Chicago Blackhawks: The return of Joel Quenneville

The Chicago Blackhawks had a dynasty in the early 2010s and one man was there to lead the way for them. He finally returns to Chicago as an opponent.

The Chicago Blackhawks are feeling good about themselves right now. They are now on a five-game winning streak which is as good as any streak they have had this season. They are getting contributions from everyone as they now only sit three points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They need to keep it up or they will quickly fall out of it but it seems like they should at least be able to compete for that final spot.

Patrick Kane scored his 1000th point in their most recent win over the Winnipeg Jets. Most of those 1000 points came with Joel Quenneville as his head coach. The Hawks made the decision to fire him early in the 2018-19 season after a mediocre start. He is now the head coach of the Florida Panthers and is making his first return to the United Center since being fired.

As you would expect, the Panthers are a much-improved team under Quenneville. They currently sit in a playoff spot as they only trail the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division. They have always had a lot of talent but they added an elite goalie and an elite coach which have finally given them some stability.

They are led by forwards like Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Mike Hoffman, and Evgenii Dadonov. All of these guys can score goals and create high danger chances for their teammates. They also receive plenty of help from the back end with players like Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, and Anton Stralman amongst others. They also have plenty of depth at every position so the Blackhawks are going to need good play from just about everyone in this game. Of course, Joel knows how to get all of this talent in a position to succeed.

The elite goalie that they added is former Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. The man they call Bob got the start last night in Minnesota so we will have to wait and see if he gets the call again or not against the Blackhawks. Every goalie they have used this season has played well so the Blackhawks are going to need to create traffic and make it hard on whoever it is.

It is certainly going to be a special night for Joel and everyone who has ever cheered for the Chicago Blackhawks. He meant so much to the team that won the Stanley Cup three times in six years along with many other runs that came up a little short. He is one of the most successful coaches in NHL history so he will be welcomed back as such. There will certainly be an emotional tribute to the guy who has meant everything to this team. There were great players but Joel put those great players in position to be the best that they can be.