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Quenneville To Toronto/Florida? Roy To AVS? (Updated)

May 9, 2008, 2:40 PM ET [ Comments]
Andy Strickland
St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • RSSArchiveCONTACT
With Joel Quenneville out in Colorado look for Toronto to focus their attention on the long time NHL Head Coach.

Quenneville is one of the top people in his profession and would be a perfect fit in Toronto where he was drafted as a player and coached in their farm system.

Don't look past the Florida Panthers either.

The Florida situation may be the best fit for Coach Q with his longtime relationship with Panthers General Manager Jacques Martin. Quenneville and Martin were assistants together under Marc Crawford in Colorado. Also Panthers Assistant coach Mike Kitchen is under contract for one more season. Kitchen served as Quenneville's top assistant for nearly a decade in St. Louis. The two remain very good friends. If Martin is looking for familiarity with this hire Quenneville makes perfect sense. With Kitchen on board the transition for Q would be rather seamless.


Coach Q's contract was going to expire on June 30th.


I would assume Toronto will wait to hire a coach until after they have a GM/acting GM in place.


The move in Colorado is hardly a shocker.


The word all season long was that Hall of Famer Patrick Roy would replace Quenneville at the conclusion of this season. Roy obviously has the French connection with the organization to go along with his legacy as a player.

Roy may have hurt his chances of becoming an NHL head coach with his antics this past year in the QMJHL. Colorado may be forced to go in a different direction.

Sources say Colorado will look hard at Pat Burns as well. There are several teams interested in Burns services, but he hasn't received a call from a single NHL team as of today.


Rink Rats!


Word is the New York Rangers will offer Maple Leafs Captain Mats Sundin 7 million a season this summer. I find that a little crazy with the other centermen they have in the mix.

I had a former NHL executive tell me yesterday that Brian Burke wants to be in Toronto so bad that he'd crawl on his belly all the way from California to get there.


More to come,

Andy Strickland

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