The Blackhawks fired head coach Joel Quenneville on Tuesday morning and named Jeremy Colliton as his replacement.
The team also let go assistant coaches Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson. Barry Smith was named an assistant coach to Colliton’s staff.
The Blackhawks are off to a 6-6-3 start to the season, but are currently on a five-game losing streak.
Quenneville, 60, joined the Blackhawks organization as a pro scout in September 2008 and in October of that year was promoted to head coach to replace Denis Savard. Quenneville guided the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Quenneville is the second-winngest head coach in franchise history, with a 452-249-96 record.
“As Chicago Blackhawks fans have seen over the last decade, this organization no longer shies away from making tough decisions or ones based on emotion. Those days are long behind us,” Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz said in a release. “Of course, Joel’s was difficult, as it should have been. During his tenure as head coach to the Chicago Blackhawks, Joel brought the city of Chicago and our fans three Stanley Cups and an incredible era of hockey.
Nothing will ever take away the success he brought our franchise, our fans and my family. Joel will forever be etched into the most memorable era in Chicago Blackhawk hockey. And for that, we will always be connected and always eternally grateful.”
Colliton, 33, becomes the youngest head coach in the NHL. He led the IceHogs to a 40-28-4-4 mark in his first AHL season in 2017-18. Rockford reached the Western Conference Final in the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time in team history. The IceHogs swept the Chicago Wolves and Manitoba Moose before falling 4-2 to the Texas Stars.
Quenneville is the second NHL coach to be fired this week after the Kings parted ways with John Stevens.