Seek to end playoff drought after Quenneville hiring, Kreider, Granlund additions
© Joe Toreno/Anaheim Ducks
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The Anaheim Ducks are hoping new coach Joel Quenneville can lead them back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Quenneville was hired on May 9, replacing Greg Cronin. Not only is Quenneville second all-time among coaches in wins (969, trailing only Scotty Bowman, 1,244), but the previous two teams he coached went on to win the Stanley Cup multiple times. He was hired by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009, one season before they went on to win the first of three Stanley Cup championships in his tenure (2010, 2013, 2015). He also coached the Florida Panthers from 2019-2022, right before their stretch of making the Cup Final three seasons in a row, including winning the past two.
Quenneville resigned as Panthers coach in October 2021 after he was named in an independent investigation into the Blackhawks for allegations by former player Kyle Beach of sexual assault by then-video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010. He was reinstated by the NHL on July 1, 2024, following a meeting with Commissioner Gary Bettman.
“A lot of guys that are knocking on the door to the NHL, guys that are in the NHL that are looking like they could be top guys,” Quenneville said. “That’s exciting, and kind of reminded me of the days when I was in Chicago when I was very fortunate to walk into the team there that was ready to go, and, was loaded with young prospects, like a (Jonathan) Toews, (Patrick) Kane, Duncan (Keith). I mean, we had a number of guys that gave us a lot of depth organizationally, and we had a balanced lineup, and I’d love to see that kind of playing out this year.”
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The Ducks (35-37-10) finished sixth in the Pacific Division last season and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. They finished 16 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card from the Western Conference.
“Coaches come and go in this league and they get fired very quickly,” Ducks forward Ryan Strome said. “When you get one like ‘Q,’ you have to take advantage and learn as much as you can.”
In addition to the new coach, the Ducks are hoping veteran forwards Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund, each acquired in the offseason, can provide leadership for a talented young group that includes forwards Leo Carlsson, 20; Cutter Gauthier, 21; Mason McTavish, 22; defensemen Olen Zellweger, 21; Pavel Mintyukov, 21; and Jackson LaCombe, 24; and 19-year-old forward prospect Beckett Sennecke, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft; and goalie Lukas Dostal, 25.
“[Kreider will bring] a lot of leadership,” Strome said of his former teammate, who he played with for four seasons with the New York Rangers from 2018-22. “He’s calm, very professional. He’s had a lot of success, is very poised, and he’s had a high pedigree of winning and individual success and any time you inject someone like that into your lineup, it just oozes and bleeds off onto everybody what he brings.
“It’s also a sign of the times in the sense we are trying to add to the group and take a step. It sends a great message to the fan base, players and everyone in between and hopefully we can match this optimism with play on the ice.”
Kreider has scored at least 20 goals in seven straight seasons and has 116 career power-play goals. He should help bolster an offense which finished 30th in the NHL last season (217 goals scored) and last on the power play (11.8 percent).
“I think there’s a ton of energy in the organization,” Kreider said. “They’re super excited. There’s a really good energy and the guys are very optimistic.”
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Last season, the Ducks improved by 21 points from 2023-24. They’re hoping this season they can improve even more, and qualifying for the playoffs is a realistic goal.
“Our goal right now is to be a playoff team,” Quenneville said. “As an organization, that’s where our ambition is. We want to make sure that we’re going to prioritize getting off to a great start because that really, really sets you up to get into the playoffs. … As a coaching staff, we’re going to be pushing, and that’s going to be our ambition and be a playoff team. That’s definitely the goal.”
NHL.com staff writer Jon Lane and independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report
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