Finding Out The Sequence Of Events Leading Up To Joel Quenneville Getting Fired Should Make You Absolutely Sick
Everyone knows I am a Joel guy. Always have been. Now, always will be. A good man who tells the truth and has surrounded himself with good people. It's one of those old cliches my mom always uses...."show me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are". Well spending the weekend with Joel, his family, and his friends just cemented what I already suspected about the man. Now, Joel wouldn't throw anyone under the bus because he always seems to take the high road. He is a better person than me. I will now be slinging the mud at the suits because they deserve it. Let's revisit the sequence of events leading up to Joel being fired.
2010: Stanley Cup
2013: Stanley Cup
2015: Stanley Cup
2017: Wins the West in the regular season, but gets swept by Nashville.
June 23rd, 2017: Stan Bowman trades Artemi Panarin straight up for Brandon Saad who makes the exact same amount of money. Then trades a core piece in Hjalmarsson for Connor Murphy.
I like Connor Murphy a lot. Good kid. Plays the right way. I am glad he is on the team. Having said that...the Dynasty ended for good that day with those trades. Panarin for Saad straight up should go down as one of the most one-sided trades in history. I've said this before but trading Panarin for Saad, Saad for Zadorov, and Zadorov for a 3rd round pick is like starting with a Rolls Royce and ending up with one of these
And you can say what you want about Murphy now (as I did above), but the fact of the matter is that it took him a couple of years to become what he is now. The Blackhawks would've been better off with Hjalmarsson and Panarin in the fold for those two years and going for it while Toews, Kane, and Keith were at the peak of their powers. That's a fact.
--2017-18 season was an absolute, unmitigated disaster. Partially because Crawford was hurt and Darling had moved on to Carolina. The Blackhawks had 35 games of Anton Forsberg, 13 games by JF Berube, 15 games by Jeff Glass, 2 by Delia, and one appearance by Scott Foster. Not to mention a shit of games from Erik Gustafsson, Carl Dahlstrom, Cody Franson, and a bunch of other guys no longer in the NHL.
It was a shitty roster that performed like shit. Not because that year saw the Hawks lose Crawford, Panarin, Hjalmarsson, Hossa, and Kruger all in one off-season. Not because of bad personnel decisions on draft day 2017 which were kept from Joel Quenneville the morning they happened because Stan and Al knew he'd object and didn't want to hear his side. No…it was because Joel, according to Stan, couldn't develop young players. That was the narrative being leaked to publications that the Blackhawks might have a financial stake in (people don't talk about that enough).
Now…I don't know this for a 100% fact, but I think Stan tried to have Joel fired immediately after the 2017-18 season. He wanted him fired and I believe he wanted to hire Jim Montgomery from the University of Denver. John McDonough vetoed Stan at the last minute. So what did Stan do that off-season to improve the team now that Hossa was off the books and he had some cap space to play with?
Signed those two guys and sat on $5.4M in cap space and then said to Joel…
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Then after 12 games of giving up a ton of goals and chances because of this
Stan Bowman fired Joel after a game in Calgary. Duncan Keith got a 2-5-10 and the Hawks didn't have an extra guy in the box to serve the 2 and the Hawks ended up short-handed and gave up a goal that they might not have otherwise. Then this happened
Joel's nephew, who had lived with him previously and is like a second son to Joel tragically passes away. The organization knew this. Decided to fire in that moment anyways. Look, I understand that the organization has to do what they think is best for the team. That's not what they did. They did what was best for themselves as people. They needed a culprit for what was happening to their once great dynasty and Joel and others molded. Then have the Colliton press conference as Joel is on his way to funeral services and they had the audacity to make this statement
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…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.–Stan Bowman
In one sentence Stan Bowman said he thought the 2018-19 Blackhawks were a playoff roster and that Joel Quenneville was holding them back because he couldn't develop young players. Had nothing to do with brutal contract for Anisimov and Seabrook. Had nothing to do with trading an MVP for a 3rd line winger. Had nothing to do with trading one of the best defensive dmen in the game for a project. Had nothing to do with giving away Teravainen and Danault for nothing. Had nothing to do with no being able to draft and develop goalies and defense for a decade. Had nothing to do with trading every single first round pick Bowman has ever made before they got to their second contract. No…he pegged it all on Joel and said that Colliton, a neophyte with one year in Rockford as a coach under his belt better maximized their playoff opportunities than the greatest coach of all-time.
The decision on its own was HORRENDOUS. The timing of it is despicable. They wanted Joel gone. They used some trivial bullshit from the game up in Calgary as their excuse to do it and they didn't give a shit about anything else. No sense of decency or humanity and they knew they could say whatever they wanted because deep down they knew Joel wouldn't say anything. Stan can say it was a hard decision. He can say they had a good working relationship. He was free to do and say anything to keep his reputation and job. He sold McDonough and Wirtz a bill of goods that they are still buying to this day. In real time anyone who knew anything knew that Stan was the problem, but he had the ear of the bigger suits. The suits were faced with a decision between a great coach and a good man in Joel and Stan Bowman/Al McIssac and
Oh and that playoff team that Stan said he had…yeah, well, they haven't made the playoffs since they traded Panarin and Hjalmarsson without consulting Joel and then subsequently fired him the following season.
This organization always tries to put forward this image that they are first class. Every day that seems further and further from the truth. The way they treated Joel. Their absolutely abhorrent and ethically repugnant handling of a sexual assault, other cultural problems on the business side like when a guy who is universally loved by players and everyone he meets gets quietly fired after 14 years and he can't even get a phone call from his employer about it, and a rapid brain drain in hockey ops. They froze out Norm MacIver, demoted him after years of ignoring him so he leaves and is immediately scooped by Ron Francis to be his right hand man. Chevy left for Winnipeg. Bergevin in Montreal. Joel in Florida. The thing that all of those guys have in common is that they win everywhere and now in Chicago we are left with a team that hasn't won a series since 2015 and a hockey ops department full of yes men and fixers. They forced out Foley. I would assume Edzo is next since they hired the playdough face. They don't want anyone involved who tells the truth. They won't be held accountable. Nothing is ever their fault. The culture in the organization is rotten. I am excited for the season. I like a lot of the moves made this summer. I think they'll be better. I will root for the sweater, but man the suits make it tough. They make you feel a little dirty knowing how they choose to handle things ethically. There's a reason why people I know from across the league laugh and snicker at the Hawks on their good days and are disgusted with them on their worst days.
The Blackhawks used to be the Roman Empire. That was a facade. There's always been an underbelly that people couldn't because of the glare off the Cups blinding them. Now it's become apparent what the suits are. Disloyal. Dishonest. Devoid of decency. Winning fixes a lot of things, but it can't fix your soul or your reputation.
Anyways…full episode here