Quenneville ready to be crowned king of Chicago coaches

Quenneville's winter competition seems doomed already. Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro looks out-classed, as every Bulls coach has since Michael Jordan retired. While Bears coach Lovie Smith is saddled with Brian Urlacher's absence and Jay Cutler's presence, which would truly be an unwinnable combination for Smith, Halas or Lombardi.
Quenneville had quite a 2008-09 season, showing that he knows how to overcome adversity off ice and on. On May 9 he was fired as Colorado Avalanche coach. On Sept. 21 he was arrested in Denver for DUI, stopped because he had failed to turn on his headlights. The devil, as always, is in the details.
On Oct. 16 he was hired by the Blackhawks to replace the fired Denis Savard four games into last season. Esteemed TSN analyst Bob McKenzie wrote at the time that among the factors in Savard's dismissal was his inability to connect with Hawks adviser Scotty Bowman's sage advice to him from his days as a coach in the Pleistocene Era.
McKenzie's sources also pointed to Savard allowing goalie Cristobal Huet to get shellacked for 7 goals in an exhibition game against Columbus last year, as well as him limiting Martin Havlat's power-play ice time, as contributing factors in president John McDonough and Bowman engineering the move.
So don't be fooled. Preseason can be important in judging coaches if you want to fire them. While Q is safe, let's make sure Huet doesn't give up 7 again this preseason.
"It was becoming fairly clear fairly quickly that Savard and Bowman were not engaging in the same positive relationship that Red Wing coach Mike Babcock enjoyed with Bowman in Detroit," McKenzie observed.
"The two (Savard and Havlat) were clearly at odds. Now, Havlat's detractors will suggest he's a one-dimensional player with a selfish streak. His supporters will tell you he's a dynamic offensive talent who only needs to be in a primetime role to be an NHL offensive star."
Quenneville was able to conquer both tasks, letting Scotty talk and Havlat star. Sounds easy, but go try it and you will be surprised at all the heavy lifting.
Quenneville is still working on finding the coaching magic that will make Huet a full-time goalie, but Q has quietly established himself as someone good enough to take a young and talented team into the Western Conference finals before running into a superior club in Detroit.
Now, just weeks later, Chicago is a better club on paper than Detroit in some reckonings with some brave souls picking them to win the Stanley Cup. That one is open for argument with ample time to debate, and will eventually make or break Q's lifetime record and rep from a coaching perspective.
Myself, I side with sensible Jonathan Toews. Let's see what happens and hope for the best, but no wild predictions.
History shows Q gets teams to the postseason. But he has lost three times in the first round, five times in the second round and twice in the conference finals. He has lost to Detroit five times in all in the postseason.
Keep pouring over his past and it scares the hell out of you. Good, but not good enough.
"The pressure is on Quenneville, a coach with a tremendous track record of getting teams to the postseason but not beyond a conference final, to get the Blackhawks firing on all cylinders," ESPN's Scott Burnside wrote when Quenneville replaced Savard.
"If the team responds to Quenneville and makes good on its significant promise, what with the additions of Brian Campbell and Huet, and the presence of Patrick Kane, Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, then this moment might be seen as a watershed event, a turning point even, in the history of the franchise.
"If he can't, then this will become just another misguided decision by a team doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Worse, it will be the kind of decision that could undo all of the good things that have taken place in and around this franchise for the past year."
Almost a year later, those observations still ring true and timely.
Quenneville had the Hawks firing on all cylinders much of last season with a few slumps to even things out, just like every season.
Now, he is expected to do more. As Kane said, it's Cup or bust. Quenneville's history shows the usual result for his teams have been bust.
How would McDonough and Bowman like that? Ask Savard.
Other than an emotional meltdown last postseason for Quenneville over a rather questionable roughing call to Matt Walker, he demonstrated good sense, good diplomacy, good line mixing, good low profile and good judgment on most occasions last season.
I wouldn't mind seeing Q give us a little more peek into his personality this season. No need hiding behind the curtain and drinking alone in your office like Lou or ranting and raving like Ozzie in two languages that no one understands.
Come on out from behind the mustache and make a name for yourself. It's a long way until Stanley Cup time and we might as well get to know one another.
This year all the details have to fall in place. So remember to turn on the headlights.