Was Quenneville really the problem in Chicago?

[Ryan Michaels]

The problem was Scott Bowman, who had the ear of Rocky Wirtz, and got the owner to fire the previous GM and hire his son, because the previous GM understood that paying a 2nd line one dimensional winger $10.5mil per is a recipe for a disaster.

So take your pick in Chicago:
Scott Bowman
Rocky Wirtz
Stan Bowman
Pat Kane

 

[InglewoodJack]

No, the problem is that their team isn't good anymore. They needed a new coach because it wasn't working with Q, but they'll need a lot more new stuff before they're competitive again.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Imagine saying a generational player wasn’t worth extending at 10.5 per

 

[nbwingsfan]

Imagine saying a generational player wasn’t worth extending at 10.5 per

Who are you referring to here, exactly?

 

[stampedingviking]

Imagine saying a generational player wasn’t worth extending at 10.5 per

Chicago has/had a generational player?

Who's that, then?

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Not at all, but he had many several assistant coaches come and go, assistants can be the problem the odd time. I feel one thing he needs is a loyal group of coaches for the long-haul between 3-5 years. Also, he and Bowman didn't see things eye-to-eye which can slowly grow to be very toxic.

My take on Colliton is he's not entirely ready to be a head coach, think he stays in Chicago until the end of next season and coaches AHL/Junior before re-establishing himself.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Since Joel Quenneville was fired, the Hawks record has been 3-12-2, on pace for 39 points in a full season... Was he really the problem in Chicago? Was he even a problem at all?

Looks like Edmonton lucked out on who they hired.. sometimes it is the coach and sometimes it is not

on paper the team should not be as bad as they are

 

[ColbyChaos]

The mistakes were made a long time ago by committing that much money in the Toews and Seabrook contracts while letting go of guys like Panarin who were cost controlled for a while.

Panarin wasnt cost controlled at all past his ELC he entered the league at 24 by default he was going to be a UFA within 4 years

 

[Peggy]

Sounds like the gm is more of an issue

 

[ColbyChaos]

If we Compare the Pens, even when Crosby and Malkin will be in their 60 to 70 points a year phase, the Pens will still be competitive.

Probably not actually. The best players on Pit are already 31 or older while starting to make their own questionable cap decisions Rust being overpaid, spending almost 30 million on a Dcore that is pretty awful among contending teams besides Letang and Dumolin, impending raises to Guentzal and Schultz in back to back years, having an empty prospect pool, along with a question mark in net if Murray doesnt get his **** together. Pit will continue to shed even more talent this offseason.

 

[aemoreira1981]

The salary cap mismanagement is their problem. Buyouts will be hellacious too. There are going to be some lean years. Toews’ contract is especially an albatross. Kane isn’t, but if he’s traded, who can step up to replace his scoring?

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Panarin wasnt cost controlled at all past his ELC he entered the league at 24 by default he was going to be a UFA within 4 years

Should've held on to him for those 4 years and then reassessed the situation later. Or at least get more than Saad as a return in the trade.

 

[Volica]

Quenneville likely just wanted out at some point.
Hawks won't be relevant again for some years unless they luck out into a first overall again or something.

 

[Geoist]

They said on Canadian radio that Q wasn't fired for performance reasons, but because he and Bowman kept butting heads over personnel decisions. So no, he was not the problem.

The Hawks' top 3 problems in order are:

1. Goaltending
2. Defense
3. Offensive Depth

#4 would have to be coaching now that Q is gone.

The goaltending is not really the problem, though. Certainly not the #1 problem.

 

[Geoist]

Not really.

I mean he is having a slightly better year than his previous few seasons but that isn't saying much.

Slight uptake in his offense but his defense has taken a fall now too.

Do you have any numbers to back up that assertion?

 

[Geoist]

Throughout this thread I don't think I ever saw anyone bring up the Hawks special teams being a major problem. It seems like the team is more likely to give up a goal on the PP than they would at even strength, which would indicate an problem with the special teams coaching.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Biggest aspect of Hawks decline:

Losing Hossa and Hjalmarsson. Hossa we couldn't do anything about and Hammer was clearly quickly regressing. That's a HUGE hit to your defense...one of, if not, the best defensive forwards & a game breaker along with one of the best defensive Dmen in the game who ate huge minutes.


No trade or FA signing courtesy of Bowman was gonna fix that part, we're lucky we got Murphy out of it.


The rest of the decline is normal stuff, we all knew the Seabs contract would hurt but damn he's gone downhill fast for only being 33 or so.

Quenneville was done after the Nashville series. He needed Hossa/Hammer more than anyone as they made up for a lot of other deficiencies the team had. He wasn't going to figure the mess out and his usual "country club" of preferred vets were still prone to taking many nights off with no punishment.

As far as anyone can tell and what some Hawks writers speculated was Bowman decided last year to commit to the tank. Manning/Kunitz/Ward aren't/weren't good depth additions on anyone's radar.



This other bickering about Panarin or Teuvo or whomever wasn't going to turn this team around. At best Bowman could have kept the Hawks in bubble territory but this appears to be full on tankathon. Any of the moves for bigger pieces the past year I haven't heard a thing about the Hawks being in on.

 

[McShogun99]

LA and Chicago are examples of what happens in a cap-system to good teams. They could have been slightly better managed, but teams that stay elite long-term are going to be a rarity. Both also benefitted by signing guys to extremely long-term deals which drove down the cap-hit, and the back-end of those are going to hurt.

They paid guys for past success which is a problem under the cap. There’s no way players best years will come in their late 20’s, early 30’s. Now they’re start with a bunch of bad contracts for underperforming players.