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Top 10 Blackhawks stories of 2018: Chicago firing Joel Quenneville at No. 1

Each day for the rest of the year, Second City Hockey will countdown the top 10 Blackhawks stories of 2018.

The Blackhawks elected to go in a new direction Nov. 6, when they fired head coach Joel Quenneville and assistant coaches Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson.

Chicago made the decision amid a five-game losing streak and 6-6-3 start to the season. The moved ended a 10-year run with the organization for Quenneville, who was hired as a pro scout in September 2008 and in October that year was promoted to head coach to replace Denis Savard.

Quenneville guided the Blackhawks to unprecedented success with 452 wins and three Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015 during his tenure. He’s the second- winningest head coach in NHL history with 890 victories, second only to Scotty Bowman.

The firing stunned the hockey world and angered much of the Blackhawks fanbase, who lashed out and called for general manager Stan Bowman to be fired instead for constructing a poor roster for Quenneville to work with. At a press conference later that day, Blackhawks president and CEO John McDonough said he did not consider firing Bowman and Quenneville. McDonough also said the Blackhawks are not rebuilding, but “remodeling.”

The Blackhawks promoted Jeremy Colliton from its AHL affiliate in Rockford to replace Quenneville and named Barry Smith an assistant coach. Colliton started his NHL coaching career with three straight losses before the Blackhawks beat the Blues 1-0 on Nov. 14. Chicago has gone 9-14 in 26 games under Colliton.

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