The Anaheim Ducks interviewed Joel Quenneville for the team's vacant head coach position, Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli reports.
Quenneville is considered a strong candidate, but the Ducks are still early in their process, according to Seravalli.
In October 2021, Quenneville resigned from his position as head coach of the Florida Panthers due to his involvement in the Chicago Blackhawks' mishandling of a sexual assault in 2010.
The NHL lifted its ban on Quenneville, as well as Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac, on July 1, 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 last summer.
“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.”
Bowman is now the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers, while Quenneville and MacIsaac remain without a job in the league.
Quenneville is the second-winningest coach in NHL history. He owns a career record of 969-572-150 with 77 ties and has coached the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Blackhawks, and Panthers. He won the Stanley Cup three times with Chicago in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
The Panthers went 132-79-40 under Quenneville from 2019-2021. He hasn't won a round in the playoffs since Chicago's Stanley Cup triumph in 2015.
Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek played with Quenneville in the 1989-1990 NHL season with the Hartford Whalers.
Anaheim fired Greg Cronin after going 35-37-10 this season. The Ducks enjoyed a 21-point increase from Cronin's first campaign with the team, but it wasn't enough to save his job.
