ANAHEIM \u2013\u2013 Fresh off his 1,000th career regular-season victory, Ducks coach Joel Quenneville will seek No. 1,001 against his former captain, Jonathan Toews, and the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.<\/p>\n
Quenneville and, in a way, Toews are both on their second stop since departing Chicago, where they were the fulcrum of three Stanley Cup champions between 2010 and 2015. Quenneville has coached in Florida and now the OC, while Toews\u00a0took significant time away from the game\u00a0before returning to sign with his hometown Winnipeg Jets.<\/p>\n
Just the second coach to reach 1,000 wins \u2013 Paul Maurice, Lindy Ruff and Barry Trotz are all nearing the benchmark as well \u2013 Quenneville almost left himself stranded on 969 victories.<\/p>\n
He was abruptly removed from his position with the Panthers in 2021 and barred from seeking NHL employment until last season as a result of his inadequate response to the 2010 sexual assault allegations made by two players and a team employee against a Blackhawks video coach in 2010.<\/p>\n
Now, Quenneville returned to the bench after linking up with Ducks\u2019 general manager and former teammate Pat Verbeek and inheriting a young team brought forward to a 21-point improvement last year by predecessor Greg Cronin. It\u2019s not dissimilar from the situation he stepped into with Chicago, which had developed Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, among other young stars, under Denis Savard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to be getting the opportunity to be back in the game and to be around a team like we have right now,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cA lot of the excitement that we\u2019re generating this year \u2013 from the talent, the skill and the youth we have \u2013 puts us in the position where you can see how effective we can be with that type of recipe when you look back on what happened in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quenneville was asked if he ever thought he might not get such an opportunity \u2013 or any at all \u2013 to coach in the NHL again, which he deflected almost as artfully as Chris Kreider tips a puck at the net front.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I don\u2019t think about, my motivation and my goal was always, \u2018Once you win the Cup one time, you can\u2019t wait to do it again,\u2019 and that\u2019s always been the reason why we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Quenneville said.<\/p>\n
Quenneville has the Ducks on a 94-point pace, which would represent a 14-point bump over last season. More importantly, their second-place position in the Pacific Division has them on track for their first playoff berth since 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just brings an energy, a level of fun.\u2029When things are wrong, he addresses them and then we move on,\u201d Ducks veteran defenseman Jacob Trouba said. \u201cI think that\u2019s something I appreciate in him. Nothing really dwells. If he has an issue, he\u2019ll address it and then it\u2019s time to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n