Joel Quenneville receives three-year extension from Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks have rewarded three-time Stanley Cup winning coach Joel Quenneville with a three-year contract extension.
The team announced Quenneville’s extension Tuesday morning. The deal runs through 2019-20.
According to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos, the deal is for a total of $18 million, which is reportedly a raise from his previous contract. Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock is making a reported $50 million on an eight-year deal, signed last May to help turn around the struggling franchise.
The two are often linked as the top Canadian coaches in the NHL. Recently Hockey Canada chose Babcock over Quenneville as their World Cup coach.
Quenneville, 57, was hired by the Blackhawks during the 2008-09 season and has won three Stanley Cups with the group – the most recent coming in 2015. Quenneville also won Cups in 2010 and 2013.
In 580 regular season games with the Blackhawks, Quenneville is 343-168-69, for a regular season points percentage of .651 – best in Chicago team history. His .624 playoff winning percentage with Chicago is the highest for a Blackhawks coach since 1940.
If Chicago beats the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, the win will be Quenneville’s 782nd of his career – tying him with New York Islanders legendary coach Al Arbour for second on the NHL’s all-time victory list.
Said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews to the Chicago Sun-Times about Quenneville.
“He wins a lot of games,” Jonathan Toews said when asked what is Quenneville’s best attribute as a coach. “A number of us in here have been playing for him for a long time, and had a lot of success together. It’s cool. You hear about different milestones – different guys getting to 1,000 games or 1,000 points or winning Stanley Cups. You feel close to your teammates, but I think when your coach reaches a milestone like that, I mean that’s incredible. We’re happy and honored to be a part of that and obviously to have helped him to a certain degree get there.”
Quenneville got his NHL head coaching start with the St. Louis Blues in 1996-97. In all his years as a head coach, he’s never finished with a points percentage below .500. His worst full season came with St. Louis in 1998-99 with a .530 points percentage. That team made it to the second round of the postseason.
The Blackhawks are 27-13-4 this season and have won seven games in a row. Chicago is in second place in the Central Division.
MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY
– – – – – – –
Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
