SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) 鈥� For the Florida Panthers, there has never been a better start to a season.
The next few days, though, could change everything.
Panthers coach Joel Quenneville's future is in jeopardy, after he was that an assistant on his Chicago staff sexually assaulted a player during the team鈥檚 Stanley Cup Finals run in 2010.
鈥淥ur focus is on the ice,鈥� Florida defenseman Brandon Montour insisted Wednesday, hours before the Panthers were to play host to the Boston Bruins.
The success Quenneville had in Chicago 鈥� three Stanley Cups 鈥� was why Florida brought him in to coach the Panthers a little over two seasons ago. He's one of the biggest reasons why this Florida team believes it, finally, can win a title.
But a Thursday meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman looms for Quenneville, who will likely learn sometime not too long after that talk if he'll be allowed to remain with Florida. For a team that is off to a 6-0-0 start, there is now a major source of worry.
Quenneville read from a prepared statement Wednesday, saying he could not discuss the specifics because the investigation is ongoing.
The investigation found that the allegations against then-assistant Brad Aldrich were largely ignored by the team for three weeks after a May 23, 2010 meeting. That meeting took place on the same day Chicago finished off a four-game sweep of San Jose to reach the Stanley Cup final.
Quenneville is the second-winningest coach in NHL history, his 968 victories trailing only the 1,244 amassed by Scotty Bowman 鈥� the father of now-former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, who resigned Tuesday when the investigation's findings were released.
Quenneville has the Panthers off to the best start in their history, 6-0-0 this season entering Wednesday鈥檚 game with Boston. His record with Florida 鈥� 78-40-13, getting 64.5% of the possible points from those 131 games 鈥� is by far the best of any coach in Panthers history, and the team came into this season truly thinking it was a Stanley Cup contender.
Quenneville was brought into Florida to turn around a long-struggling franchise, one that had cycled through 15 coaches in 25 seasons, including five in a six-season span before Quenneville was hired.
Immediately, Florida had hope.
鈥淗e鈥檚 going to be the coach that鈥檚 going to bring us to the Cup,鈥� Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau said when Quenneville was hired in 2019.
Time will tell if Quenneville will have a chance to prove Huberdeau right.
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
