Joel Quennville has been a breath of fresh air for a young Ducks squad
It’s no secret the last handful of years haven’t exactly been ones to remember for the Anaheim Ducks.
The team hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2018, and they have the NHL’s third-worst overall record since then. However, perennially bad records come with the consolation prize of picking highly in the NHL Entry Draft each year. The Ducks certainly have their fair share of young talent, with Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson, and Mason MacTavish all being recent top-five draft picks in Anaheim’s lineup.
Of course, there’s always the question of how to get the most out of a talented yet young and inexperienced team, and the Ducks may have found their answer in the oldest and most experienced coach. Anaheim hired the 67-year-old Joel Quenneville as its head coach this past offseason, and the team is off to a solid start, earning seven points in six games. Quenneville is second all-time in wins among NHL coaches, only behind Scotty Bowman, and has won three Stanley Cups from his time with the Chicago Blackhawks.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by ESPN’s Steve Peters to discuss Quenneville’s impact on the Ducks, and how such an old-school coach is adjusting to his new-school players.
Hutton: “What’s the adjustment like for a guy like Joel Quenneville with this younger age of player and talent? Obviously, the guy is a legend, but he’s in a new era now.”
Peters: “I think it’s a real challenge for him. You look at the time he was away from the game, and coaches have changed. Coaches have changed on how you coach players today, and it’s a much different league than when he was successful in Chicago. It’s now a “you pat the guys on the back” league. It’s “hug your buddy” league. You’ve got to give these young players a little different care and attention than they got 10 years ago. Back then, rookies were rookies and you were treated like rookies. Coaches were in charge. The dynamic has changed.
So to see Joel Quenneville having success with a team that is primarily driven by young talent and young players, and to see the way they’ve responded to him, is fantastic. You talk about what they were coming from, and I’m not one to disparage coaches, but Greg Cronin is tough to play for. He was a guy who was very demanding; he was a black-and-white coach, and this is the way you were going to play. He was tough to play for and that can be a struggle for young players if they’re not used to being pushed in that particular way. I think this has been a breath of fresh air getting Joel Quenneville in there.”
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…