Chicago Blackhawks: Joel Quenneville’s comments are infuriating

The Chicago Blackhawks did a terrible job of managing their team over the last few seasons. They made some nice moves to bolster their roster in the summer of 2021 but it is hard to be happy about it because the only reason they had to make them is because of their own incompetence. Now, we are finding out that things are even worse than we thought. Not only are they bad at their jobs, but they also aren’t great people of character either.

Joel Quenneville went on the Red Line Radio podcast last week and discussed some things that would infuriate any Blackhawks fan. He revealed that the Blackhawks decided to fire him days after the family dealt with the tragic loss of his nephew that he was extremely close to. Without giving him any time to deal with it, they just let him go. That is how they treated the greatest coach in the history of the franchise.

It came after a tough loss to the Calgary Flames that Patrick Kane wasn’t playing in because he was sick. You have to wonder how things would have shaken out but Joel made it seem like he was upset with the way that things went down there. It was the end of the greatest run in the history of the team and it is sad that it had to happen like that.

The Hawks weren’t bad in 2017-18 because Joel Quenneville wasn’t doing the job right. They were bad because management overreacted to being swept in the first round despite having the best record in the Western Conference. On draft day in 2017, they traded away Niklas Hjalmarsson and Artemi Panarin for a return that isn’t even close to what those two players are worth. Yet, Quenneville took the blame and was let go.

The Chicago Blackhawks did not do right by Joel Quenneville with the way they fired him.

Hearing Quenneville reveal the timeline of events from that year was very tough. Luckily for him, he was able to get a great job as the head coach of the Florida Panthers. They are a legit threat to win the Eastern Conference this year and compete for the Stanley Cup. Their roster is loaded now and they have the perfect guy behind the bench to lead that charge.

With the Chicago roster constructed as is, they would be a much better team with Joel Quenneville behind the bench than Jeremy Colliton. Instead, he will help lead that great Florida roster to lots of wins and success this upcoming year. It is a shame that things had to end like that in Chicago but we have known about Stan Bowman’s lack of skill for a while.