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As Joel Quenneville has repeatedly pointed out during his decade with the Blackhawks, NHL coaches are among the winning companies.
After a remarkable run including three Stanley Cup championships, the inability to win enough eventually caught up with him.
The Hawks sacked coach Joel Quenneville on Tuesday and named Jeremy Colliton, 33, to replace him, making him the 38th coach in the franchise's history.
Quenneville, 60, is the second winning coach in the history of the Hawks and the NHL. He went 452-249-96 with the Hawks, behind only 516 wins from Billy Reay. He is 890-532-77-137 in the overall standings behind Scotty Bowman's 1,244 wins.
The team also dismissed assistant coaches Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson and appointed Barry Smith as Colliton's staff assistant. The rest of the coaching staff will remain.
The Hawks failed to qualify for the playoffs last season for the first time under Quenneville's mandate. They are 6-6-3 this season and have lost five in a row following a three-game winless trip to Western Canada.
"A decision like this is not about a particular game, play or thing," Chief Executive Stan Bowman said at Tuesday's press conference at the MB Ice Arena, the team's training ground. Hawks. "It's sort of a collection of things. The trip on the road was certainly worrying. But I think that even when we entered our game, there were elements of our game where they were not where they needed to be. It's not just based on the team's record, so it's more of a totality of circumstances than just a specific game. "
The Hawks have not won a playoff since winning the Stanley Cup in 2015. Quenneville, who has taken five Hawks coaching successes in the 2008-09 season, was under contract until 2019- 20 for $ 6 million per season.
Owner Rocky Wirtz and team president John McDonough approved the decision to change.
"Sometimes, as painful as it is, you need a fresh start," McDonough said.
The new start will be led by Colliton, 33, the youngest NHL head coach. He was in his 12th season with Rockford of the American Hockey League. Last year, the IceHogs went 40-28-4-4. Colliton, originally from Blackie, Alta., Was named IceHogs coach on May 18, 2017 – his first coaching position in North America after four seasons as a Mora IK coach in Sweden .
Colliton, whose NHL career has counted 57 games in five seasons for the Islanders from 2005-06 to 2010-11, has less than four Hawks: Chris Kunitz, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford. But Colliton rejected the idea that his age would hinder his ability to lead the Hawks.
"In the end, it's about winning," said Colliton. "I have to earn their trust by believing that I can help them win, that I can help them be better individually, that we, as staff, can develop a plan so that they can succeed. So, if I can do that, there is no problem. It does not matter my age. "
While Quenneville took the fall for not getting enough out of this team, Bowman assembled the list. However, McDonough stated that during this process he had not considered sending Bowman away.
"Bowman's work is excellent," said McDonough. "I want him to succeed. I want our team to succeed. It's the first head coach Stan Bowman has hired and it fascinates me. Stan has always been very high on Jeremy and I can not wait to see how it goes. "
Colliton has worked with Hawks players over the last 18 months. He accompanied the veterans during the training camp and prospects at the development camp and Rockford. After Tuesday's training, Jonathan Toews spoke of his reverence for Quenneville but immediately accepted and accepted the changes.
"We're going to look for more energy, a different look for our game," said Toews. "I'm sure from the outside, a guy like Jeremy can identify some things, maybe if you're too close to the action, you can not see the forest through the trees."
McDonough made it clear that he believed the Hawks, currently in sixth place in the Central Division, are a playoff team. And with 67 games to play in the regular season, Colliton has plenty of time to get them there. Or not.
"The challenge is to take the lead," said Colliton. "We do not have much time. We play Thursday. We had a good workout today, good energy. We have emphasized some of the things we want guys to focus on. It's just a communication with everyone, as early as possible, with as many people as possible, so that everyone is on the same page and we know the plan.
"We plan to win."
Twitter @jcgreenx
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