Former Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville might not be out of a job for too long.
“He’s certainly ready and willing to coach again as early as this season,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said Saturday during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “He’s going to enjoy his family time but when teams are ready to talk he’s ready to listen.
Quenneville was fired by Chicago earlier this week after spending more than a decade with the team, winning three Stanley Cup championships along the way.
There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to Quenneville.
The 60-year-old had one year remaining on the three-year contract extension he inked in 2016 that paid him an average of $6 million per year, which made him the second-highest-paid coach in the NHL behind only Mike Babcock.
“He will be very expensive,” Kypreos said. “Teams can offset this season and next season in their contract negotiations but you will have to add another three or possibly four years to a contract extension and that could run you anywhere between $15-20 million.”
Kypreos added that Quenneville is not interested in taking over a team that is in the midst of or considering a rebuild, like the situation Babcock signed up for when he took over as bench boss with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015.
“This is certainly a very difficult decision,” Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said in a statement when the team announced Quenneville’s firing. “But I believe it is in the best interests of the Blackhawks organization. We need to maximize each and every opportunity with our playoff goals in mind and create continued growth and development throughout our roster at the same time.”
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