NHL commissioner Gary Bettman isn’t sure if he would be ready to rehabilitate Joel Quenneville if the former coach asks to return to the league.
“I don’t know. That’s something I’ll have to deal with him directly,” Bettman told ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap on Friday’s episode of The Point.
Quenneville resigns as Florida Panthers head coach last October after an investigation revealed how Chicago Blackhawks falsely alleged that former player Kyle Beach was sexually abused by an assistant coach in 2010. Quenneville was the head coach of that team, which won the Stanley Cup that season.
That resignation came after a meeting in New York with Bettman, who said “all parties agree that it is no longer appropriate for him to continue as Florida’s head coach.”
The NHL didn’t officially suspend Quenneville, but Bettman said that if Quenneville wanted another NHL position, he would “request a meeting in advance to determine the appropriate conditions under which such a refresh could be made.” .”
Bettman told Schaap that Quenneville has expressed a general desire to return to the NHL, though not for a specific job.
“He’s shown that at the right time, he’s going to want to be a part of the game again,” Bettman said. “I don’t think this is the time. But we’ll see what happens in the future.”
The commissioner said it was clear Quenneville had “closed the curtain” with his actions.
“A head coach, any coach, has a responsibility to the people entrusted to that person,” Bettman told Schaap. “What he needs to do, or hasn’t done, I think at this stage is between him and me.”
Quenneville said at the time of his resignation that he “expressed grief” for the pain Beach had endured.
“My old team, the Blackhawks, fell flat on Kyle and I own my share of that,” Quenneville said in a statement at the time to TSN. “I wanted to reflect on how all of this happened and take the time to educate myself about making sure hockey spaces are safe for everyone.”
Quenneville is the second winning coach in NHL history, his 969 wins trailing only Scotty Bowman’s 1,244 games. Previously he trained St. Louis Blues, Colorado AvalancheBlackhawks and Panthers.
