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Blackhawks fire Savard; Quenneville takes over

Thu 16th, October 2008

Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - The Chicago Blackhawks have fired head coach Denis Savard just four games into the 2008-09 season and replaced him with Joel Quenneville.

The Blackhawks notched their first victory of the young season on Wednesday, 4-1 over the Phoenix Coyotes, after an 0-2-1 start.

"This was an extremely hard day for this organization and for me personally," said Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon in a statement. "Denis is forever a part of our organization. We made a tough decision that we strongly feel is the right one as we continue to evaluate our team and create a championship caliber organization that can sustain success. Joel brings us a wealth of experience and a winning track record that will have an immediate and lasting impact."

Savard, who spent 12 of his 17 NHL seasons as a star center with the Blackhawks, had been the club's head coach since November 29, 2006. He posted a record of 65-67-15, including a mark of 40-34-8 last season for the team's first winning campaign since 2001-02 -- which was also the most recent playoff appearance for the once-proud franchise.

Chicago has just one playoff appearance in the past 10 seasons.

Quenneville has a record of 438-283-118 for a winning percentage of .592 in parts of 11 years as an NHL head coach. He guided the St. Louis Blues from 1996-2004 and was dismissed in February of the 2003-04 campaign as the winningest coach in franchise history, then spent the past three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche before taking a job with Chicago this September as a pro scout.

The 50-year-old former NHL defenseman led Colorado to a record of 44-31-7 last season. The Avalanche were bounced from the playoffs in the second round by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings and the club decided not to bring him back for this season.

Nine of Quenneville's 11 teams have reached the playoffs, but only once has he advanced as far as the conference finals. The Blues made it the Western Conference finals in the spring of 2001, just a year after being dumped in the first round after finishing with the league's best record.

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