Daily Faceoff Show: Who will take over the Florida Panthers bench?
The fallout continues to be swift from the staggering Jenner & Block report Tuesday detailing how members of the Chicago Blackhawks organization failed to address allegations of sexual assault levied against then-video coach Brad Aldrich.
On Thursday, another piece of the puzzle fell as Joel Quenneville, who was behind the bench of that Chicago team in 2010, resigned from his current role as head coach of the Florida Panthers.
Earlier today, Frank Seravalli and former NHL assistant GM Steve Greeley dove into who could take over as the Panthers’ next bench boss.
Seravalli:”We expect Andrew Burnette to take over on an interim basis and I imagine he will get a look. Who are some of the guys on your list Steve that makes sense for who the Panthers should be talking to at this point?”
Greeley: “I think right now the front runner is John Tortorella. The connection with Columbus with (Panthers GM) Bill Zito, they’ve worked together, they’ve had some big wins in the playoffs… and he’s won a Stanley Cup. Torts has I would say a reputation that he can get teams to the finish line. He’s done it before. He’s a hard-nosed coach the same way Joel Quenneville was, so I think he’s a strong candidate.
Next up for me is Rick Tocchet. Another guy that I think did a great job in Arizona and got the most out of his team just a year and a half ago, that was a playoff group. Another guy that’s available that’s a strong candidate, a demanding coach, is Claude Juilen. I think Claude is another veteran coach who’s experience the Panthers would appreciate. Similar to that, we have Bruce Boudreau — another veteran coach.
We have to remember these are people that are available — it’s not going to be a top assistant from another team right now, or taking an American League coach. The last guy on my list who I think is a strong candidate is David Quinn. He’s coming off three years with the Rangers, they improved every season. The one thing with David Quinn is if he’s not their guy at head coach and Tortorella is, maybe (Quinn’s) the top assistant.”
Seravalli: “You saw the initial report even as quickly as the news of Quenneville being out, it was immediately signalled by Kevin Weekes from NHL Network to look to John Tortorella. That playoff experience is key for me. You need someone with a team this good that can get your team over the finish line when the time comes. Probably nobody better in a hockey sense than Joel Quenneville, but his serious and egregious misstep in Chicago 11 years ago is what ends up costing him his job in this case.