19, and 50 on Blackhawks TV, and they all seemed… melancholy. I was considering using the word dejected but I don’t think that’s fair. They definitely aren’t happy about this and who knows how the team will respond, but I’d guess it will be poorly.
It takes time to implement any kind of change in strategy and tactics by a new head coach in hockey so even if Colliton’s style is drastically different from Q’s (I have no idea if it is) we really won’t start seeing the fruits of that change until mid-December? I’m guessing here.
It will be interesting to see if Colliton sticks to more stable line pairings and if player ice time starts to change drastically. Martinsen, Kruger, and Kunitz are the only forwards among possible send down candidates that would need to clear waivers to be sent to the AHL. Only Jokiharju is waiver exempt among defensivemen and I’d be surprised to see him in Rockford with how he’s played.
I may have been too critical about the moves made by the front office but over a ten year period there needs to be more to show for it.
Best decisions pre-2016: signing Hjalmarsson, letting Niemi walk, drafting Saad, Shaw, Schmaltz, Hino, Sikura, and signing Panarin.
Several very good players are in the pipeline from the 2016-18 drafts but most will not be ready to be brought up for another 1-2 years. In the mean time, we have an aging core with not enough talent around them for at least another year or two. If there is no elite net-minder, all bets are off.
Forgot about DCat being a great pick.
Where are the Crow to Colorado rumors coming from? Sounds like paranoid thinking unless their is a good source behind it.
Niether Crow or nor Q going to Colorado, my guess if he wants to coach again this year would be Blues, Oilers or Panthers.
I agree with other posters and hope Colliton can be a positive change for the dressing room. Bring out the best in the younger players and veterans buy into to his young fresh ideas.
Obviously if Q wants a job he’ll get one and I wish him well just not against the Hawks and hopefully not in STL
I’m hoping Tallon hires Q. Succeed or fail Q can make the Panthers more interesting. It might be what they’re missing. On paper Florida is a good team.
Dale will hire Q for sure or he heads back to St-Louis. The problem is Stan and his father who still has to mettle in people’s affairs. Tells his son to hire Barry Smith and not allow the new coach to hire his own assistants just shows you how this GM is a JOKE and so is the organization. Allowing Scotty to be the puppet master and his son the dumb accountant is pathetic. Scotty is a selfish man who is way past the hockey scene!
WIRTZ needs to bring back classy men like Doug Wilson. Fire the BOWMANs!
Whats wrong with those posts. The F word, wasn’t in every post.
Im out, with Q, for now.
Car Bomb finally blew up yesterday!
If you want a fresh start then Bowman has to go. You can’t fire Q and keep Bowman. Bowman’s trades and inability to attract and keep talent as well as the contracts he has overseen are reason enough for him to be gone. Say what you want of Q but the man has 3 Cups and the 2nd most wins all time. His resume speaks for itself. Hoping he comes down to Florida and coaches the Panethers with Dale.
Every company president or VP ALWAYS has a person or persons that they go to for advice or opinion. John McDonough is no exception to this rule. He doesn’t have to know the game of hockey or baseball, what he needs to know is MONEY. Rocky and John can plainly see that there are empty seats at the UC and empty boxes and season ticket holders losing patience and dumping their tickets.
Believe me when I say that John and Rocky didn’t want to give Q the door. They would rather have a winning team and have a full house at the UC and keep making money. But obviously, there is a disconnect between the coaches and the players. The PP shows it, the last 2 seasons show it AND the fans know it.
So Rocky and John make Q the fall guy. But if this season continues to go down the tubes, the Bowmans, Jeremy Colliton AND John McDonough could be gone by June. They ALL said, “we hold ourselves accountable” several times at the news conference. Well, if they don’t make the playoffs this season, it’s time for Rocky to back up the truck!
Original6- We shall see about the Saad/Panarin trade. When all the numbers are in after their careers we can take another look. Kane/Panarin was one of the best duos in hockey. No competent GM outdoor break up that combo.
Would break up
I wonder if McD and Co really do believe that this roster can contend for a playoff spot right now. I mean, I get that Bowman is going to stand by his roster moves, he isn’t going to fall on that sword… But it never occurred to me that maybe Quenneville was more culpable in the Hawks plight than I could ever admit.
This by no means absolves Bowmans hand in the Hawks current plight, but I think the League caught up to Q and he never adjusted to that change. The pattern is there to see. When a team plays the way the Hawks play the Hawks look bad, regardless of the talent level of the opponent. Look at how well Arizona looked against the Hawks just this season. And look how well the Hawks looked against Toronto when they decided not to pressure the Hawks. This pattern repeats itself to varying degrees from the 2015 Cup win on.
I’m extremely thankful for Q and for his very big part in bringing 3 more cups to the Hawks these past several years. He is a HOF coach and probably the best who has ever coached any team in Chicago, ever (all sports, not just hockey…) That said, I really do think he did not adjust his scheme to how the league changed. I think this team needs to try something different and see how well they can be with a new voice.
I am thankful and grateful for everything Joel did for this franchise and he will always be beloved by me and all Hawks fans. I wish him happiness and success and hope that he finds both (not at the expense of the Hawks, but that probably will happen…) But I really do think he became a little resistant to the change that was happening in the game today…
Read this thread:
Good read Tab, emotions are outta control over this for sure.
After some period of time for Colliton to assess the pieces and see how best to fit them together, I sure hope he decides to give DCat and Kane an opportunity to play together, either with Toews or Anisimov as their center.
Anybody wondering having guys not playing off wing. Todays lines had 24, 88, 84 and 14 all left shots playing right wing and 12 and 8 right shots playing leftwing. Only Saad and Martinsen left shots playing natural wing.
12 19 24 2 28
8 15 88 56 7
20 64 84 23 44
29 16 14
Scratches 40, 62, 22
Its better for shooting, one timers and changing the angle. Look at how 12 does it, being offwing.
Hey Ian – thanks for that information. That makes me wonder a few things, like maybe the new staff asked some players which side they are more comfortable playing. Perhaps this indicates that Q was playing some people out of their comfort zones.
As a fan, it is pretty easy to see why some players are on their off wings and do it very well (think Ovechkin). Kane and DCat are exciting and talented players on their off wings. Why? I think they enhance their own abilities and tendencies by being on their off wings. Those guys have good speed, but utilize it east and west, meaning when they cut to the middle of the ice and hit the gas, they are on their forehands. DCat has one of the best releases in the league when he shifts right and fires. He can’t do that on the right wing any more than Kane could do that on the left wing as they both would be working to the backhand sides. Saad – he doesn’t go to the middle of the ice very well (backhand side). He’s a north and south kind of guy, with a powerful stride like Hossa. Only Hoss had the finesse to go to the middle like Kane and DCat, thus playing the right wing. Saad can’t do that, so his strength is keeping the puck away from the defender (outside of dots) and going full speed down the ice. He needs to be on the left wing to utilize his strengths – more power and less finesse. I feel these are reasons he doesn’t fit well on the right side with DCat and Toews, but better on the left with Kane. I like the new line with him and Fortin (I feel Fortin is better on the right side).
It will be interesting to see who emerges as someone who had been playing the wrong wing. My guess – Fortin. Speed and hands in the build of Kane (but quicker). But man, he definitely needs to learn to finish. I really feel Fortin needs to stay up and in his most comfortable position, get some confidence, and then gets some goals. He could become the magic on the top line on the right side. Seems to be willing to play both ends, and even gets caught throwing the body from time to time.
BTW – who played the best in recent times with Kane? Some young speedster, right handed shot playing his off wing on the left. Currently a Blue Jacket… Same skillset as DCat. I don’t think it is a coincidence.
We need to find someone who can play right side with Toews that compliments enough and can score. Is that Kahun, I don’t know. But it isn’t Saad, and he can’t score enough to have him on the left side with Toews and a right wing who isn’t scoring goals. Q had some position/personnel problems. Were they his making by expecting players to be studs in roles that didn’t suit them, or did he lack the players to fill those roles? It is my understanding that professional athletes play better when confident, and are confident when put in situations to succeed rather than fail. I think TVR and Kempny fit that idea.
Silent good points, i wonder if Sikura could work on Toews line. He is another left shot who it seems prefers the right wing, Colliton used him there in Rockford. Kahun also a center could be tried the middle between Saad and Fortin, if they are the 3rd line wingers for now. Lines may change up a few times too as he gets comfortable on the bench.