Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100 – #38 Joel Quenneville

Entering his 10th season as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, Joel Quenneville has coached 700 games, has 9 playoff appearances, and has won three Stanley Cups with the Hawks

Joel Quenneville, or as many of us refer to him as “Q,” has been a major part of the Chicago Blackhawks resurgence through the last decade.  What started first with a change of ownership, a revamped front office, a new head coach, and the drafting of a couple generational players has led the Blackhawks to be one of the top franchises of the last ten years.  Quenneville and his staff have seen several players cycle through the Blackhawks system, but he has been able to find success over the years with the current model in place building around a core of stars.

Before his coaching career, Quenneville was a top defensive prospect.  He played his junior hockey with the Windsor Spitfires and was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs 21st overall in the 1978 NHL Draft.  He began his career in the American Hockey League playing for the New Brunswick Hawks but after just 16 games, he was called up to play the remainder of the season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Quenneville played 13 seasons in the NHL playing with team such as the Colorado Rockies, the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers and the Washington Capitals.

Immediately after his playing career ended, Quenneville got into coaching.  Following his last season playing professional hockey in the AHL with the St. John’s Maple Leafs, he became a coach with them.  He also was an assistant coach with the Springfield Indians, Quebec Nordiques, and the Colorado Avalanche, whom he won a Stanley Cup with in 1996.

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The following year, Joel Quenneville was offered his first head coaching job in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues.  There he spent eight seasons coaching the Blues and was very successful.  He lead the team to seven straight playoff appearances and them win their first Presidents Trophy in 1999.  Quenneville also won the Jack Adams award for best head coach that season.  After several years of losing in the playoffs, Quenneville was let go by the Blues in 2004.

During the lockout of the 2004-2005 season, Quenneville was hired by his former team, the Colorado Avalanche to be head coach of the team.  He spent three seasons with the Avs getting them to the 2nd round of the playoffs in 2006 and 2008, but left the organization after the 2007-08 season.

Following his stint with the Avalanche, Quenneville was hired by the Chicago Blackhawks officially as a scout in 2008, but ended up taking over for Dennis Savard as head coach that season.  Since Quenneville has taken over as head coach, the Blackhawks have made the playoffs in all nine seasons and have won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013, and 2015.

Quenneville’s career stats are 1,539 games, 851 wins, a .649 winning percentage, 18 playoff appearances, and three Stanley Cups.  He has the most career wins of all active head coaches and ranks only behind Scotty Bowman for most wins all time as a head coach.

Famous for his quote, “nobody likes winning more than me,” Blackhawks fans are hoping Quenneville can make his 10th season with the Blackhawks another special one.