Many fans at the Ducks-Blackhawks game Sunday might have left the United Center at the end of the night never knowing the winningest coach in Hawks franchise history was in their midst.
There was no official acknowledgment of new Ducks coach Joel Quenneville, who likely will become the second coach in NHL history to reach 1,000 career victories this season. His mustachioed face never was shown on the video board, his myriad accomplishments in Chicago never retold in a dramatic tribute.
His name only was mentioned once, in public-address announcer Gene Honda’s standard reading of the visitors’ starting lineup 10 minutes before the puck dropped — before many fans had taken their seats. A handful of people clapped for a couple of seconds.
Because Quenneville returned to Chicago as an opposing coach for the first time in January 2020 with the Panthers, the Hawks were absolved of any obligation to recognize him Sunday. They took that gift and ran.
After all, Quenneville’s legacy with the Hawks forever will be complicated by his involvement in the cover-up of former video coach Brad Aldrich’s sexual assault of Kyle Beach during the 2010 playoffs.
The event level of the United Center hardly has changed during its existence. So when Quenneville walked around it Sunday, his eyes scanned across the same gray air ducts, white cement blocks and multicolored floor tiles he scanned on May 23, 2010, while walking to the fateful front-office meeting in which Aldrich’s reprehensible actions were discussed.
As the Jenner & Block investigation finally revealed in 2021, the misunderstandings and callousness that occurred during that meeting ultimately enabled Aldrich to escape justice in Chicago and allegedly sexually assault at least two other people in the following years.
Then-general manager Stan Bowman told investigators he remembered that, ‘‘Quenneville shook his head and said that it was hard for the team to get to where they were, and they could not deal with this issue now.’’’
Then-team counselor Jim Gary told investigators that, ‘‘During the meeting, Quenneville appeared angry and was concerned about upsetting team chemistry.’’
Since 2021, Quenneville reportedly has been proactive in learning about what he did incorrectly in 2010 and reforming his approach to delicate situations. He said he has had ‘‘healthy conversations’’ with Beach, too.
The NHL reinstated him for hiring in July 2024, and the Ducks took the leap this past summer, making a decision that unabashedly prioritized winning over morals.
Quenneville’s track record — including three Stanley Cups — speaks for itself, results-wise. That appealed to the young, talented and impatient Ducks, who receive minimal local-media scrutiny and even less leaguewide attention.
The 67-year-old Quenneville, to his credit, has been relatively transparent and willing to speak about his takeaways from the scandal, and he did so again before the game Sunday.
‘‘Things we learned from that was that I could have been more forceful asking more questions and gotten more involved in the details of what happened,’’ Quenneville said.
‘‘We talked to the [Ducks about it]. We addressed them right off the bat. Guys have been good. I think, as a staff, we’re aware on a daily basis of the accountability of each guy.’’
Only two current Hawks — Connor Murphy and Teuvo Teravainen — played under Quenneville, but a handful of support staff remain from his tenure, and he greeted and caught up with them on the event level.
There isn’t much of an official relationship anymore between Quenneville and the Hawks’ front office, though.
‘‘I think I’ve moved on,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re part of the game and the league. [With] the Hawks, I haven’t had a lot of shared discussions lately. But at the same time, we’ve gotten along fine as we’ve gone over the last year. The memories that we have over that stretch of time were spectacular, and I don’t think you can take anything away from the guys who accomplished some great feats.
‘‘I’m just happy to be back in this building and hear the crowd being excited. The crowds look like they’ve been good so far this year. The team is on that next level of trying to be a playoff team, and it looks like they’re on the right track.’’
