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C'est fini.
Beyond all the other reasoning and conjecture, the Blackhawks' firing of Joel Quenneville means Chicago's Stanley Cup window is closed for good. There will be a storybook fourth championship for the core of players who has rescued a franchise. If Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Corey Crawford, Duncan Keith Gold Brent Seabrook ever gets another chance to the Cup around a jubilant city, it will not be Chicago.
Tuesday's decision by Stan Bowman general manager Quenneville and promote 33-year-old Jeremy Colliton from AHL Rockford has been proofing the Blackhawks have made every drop from their decade of excellence. There's nothing left. No more parades, no more tracking the Cup through every hopping Chicago and Lord Stanley back to hometowns that span the globe.
That's gone now, even if the Blackhawks' brass would disagree.
"I would not like it, I would like to see a remodeling," team president John McDonough told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. "We still have Hall of Fame players. My expectations are that this is a playoff team, and if you can get anything out of it, so be it that we're in right now. "
Sure, the Blackhawks can talk colliton. He has been called a prodigy who has been impressed by everyone who has watched him. Chicago plays; Bowman denied Tuesday, but there has been a rumbling about a power struggle and disconnect between Bowman and his coach.
Patrick Kane on Joel Quenneville: "It's going to be an icon in Chicago for the longest time." The great things he's doing for this organization, winning three Stanley Cups. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/VTshN7qZBy
– Eric Lear (@BHTVeric) November 6, 2018
Alex DeBrincat, Nick Schmaltz and Henri Jokiharju could be more than just behind the Blackhawks' bench. There is also a promising group of defenders in the system who could benefit from a new coach.
"I think at the end of the day, we're not where we need to be," Bowman said. "We want to be in the playoffs, and right now we've got some work to do to get there. We have 67 games left, so we still [have] A lot of hockey to be played, and I think the urgency was, we've got to turn this thing around quickly. "
One thing that will not change: The roster will still be built by Bowman, who got a strong vote of confidence from McDonough.
"I believe in this roster, I believe in Stan," McDonough said. "Stan is meticulous, he's very thorough, and when you break down free agents, when you break down trades, some work [and] some do not not.
"You want to be successful, but you can do it better."
Nothing about Bowman 's team – building, Colliton' s coaching or Adam Boqvist and Jokiharju 's is guaranteed to pan the way things did with Quenneville. Nobody thinks DeBrincat or Schmaltz has a ceiling as high as Toews or Kane did when they were young. Boqvist does draw Erik Karlsson compare, goal expecting him to come close to that level would be unfair.
Even if Colliton was just replacing a Chicago icon (ask Dave Wannstedt or Tim Floyd or whoever raises the 2020 Cubs about that), his job would be difficult. Add in that he will be expected to grow the young players, prod back to the playoffs and do it while the championship
Good luck, Jeremy.
"The challenge is to hit the ground running," Colliton said, who only retired years ago from suiting up. "We do not have much time before we play on Thursday [against Carolina]. "
In truth, the Cup was closed well 8:05 AM Tuesday when the Blackhawks announced the change.
After winning the 2015 Stanley Cup, the Blackhawks were on top of the world hockey. They were the unquestioned standard of the NHL's salary cap era. Torn down after the 2010 title, Chicago escaped from cape and Bowman built the roster into a juggernaut that won in 2013. If not for a crushing Game 7 loss in the 2014 Western Conference finals to the Kings, the 2015 Cup likely would have been the Blackhawks' third straight.
But Bowman's ensuing 12 months after the third Cup with Quenneville started Chicago on this path. Over the next year, Bowman was unable to re-sign Brandon Saad because of Columbus. He moved Patrick Sharp and Stephen Johns to Dallas for Trevor Daley, a defenseman who never fit. Marcus Kruger got a bad deal, and Seabrook was a miserable eight-year contract when he was already in decline.
With a team practically screaming for blue-line help at the 2016 deadline, Bowman dealt promising center Phillip Danault for dayneymen forwards Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann. Fittingly, Chicago's 2016 season ended in Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs when inexperienced defenseman Erik Gustafsson's turnover led to the Blues' game-winning goal.
Then, exactly one year after winning the 2015 Cup on home ice, Bowman paid for his wanderer Bryan Bickell contracted by sending him to Carolina, but at the cost of Teuvo Teravainen.
Artemi Panarin for Saad, Quenneville-favorite trading Niklas Hjalmarsson for Connor Murphy, Marian Hossa's career-ending illness, Crawford's concussion, this summer's inaction – only accelerated the demise that really began three years ago. The cap issues, which elite teams can not completely avoid, combined with the effects of time and years, made Quenneville's job tougher.
A five-game winless streak after a 6-2-2 start meant the end.
Colliton says Quenneville was a reason he wanted to come to Chicago and it's bittersweet to be succeeding him. #Blackhawks
– Chris Wescott (@TheChrisWescott) November 6, 2018
"It was a shock to wake up to this morning, for sure," Toews told reporters. "I think of you as a player in the locker room, you need to be at the end of the day. you have to respect them and have made them. "
Quenneville was always perfect. He was long after they had become obsolete. He did not get enough from Daley, Murphy or Michal Kempny and was set in his ways, only recently shedding a label that he did not like young players.
Flawed or not, Quenneville was a famous face, and mustache, of the Blackhawks. He became a Chicago celebrity who did business, was beloved by fans, respected by players and coached the Blackhawks during their golden era.
Now, it's over.
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