Ducks Hire Joel Quenneville As Their Next Coach

Photo: Chicago Tribune

By Michael Walters

Early this morning Darren Dreger of TSN stated that Joel Quenneville would be the next Anaheim Ducks coach and an announcement would be coming today.

The Anaheim Ducks later announced that Joel Quenneville will be their next coach. He was an assistant coach with Colorado when they won the Stanely Cup in 1996. He then became the head coach with St Louis in the 1996-97 season and was with the team through the 2003-04 season. He then was the head coach of Colorado from 2005 to the end of the 2007-08 season. His next coaching stop was in Chicago from the 2008-09 season until the beginning of the 2018-19 season when he was first after 15 games. He won three Stanley Cups(09-10, 12-13, & 14-15) as the head coach in Chicago.

His final coaching stop with was Florida where he started in 2019-20 and then resigned seven games in the 2021-22 season due to announcement of sexual assault allegations by Kyle Beach, who was part of the Chicago organization in 2009-10 when the team won it’s first Stanley Cup with Quenneville at the helm.

In 2021 an independent investigation by law firm Jenner & Block LLP put together a report of the allegations, which you can read here: Report To Chicago Hockey Team Regarding Allegations of Sexual Misconduct by a former coach.

Quenneville gave an interview on April 8th, 2024 on the Cam and Strick podcast discussing the allegations for the first time.

There were multiple reports that some of the candidates included David Carle, Joel Quenneville, Mike Sullivan, Rick Tocchet, and Jay Woodcroft.

After a few weeks of interviews, the Ducks decided to go with Quenneville. The team was said to have conducted an extensive search into Quenneville’s role in Blackhawks 2010 sex abuse scandal and spoke with Kyle Beach. The Ducks determined Quenneville continued to put in necessary work to learn from those mistakes. The NHL gave Quenneville the approval in July 2024 to work in the league again.

In a press release today, General Manager Pat Verbeek said the following:

“Today is a great day for the Anaheim Ducks. Joel is a proven winner and one of the top coaches in NHL history. We believe this is a major step forward in our process of being a perennial playoff contender. Over the last two weeks, we conducted interviews with many outstanding coaching candidates, while simultaneously conducting a comprehensive review of what took place while Joel was head coach of the Blackhawks in 2010. We spoke with dozens of individuals, including advocates for positive change in hockey and leadership of the NHL, which last July officially cleared Joel to seek employment in the league. Our findings are consistent with Joel’s account that he was not fully aware of the severity of what transpired in 2010. It is clear that Joel deeply regrets not following up with more questions at the time, has demonstrated meaningful personal growth and accountability, and has earned the opportunity to return to coaching.”

Joel Quenneville on becoming the Anaheim Ducks coach:

“I’m excited to join the Anaheim Ducks. This is the organization I wanted to restart my career with and am truly grateful for this opportunity. The Ducks have incredible ownership, management and passionate fans. In nearly four years away from the game, I have learned from my prior mistakes and realized it will be actions over words that demonstrate my commitment to being a better leader.”

The Ducks then held a press conference in the afternoon and you can watch it here: Coach Quenneville Introduction

Quenneville also went on Ducks stream and gave a brief interview: Behind The Bench

When reports of Quenneville being considered for the position were made there was severe backlash from the Anaheim fan base, prompting many to contact the team to voice their concerns. It will be interesting to see how the fan base will react moving forward now that Quenneville has been officially named the next Ducks head coach.

Article Update (5/9/25): Friedman & Bukauskas Reactions

According to Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast, Quenneville was Anaheim’s first choice from the beginning. The Ducks did interview other candidates(mentioned above), but ultimately chose Quenneville. Friedman thinks the contract is either a 2 year deal with a possible one year option or a 3 year deal. The owners want to win and decided to pay Quenneville more money they usually do for a coach.

The Ducks did talk to Kyle Beach as previously reported and Friedman doesn’t think Anaheim would have hired Quenneville if there was an objection from him. Friedman mentioned that outside of Quenneville and Stan Bowman, there has been no communication from the Chicago Blackhawks upper management from the 2009-10 season and feels if would be beneficial if they addressed the public.

Kyle Bukauskas mentioned the possibility of Jonathan Toews returning to the NHL and discussed the idea if Anaheim would be a destination for him. Friedman thinks Anaheim will be able to attract more players now, but also stated that this is Quenneville one shot at redemption and he has to get it right.

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May 8th, 2025 (Updated May 9th, 2025)