THE VERDICT: Hockey blue blood Quenneville has made his mark

For Joel Quenneville, it's now mind over madder. Once upon a time, while running a National Hockey League bench, he felt compelled to multitask by imploring referees and linesmen to perform their jobs better.
"But I don't chirp as much anymore… I've mellowed," says Quenneville, who is marking the 10th anniversary of his installation as head coach of the Blackhawks.
Just the other night, during pregame introductions at the United Center, a visiting dignitary strolled by in the press box. (Granted, if a dignitary is among us types, he or she must be visiting.) But that's not the story here.
"Did the fans just boo your coach?" inquired the guest.

On the contrary, after the starting lineup was unveiled, there was a prolonged "Qooooooooo" from another capacity crowd. He is an icon, overseeing the most successful stretch in franchise history. Three Stanley Cups, and counting.
Only two coaches or managers in the annals of professional sports in Chicago can top that. George Halas won six championships with the Bears, a team he owned while co-founding the National Football League. Mike Ditka volunteered that Papa Bear "threw quarters around like manhole covers," but no doubt Halas put the sport on America's map.
Phil Jackson won six National Basketball Association titles with the Bulls. He had Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest ever, on his side. That helped the scores and highlights. Jackson also was a Zen-master who brought a certain ethereal mood to the job. He carried a professorial air and picked out books for his players to read.
The proposition that Quenneville, a straightforward leader of men without a cache of mysteriousness, belongs in the same paragraph as Halas and Jackson does not fly in the coach's office at the United Center.

"I have nothing to do with what the Blackhawks have accomplished since I've been here," says Quenneville. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to work for this organization. It's all timing. When I started here, the team was loaded with talent, ready to take off. Since then, we've been spoiled by the way we're treated, by ownership, the top management and fans. The players I've had know what to do, how to do it, and they are zero maintenance. Sometimes, it's push-button coaching. The best thing for me is to get out of the way."
Quenneville's family is at home in Chicago. He can relax with tennis, skiing or the thoroughbreds. You could lock him, Eddie Olczyk and Denis Savard in a room with "The Daily Racing Form" and they might not emerge for hours except for bread and water. On the road, during springtime playoffs, Coach Q and his staff will unwind outdoors, with cigars and a bottle of wine.
But Quenneville, the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, is a hockey blue blood. He possesses a stunning ability to gauge the pulse of his team and what he sees before him, shift by shift. He deploys players not by how much they earn, but whether they are earning it. He governs the ultimate meritocracy. His singular agenda is winning. Compete or take a seat. And if it's Duncan Keith's 1,000th game, he belongs next to Brent Seabrook for the opening puck drop.

"Joel gets emotional behind the bench, but he doesn't make emotional decisions," says Jonathan Toews, who adds words such as "structure, experience and respect" in appraising Quenneville's rousing reign. "If there's an issue in the locker room, and there rarely is, he's always open to listening about it. He might not bend, but he'll listen."
Quenneville deals with the media as he does with his athletes. He is honest. You can land a small plane on his lower lip after defeat, but he is never condescending or snippy. Interrogators also know that they can exit a post-mortem without being overloaded by information.
"I can give out some vagaries," says Quenneville, chuckling. "Or I'm good at generalizations. Is that a better word? Generalizations."
On Oct. 16, 2008, the young Blackhawks were 1-2-1, having won their first game of the season the previous evening, beating the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-1, at the United Center. Management called a press conference during which Quenneville, hired only a month earlier as a pro scout, was named to replace Savard.
"I was going to work for the Blackhawks out of Denver," recalls Quenneville. "Watch the Avalanche and the colleges. I signed here in September. There was no indication, no inclination, toward me coaching here. I had been a coach, and wanted to coach again, but I was a free agent."
The announcement reverberated throughout Chicago. Savard was (and is) still revered. Patrick Kane wept. But, contrary to a spate of curious organizational decisions in the past, it was not as though Quenneville had come in off the street. He was a graduate of the remarkable Hartford Whalers' coaching tree; with the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, his teams were an aggregate 155 games over .500 and perennial playoff participants.

Quenneville immediately welcomed the challenge, and for 10 years since has maintained that Savard "teed it up" nicely for him by grooming players who would comprise the championship core ­- Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook and Patrick Sharp. Also, Quenneville says that Savard had "nailed it" by naming Toews as captain. Savard never forgot Quenneville's classy remarks.
"I was disappointed," says Savard. "But it was the best move for the franchise, and the best for me. I wasn't sleeping. I was still smoking cigarettes. The way the Blackhawks have treated me since then has been unbelievable, welcoming me in as an Ambassador. That made it a lot easier for me, and my health. If I hadn't been fired, I might still not be able to sleep. I might still be smoking. I might not be here."
With 887 victories, Quenneville ranks second only to Scotty Bowman, currently the Blackhawks' Senior Advisor/Hockey Operations. He won 1,244 times, arithmetic Quenneville considers a statistical impossibility. "I'm 60… you want me to do this until I'm 70?", he says.
"That's an amazing record," Savard goes on. "Joel's the best there is, a Hall of Famer for sure. I look at the team this year. They're playing with so much energy. They're underdogs, and Joel has gotten that message across. He sees the game in front of him and adjusts. I was more inclined to give a guy the benefit of the doubt if he was having a bad night, keep playing him, and then maybe look at films afterward. Joel doesn't need films. He sees what's happening and he'll use the only leverage a coach really has, ice time. I was worried about, if I benched a guy, what do I say to him? If he doesn't take it right, maybe he disappears on me.
"These guys know Joel, and they love the fact that he is fair. No BS. It's different now than it used to be. Salary cap, guys making big money on long-term contracts. But Joel has the grip of everything because he's also a Hall of Fame person. I see how he relates to his players and to strangers. The way he handles himself. I would love to have played for him. Where he wears me out is tennis. We play during the summer. He chases every ball. After two hours, I'm done. Worn out. He wants to keep going. What a competitor. You see that on the bench. What a coach."