Ties that bind NHL coaches Quenneville, Tippett, Trotz are tight

Now this is hard to believe.

"For sure the last guy that anybody would have thought would have been a coach would have been me," Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said.

Quenneville has coached 1,920 games in the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs combined, more than anyone else but Scotty Bowman (2,494), and has 1,043 wins, more than anyone else but Bowman (1,467).

He has won the Stanley Cup three times as a coach, more than all but seven others: Bowman (nine), Toe Blake (eight), Hap Day (five), Al Arbour (four), Dick Irvin (four), Glen Sather (four) and Punch Imlach (four).

But maybe he was just being modest.

He was on a video call arranged by the NHL on Friday with Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett, who was his teammate with the Hartford Whalers, and New York Islanders coach Barry Trotz, who was his coach with Baltimore of the American Hockey League.

Tippett ranks 21st in games (1,185) and wins (590) in the regular season. Trotz is third in games (1,674) and fourth in wins (845) in the regular season, and he has won the Cup.

"Nobody would have picked me as a coach, for sure," Quenneville said. "Tippy? For sure, Tip …"

"No, I think …" Tippett said. "I think you're wrong there, Joel."

"I don't know," Quenneville said.

We've all been apart since the NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, socially distancing, self-isolating, waiting for a return to normal and the game.

The ties that bind are tight in hockey though.

Here was a great example: Quenneville in Chicago, where he coached the Chicago Blackhawks from 2008-19; Tippett in Arizona, where he coached the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes from 2009-17; and Trotz on Long Island, where he has coached the Islanders since 2018; separated by thousands of miles but hanging out as if in a back room in a rink after a skate.

Quenneville played defenseman for the Whalers from 1983-90. Tippett played forward for them from 1984-90.

"I know when you came into the team, it was like, 'Wow,' " Quenneville told Tippett.

Quenneville raved about the way Tippett competed, checked and prepared, how he killed penalties with teammate Doug Jarvis.

Then he went deeper.

"Your approach was a little different than a lot of the guys that I'd been around," Quenneville told Tippett. "And you could see that you had the next ingredient of not just the way you competed, which was relentless, but you really did study the game and not just play the game, and I think that helps you where you're at today.

"But I think myself, I felt I was playing and having fun."

Again, hard to believe.

Hartford was an incubator for coaches and executives. Twelve players who suited up for the Whalers from 1983-90 went on to coach in the NHL, including Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason. Other former Whalers in leadership roles in the NHL include Ken Holland, general manager of the Oilers, and Ron Francis, GM of the Seattle expansion team scheduled to begin play in 2021-22.

"It's amazing the bond that we all had at the time, and now you're seeing … it's almost every building we go to, every rink, there's somebody from the Whale," Quenneville said. "There's somebody that bumps into you that was with the Whale in every single capacity in the game, and a lot of good stories. The Whale still lives."

Tippett credited Emile Francis, the Whalers GM from 1983-89, for putting together a strong group of players. He also pointed out coaching and video weren't what they are today. The players would hold meetings on their own, standing around a blackboard to figure out how to stop, say, Guy Lafleur's one-timer.

"We were the underdogs," Tippett said. "We were always looking for advantages. We just had good hockey people, people that competed hard, and really smart hockey people that loved talking the game, whether it was in the dressing room, or after practice having a beer, for lunch or wherever you were."

Even on a video call, decades later.

"It was a good group, and it's amazing how many of these guys have stayed friends to this day and remember those good, old days," Tippett said.

Quenneville played nine games for the Washington Capitals in the NHL and 59 for Baltimore in the AHL in 1990-91. He was 32 then, with 13 seasons of NHL experience. Trotz was 28, an assistant in his first season as a coach in pro hockey.

"He put me out of business as a player," joked Quenneville, who became a player-assistant for St. John's of the AHL the following season, sparking his coaching career.

Trotz said he was intimidated by Quenneville, who brought energy and class while blocking shots with guts, smarts and a good stick.

"He was a pleasure," Trotz said. "I didn't teach him anything. I'm just going to put that out there. He forgot more than I could even teach him."

"Think how slow I was though, Trotzy," Quennville said with a laugh.

"Huh?"

"You didn't say I was slow."

"Your mind was quick."

Now this sounds more like it.

"You knew he was going to be a coach," Trotz said. "Probably as a young guy, I was more worried he was going to come and take my job."