Chicago Blackhawks: Joel Quenneville is out as Florida coach

The Chicago Blackhawks are in deep trouble now that there are public findings from the sexual assault allegations that they have been dealing with for a while now. We know that everything that has happened is incredibly disgusting and heads are rolling as a result. It started with Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac being let go by the Blackhawks.

Now, everyone who was involved with management back when this happened in 2010 is gone. However, there are other people that were involved that are now with other organizations in the National Hockey League. One of those people was Joel Quenneville who was Chicago’s coach back when this disgusting stuff was happening.

He was the head coach of the Florida Panthers before resigning as the coach on Thursday night. This came hours after he had a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. It was the right move and he should have been removed from his job before coaching last night’s game against the Boston Bruins.

It is a shame that Quenneville stayed quiet back in the day. He is not going to be an NHL coach as a result which is a good thing based on everything that has happened. He is leaving behind a Florida Panthers team that is 7-0-0 and has a legit chance to win the Stanley Cup. He had three years remaining on his contract at 15 million dollars.

Former Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has left the Florida Panthers.

The Panthers hired Andrew Brunette to replace Quenneville. He was an assistant coach under him. He has never been a coach in the NHL so this will be his first time. His debut will come tonight against the Detroit Red Wings as they try to stay unbeaten.

The commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, released a statement on the matter. This is very serious and the league needs to take action. There was clearly no action taken to defend Kyle Beach in 2010 so plenty of action is being taken now. Quenneville deserved to be fired.

This issue isn’t done affecting other NHL teams. The Winnipeg Jets currently have Kevin Cheveldayoff as their general manager. He was there with the Blackhawks in 2010 when this was all happening.

You shouldn’t be too surprised if he is fired (or resigns) after his meeting with the commissioner later today. None of this will undo what happened but everyone who deserves to be out of the league will be. If Quenneville ever wants to take another NHL job, he is required to meet with the commissioner.