Joel Quenneville Being Hired by the Ducks as Next Coach

At the end of April, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that former NHL coach Joel Quenneville was interviewed for the Anaheim Ducks head coaching vacancy. Seravalli noted, “He is a strong candidate, but it’s still early in the process, multiple interviews to come in Anaheim. On Thursday, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports the Ducks have seemingly decided and will hire Quenneville, with an announcement potentially later in the day.

Dreger writes, “See how the day unfolds, but indications are Joel Quenneville is going to be the next head coach in Anaheim. Suggestion of an announcement today.”

Quenneville and Ducks GM Pat Verbeek were teammates in Hartford in 1989-90. The league has also approved Quenneville coming back to the NHL. As such, the fit was always there, but the Ducks wanted to due their due diligence and interview several candidates for the position.

It was said that even a couple of weeks ago, Anaheim had offered Quenneville the head coaching position. Things went quiet after that. Two weeks later, the official news of his hiring seems to be coming.

There will be pushback from some members of the media and certain members of the hockey community, as there was when the Edmonton Oilers hired Stan Bowman. Ultimately, time will tell if Quenneville proves he can be a good coach and put to rest any doubts he’s done the work needed to show his involvement in the Kyle Beach incident is something he’s learned from.

Dreger noted, “Sources say the Ducks did an extensive background check specific to the Kyle Beach case, including the work Quenneville has done to reform from mistakes made during that time. He was the first candidate Anaheim spoke with after firing Cronin.”

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