Zach Jarom: Joel Quenneville Interview Reaction

Oh yes, your love for the Sabres rebuild and the 13 years that they haven't played a playoff game.
- LAHawk

Well i think once they begin to start winning games, they will be going to the playoffs for a while. I also like what the Habs are doing, i retract my opinion it was a bad deal to trade for Newhook.

I guess Briere is a major disappointment to you guys as well, i mean they were in the playoff hunt for so long and he was a seller instead of a buyer at the trade deadline, which i agree with. I also like how the org did everything it could to get the Russian goal tender here.

I really don't care about Qs interview.

A coach is hired to win games and championships! Q more than filled the role ! So a coach is in the middle of trying to secure a championship and the management team has an employee trying to hit on young dudes , they fire the guy …… how in anyway should the head coach be held responsible. These are executive decisions and should have been dealt with by the executive committee including the GM. I have never understood why Q was even brought into this. This guy is one of the best coaches of all time and still has more to give . The NHL should rescind all barriers and let the man do what he dose best , coach a hockey team.

A coach is hired to win games and championships! Q more than filled the role ! So a coach is in the middle of trying to secure a championship and the management team has an employee trying to hit on young dudes , they fire the guy …… how in anyway should the head coach be held responsible. These are executive decisions and should have been dealt with by the executive committee including the GM. I have never understood why Q was even brought into this. This guy is one of the best coaches of all time and still has more to give . The NHL should rescind all barriers and let the man do what he dose best , coach a hockey team.
- jsrstl1

He was coaching Florida when he was let go for the Beach incident by Florida. The Hawks fired him for performance years earlier.

Well i think once they begin to start winning games, they will be going to the playoffs for a while. I also like what the Habs are doing, i retract my opinion it was a bad deal to trade for Newhook.

I guess Briere is a major disappointment to you guys as well, i mean they were in the playoff hunt for so long and he was a seller instead of a buyer at the trade deadline, which i agree with. I also like how the org did everything it could to get the Russian goal tender here.

I really don't care about Qs interview.
- BetweenTheDots

The Sabres don't really have a lot of top end talent at forward and you kind of have to score goals to win games in the NHL.

Thompson can finish but after that there aren't any special players at forward who are going to break a game. Certainly no one at the level of Bedard.

The front office seems kinda clueless. Trading forward depth for another defender seems weird. Their coaching seems very bad. And their goaltending sucks. One of the more hilarious comments on their reddit page was "team is very mid".

The way the Kings have turned it around has been in the playoffs after only 3 bottom feeding years I think is a much more attractive model. Accumulate young talent. Keep or get veterans to supplement them and get them into important games and go from there. The Rangers had a quick turn around with both veterans and younger players and have gone from back to competitive quickly. They haven't won a cup but that is a very difficult thing to do and it's much more fun to watch a competitive team that has a chance than the rubbish that is there now.

The Hawks have been poop the last 4 years in a row and will have accumulated plenty of talent. It's really time to not suck anymore.

Well i think once they begin to start winning games, they will be going to the playoffs for a while. I also like what the Habs are doing, i retract my opinion it was a bad deal to trade for Newhook.

I guess Briere is a major disappointment to you guys as well, i mean they were in the playoff hunt for so long and he was a seller instead of a buyer at the trade deadline, which i agree with. I also like how the org did everything it could to get the Russian goal tender here.

I really don't care about Qs interview.
- BetweenTheDots

Buffalo has had a bunch of nice pieces in place for a while and they can't seem to put it together. I don't think it is a foregone conclusion that they will start winning games (at least not enough to get into the playoffs).

The Habs got hammered with injuries almost as much as the Hawks did this year, but they do have some nice pieces as well.

I've got no problem at all with Briere. One or two trades wasn't going to put that team over the top (especially after their goalie got snagged).

I think where we differ is last year regarding a team like NJ. They were clearly a very good team and they knew that there were some pieces they wouldn't be able to retain regardless of whether Timo was on the team or not. I personally think they did right in getting a guy that could set them up for success in the playoffs. Obviously, it didn't work, but I've got no problem with that move. A lot of their young talent is/was on NHL ice and playing well. You can't wait until all of your prospects make it. Then it's too late and you are already paying all of them so much more. The Hawks did all of their winning with 19 and 88 on their ELC's or bridge deals. They were knocked with injuries to their best guys this year as well.

As we've all said numerous times. There isn't one way to do this. Look at Tampa, VGK, and STL as recent winners. Tampa played the long game with their drafted guys and added around them. VGK, while certainly advantaged in how the expansion draft worked, have gone big and reloaded every single year trying to win. STL caught lightning in a bottle. Hopefully KD is able to steer through all the twists and turns of this rebuild.

The Sabres don't really have a lot of top end talent at forward and you kind of have to score goals to win games in the NHL.

Thompson can finish but after that there aren't any special players at forward who are going to break a game. Certainly no one at the level of Bedard.

The front office seems kinda clueless. Trading forward depth for another defender seems weird. Their coaching seems very bad. And their goaltending sucks. One of the more hilarious comments on their reddit page was "team is very mid".

The way the Kings have turned it around has been in the playoffs after only 3 bottom feeding years I think is a much more attractive model. Accumulate young talent. Keep or get veterans to supplement them and get them into important games and go from there. The Rangers had a quick turn around with both veterans and younger players and have gone from back to competitive quickly. They haven't won a cup but that is a very difficult thing to do and it's much more fun to watch a competitive team that has a chance than the rubbish that is there now.

The Hawks have been poop the last 4 years in a row and will have accumulated plenty of talent. It's really time to not suck anymore.
- fattybeef

Hope you're still reading, Steve. Thought this was a good topic you brought up from the last blog and hoped to see a response from you on my thoughts on it.


He is the perfect coach to get a shot at Celebrini.

He has moved the centerman of the future to wing and took a winger who ended last season productively to center. He's getting a lot of credit for Vlasic who should really slot 3 or 4 on a .500 with his lack of offense. Korchinski has some tools for sure but can you realistically say he looks any more aware in his own zone now compared to October? Numbers don't lie, he's -37. He has been a plus player in 8 of 71 games. Richardinson is 28 years old. This is not a kid he has molded. Is Richardson's claim for development Kurashev? 16 goals playing with Bedard and lots of powerplay time?

Davidson can't fire Richardson yet because a coach firing turns the attention to the GM's work which has also been underwhelming at the NHL level. The owner and fan base is showing incredible patience. The "at least they are playing hard" crowd still buys tickets and jerseys.

Rockford is being led by Seney, Gust, Pitlick and Guttman offensively so hard to believe the offense will improve next season. How many years till competitive?
- stevefrmglencoe




Glad you posted, Steve......... As far as the prospects or young players would it be reasonable to go into the season thinking the goal is do no harm? In other words get KK, Vlasic, Kaiser, Phillips, Crevier, Bedard, Reichel valuable NHL reps without doing them harm, regressing or stunting their growth?

That was my hope/goal. Reasonably thinking this is the first yr after a total teardown so success in wins and losses wasn't going to happen so my hope was to acclimate the kids, get them valuable NHL reps without harming them. I do think that was accomplished except for Reichel. Asking that kid to play 2C in the Bigs, especially on this roster, was a mistake.

Fair? If so, do you think do no harm was accomplished?

As usual your posts offer multiple questions but I wanna address Bedard and moving him to wing. The kid is 18, smallish and he obviously was not made to employ a 200 ft game as a youth or jrs player and is dropped into the NHL vs men and the opponents attention with top defensive players.

On and off to my eye you could see frustration, which bring bad habits (harm), creeping into his game. IMO the best way to address that without an infusion of talent is to lessen his responsibilities, to lighten his load.

IMO, not only does it make the team better, moving him to wing frees the kid up and lightens the burden of being the 1C against the opponents best. ... He's still "playing" center in the Ozone in that the puck is on his stick and he's the creator but is freed up from centerman's Dzone responsibilities. ....... I absolutely love this move. The time will come when he's back to center but for now I really like the thinking.

I recently read an article about the Mount Rushmore of all 32 NHL teams. The idiot who wrote it left Stan Mikita off of the Hawks. Social media has just gone off the deep end when hacks like this are allowed to post articles.

I'm inclined to believe Q - in that his reaction to sending Panarin packing (Hammer as well, but I have to believe it was more about Panarin then) - at that draft was pretty telling that he was not in the loop for some things that directly impacted the on ice product that he was responsible for--- iow --results.

Saad and that return was a big downgrade, and at that moment in time there was literally no reason to have done that then - anyways - all that I was meaning is that was entirely consistent for someone that was operating under the 'stay in your lane' expectation from higher management.

Same would have been that trade with Montreal before that previous playoffs or pretty much any trade where Q just pretty much refused to play the traded for players much - like in 2015- until he accepted Vermette had a use.

I recently read an article about the Mount Rushmore of all 32 NHL teams. The idiot who wrote it left Stan Mikita off of the Hawks. Social media has just gone off the deep end when hacks like this are allowed to post articles.
- bjphawkfan

I saw Charles over at NBC Sports playing up the Bedard Minne guy for the Calder thing - which had me wondering what about Hughes from NJ -he actually has more points than the Minne d-man, Faber I think ... I mean it ought to enter a discussion if the discussion including Faber is valid.

Hope you're still reading, Steve. Thought this was a good topic you brought up from the last blog and hoped to see a response from you on my thoughts on it.


He is the perfect coach to get a shot at Celebrini.

He has moved the centerman of the future to wing and took a winger who ended last season productively to center. He's getting a lot of credit for Vlasic who should really slot 3 or 4 on a .500 with his lack of offense. Korchinski has some tools for sure but can you realistically say he looks any more aware in his own zone now compared to October? Numbers don't lie, he's -37. He has been a plus player in 8 of 71 games. Richardinson is 28 years old. This is not a kid he has molded. Is Richardson's claim for development Kurashev? 16 goals playing with Bedard and lots of powerplay time?

Davidson can't fire Richardson yet because a coach firing turns the attention to the GM's work which has also been underwhelming at the NHL level. The owner and fan base is showing incredible patience. The "at least they are playing hard" crowd still buys tickets and jerseys.

Rockford is being led by Seney, Gust, Pitlick and Guttman offensively so hard to believe the offense will improve next season. How many years till competitive?
- stevefrmglencoe




Glad you posted, Steve......... As far as the prospects or young players would it be reasonable to go into the season thinking the goal is do no harm? In other words get KK, Vlasic, Kaiser, Phillips, Crevier, Bedard, Reichel valuable NHL reps without doing them harm, regressing or stunting their growth?

That was my hope/goal. Reasonably thinking this is the first yr after a total teardown so success in wins and losses wasn't going to happen so my hope was to acclimate the kids, get them valuable NHL reps without harming them. I do think that was accomplished except for Reichel. Asking that kid to play 2C in the Bigs, especially on this roster, was a mistake.

Fair? If so, do you think do no harm was accomplished?

As usual your posts offer multiple questions but I wanna address Bedard and moving him to wing. The kid is 18, smallish and he obviously was not made to employ a 200 ft game as a youth or jrs player and is dropped into the NHL vs men and the opponents attention with top defensive players.

On and off to my eye you could see frustration, which bring bad habits (harm), creeping into his game. IMO the best way to address that without an infusion of talent is to lessen his responsibilities, to lighten his load.

IMO, not only does it make the team better, moving him to wing frees the kid up and lightens the burden of being the 1C against the opponents best. ... He's still "playing" center in the Ozone in that the puck is on his stick and he's the creator but is freed up from centerman's Dzone responsibilities. ....... I absolutely love this move. The time will come when he's back to center but for now I really like the thinking.
- Mr Ricochet

Thanks for the back and forth.

Last point first: Bedard might be the only piece on the current roster that is here when the Hawks become contenders. He has dominated at every level despite his size and being a target. No better way to learn to win draws than taking as many draws as possible against NHL centermen in meaningless games. D Zone he is swinging his stick and being passive instead of using his quickness and attacking. Not sure who is mentoring him or coaching him in D zone. I see your point about less responsibility but for a talent like this I think they can make him as uncomfortable as possible and he is going to thrive. Really a shame they don't have a sniper or went out and got a sniper to play with him. I never thought Hall would work because they both need the puck to do their thing but can't they find one guy who has a great shot to benefit from Bedard's passes and rebounds? He is great but I think the season could even have been better.

As for do no harm.
KK was harmed in my unpopular opinion. No need to repeat but have you ever heard anyone in hockey say, " We should have rushed the kid to the NHL sooner?" Not only did they take away a year he could have had great success, he could have matured physically, spent next year in the AHL and come in with something to prove. Last point, very minor obviously, but they now have to pay him sooner. Yes not an issue with the lack of talent but bad cap management all the same.

Vlasic is ready to be what I think is a 3 or 4 guy who can play against top lines. Very valuable but not a Keith or Seabrook type. Hjalmarson 2 would be amazing but that guy was something special. Hjarlmarson might have been tougher in his way.

Kaiser seems to be too small and not quick enough. I think he is getting everything he can from what he has but ultimately it is not going to keep him around for long.

Phillips is obviously a head case. He plays with snarl in the AHL but is too careful in the NHL. Somebody has to grab him, shake him, and explain that if he gets meaner on the ice he will make $25 million in the game. If he keeps this up he will be selling software.

Crevier is an amazing case of a guy who was a scratch in the AHL playoffs last spring and then promoted when the injuries happened. Hawks are going to need to do an extensive development arc with him if he is going to beat out the higher touted prospects. What a find if they can keep improving him.

Reichel has been harmed and poorly developed here. He has a lot a talent. He stayed out of traffic all last season in the AHL. He caught fire late in the NHL and expectations were unapproachably high. They moved him to center, put him on the bottom lines, benched him and then thankfully demoted him. Yes there was a power move to the middle of the ice that resulted in goal a couple of games ago but not enough. He is in a similar spot as Phillips where he is throwing millions away by not attacking the net. Hopefully somebody can wake him up because up till now nobody in the organization has figured out how to get the best out of him consistently.

Well i think once they begin to start winning games, they will be going to the playoffs for a while. I also like what the Habs are doing, i retract my opinion it was a bad deal to trade for Newhook.

I guess Briere is a major disappointment to you guys as well, i mean they were in the playoff hunt for so long and he was a seller instead of a buyer at the trade deadline, which i agree with. I also like how the org did everything it could to get the Russian goal tender here.

I really don't care about Qs interview.
- BetweenTheDots

Another solid take by Dots!

Thanks for the back and forth.

Last point first: Bedard might be the only piece on the current roster that is here when the Hawks become contenders. He has dominated at every level despite his size and being a target. No better way to learn to win draws than taking as many draws as possible against NHL centermen in meaningless games. D Zone he is swinging his stick and being passive instead of using his quickness and attacking. Not sure who is mentoring him or coaching him in D zone. I see your point about less responsibility but for a talent like this I think they can make him as uncomfortable as possible and he is going to thrive. Really a shame they don't have a sniper or went out and got a sniper to play with him. I never thought Hall would work because they both need the puck to do their thing but can't they find one guy who has a great shot to benefit from Bedard's passes and rebounds? He is great but I think the season could even have been better.

As for do no harm.
KK was harmed in my unpopular opinion. No need to repeat but have you ever heard anyone in hockey say, " We should have rushed the kid to the NHL sooner?" Not only did they take away a year he could have had great success, he could have matured physically, spent next year in the AHL and come in with something to prove. Last point, very minor obviously, but they now have to pay him sooner. Yes not an issue with the lack of talent but bad cap management all the same.

Vlasic is ready to be what I think is a 3 or 4 guy who can play against top lines. Very valuable but not a Keith or Seabrook type. Hjalmarson 2 would be amazing but that guy was something special. Hjarlmarson might have been tougher in his way.

Kaiser seems to be too small and not quick enough. I think he is getting everything he can from what he has but ultimately it is not going to keep him around for long.

Phillips is obviously a head case. He plays with snarl in the AHL but is too careful in the NHL. Somebody has to grab him, shake him, and explain that if he gets meaner on the ice he will make $25 million in the game. If he keeps this up he will be selling software.

Crevier is an amazing case of a guy who was a scratch in the AHL playoffs last spring and then promoted when the injuries happened. Hawks are going to need to do an extensive development arc with him if he is going to beat out the higher touted prospects. What a find if they can keep improving him.

Reichel has been harmed and poorly developed here. He has a lot a talent. He stayed out of traffic all last season in the AHL. He caught fire late in the NHL and expectations were unapproachably high. They moved him to center, put him on the bottom lines, benched him and then thankfully demoted him. Yes there was a power move to the middle of the ice that resulted in goal a couple of games ago but not enough. He is in a similar spot as Phillips where he is throwing millions away by not attacking the net. Hopefully somebody can wake him up because up till now nobody in the organization has figured out how to get the best out of him consistently.
- stevefrmglencoe

I think Kaiser is one of the best skaters on the team. I think he’s more than quick enough to stick at this level. He’s not the most physical but he makes smart plays and I hope he plays 82 games next season.

The Sabres don't really have a lot of top end talent at forward and you kind of have to score goals to win games in the NHL.

Thompson can finish but after that there aren't any special players at forward who are going to break a game. Certainly no one at the level of Bedard.

The front office seems kinda clueless. Trading forward depth for another defender seems weird. Their coaching seems very bad. And their goaltending sucks. One of the more hilarious comments on their reddit page was "team is very mid".

The way the Kings have turned it around has been in the playoffs after only 3 bottom feeding years I think is a much more attractive model. Accumulate young talent. Keep or get veterans to supplement them and get them into important games and go from there. The Rangers had a quick turn around with both veterans and younger players and have gone from back to competitive quickly. They haven't won a cup but that is a very difficult thing to do and it's much more fun to watch a competitive team that has a chance than the rubbish that is there now.

The Hawks have been poop the last 4 years in a row and will have accumulated plenty of talent. It's really time to not suck anymore.
- fattybeef

Who are our Kopitar and Doughty?

Who are our Kopitar and Doughty?
- rpeters01

Yea i was thinking that myself.

Reese Johnson and Tinordi.

The Sabres don't really have a lot of top end talent at forward and you kind of have to score goals to win games in the NHL.

Thompson can finish but after that there aren't any special players at forward who are going to break a game. Certainly no one at the level of Bedard.

The front office seems kinda clueless. Trading forward depth for another defender seems weird. Their coaching seems very bad. And their goaltending sucks. One of the more hilarious comments on their reddit page was "team is very mid".

The way the Kings have turned it around has been in the playoffs after only 3 bottom feeding years I think is a much more attractive model. Accumulate young talent. Keep or get veterans to supplement them and get them into important games and go from there. The Rangers had a quick turn around with both veterans and younger players and have gone from back to competitive quickly. They haven't won a cup but that is a very difficult thing to do and it's much more fun to watch a competitive team that has a chance than the rubbish that is there now.

The Hawks have been poop the last 4 years in a row and will have accumulated plenty of talent. It's really time to not suck anymore.
- fattybeef

Okay the new GM took over for the Sabres, accumulated draft picks and has been getting rid of the teams dead weight. He's building maybe one of the best blue lines in hockey. He is now creating plenty of cap space to fill in where he needs to.

Honestly how small is that Kings window? And they handcuff themselves by being against the cap. They have a real shot this year considering how good their defense is but can the get over the hump called the Edmonton Oilers if that's who they end up playing in the 1st round. I've seen this story before and it was our very own Blackhawks late 80s and early 90s.

Sure the Blackhawks have been sh!t but here's why

If you are a Chicago Blackhawks fan the most frustrating part about the team’s 12-18-5 record is that the front office actually tried to build a competitive team this offseason. This is not the result of a summer of subtraction, or significant free agent departures, or a complete teardown to kickstart a rebuild. This is the result of real effort. They tried to be good, and they seemed to think they would be.

Along with getting captain and No. 1 center Jonathan Toews back following last season’s absence, the Blackhawks went out and spent major money this offseason. They acquired a top goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury. They added Tyler Johnson from Tampa Bay. Then they made the boldest move of them all by trading Adam Boqvist and a package of draft picks to the Columbus Blue Jackets for defenseman Seth Jones, and then immediately signed him to a stunning eight-year, $76 million contract.

You do not make moves like that if you do not intend to win, and win this season.

https://www.nbcsports.com...sit-columbus-blue-jackets

To Chicago: Seth Jones (eight-year, $76M contract), Nolan Allan (No. 32 overall pick), 2022 sixth-round pick
To Columbus: Adam Boqvist ($867,000 cap hit; RFA after this season), Cole Sillinger (No. 12 overall pick; entry level deal), Jake Bean (three-year, $7M contract), 2022 conditional first-round pick.

Do you recall we had no 1st round picks in 2022, so they decided to trade actual assets to get 2 in the top 15. Just think if we had those other 2 picks we could possibly have Jiricek and Sillinger on this team but Bowman did exactly what everyone here wants KD to do, buy a winning team. Not everyone but many

So it's only been 2 years

The Hawks have been poop the last 4 years in a row and will have accumulated plenty of talent. It's really time to not suck anymore.
- fattybeef

fatty, when did the rebuild start for you? For me it's the yr after the complete teardown which is this yr. IMO this is yr 1 of the rebuild.

I don't know when the rebuild moves to win mode but it's not for a minimum of 2 yrs. And next yr hopefully starts the don't suck anymore mode with an infusion of a vet or two, a healthy Hall and Murphy along with some progress of the kids on D along with Bedard, and dare I say Reichel and a step forward from Kurashev.

Dots' nephew, Dylan Strome with a huge goal against the Wings.

fatty, when did the rebuild start for you? For me it's the yr after the complete teardown which is this yr. IMO this is yr 1 of the rebuild.

I don't know when the rebuild moves to win mode but it's not for a minimum of 2 yrs. And next yr hopefully starts the don't suck anymore mode with an infusion of a vet or two, a healthy Hall and Murphy along with some progress of the kids on D along with Bedard, and dare I say Reichel and a step forward from Kurashev.
- Mr Ricochet

I’m with you on the bolded, as far as the start of the rebuild, for me? It was when they traded Dcat and Dach.

Chunk i do agree there are more ways than one to build a SC team. I still think that trade for Meier did more harm than good. It cost them 2 solid defenders, plus Hamilton got hurt, and now you have to rely on 2 very young defenders to get good really fast. Nemec -5, Hughes -22 and they are supposedly on a much better team.

Dots' nephew, Dylan Strome with a huge goal against the Wings.
- mohel

I'm shocked he's still in the NHL the way you guys ran him out of town.

I'm shocked he's still in the NHL the way you guys ran him out of town.
- BetweenTheDots

If only we had that much power.....

I'm fine with him not being a Hawk, but happy for him he's doing okay with Washington.

I'm shocked he's still in the NHL the way you guys ran him out of town.
- BetweenTheDots

Dots, would you really want a guy like Strome on the team? You’re always on about speed, you always say KD wants speed, Strome is hardly fast. You like effort, Strome didn’t always put in allot of effort. Is he a guy you’d want to build around? I’m happy to see him do well, I’m just happy it’s not with the Blackhawks.