The Hawks’ best: Giving Q his due

Coach Joel Quenneville’s storied tenure with the Blackhawks ended with a firing Tuesday after the team’s lackluster start. He survived back-to-back first-round playoff exits and a last-place finish in the previous three seasons but couldn’t overcome a brutal autumn road trip.

Current and former Hawks were effusive in their praise for Quenneville after the news broke. General manager Stan Bowman defended the decision by focusing on Jeremy Colliton, the 33-year-old former AHL coach who has stepped into the vacancy.

But no matter whom you’re talking to, Quenneville’s accomplishments the last decade are beyond reproach. During his long run as the head man in Chicago, the Hawks took their final steps into hockey royalty.

In honor of that remarkable decade in Chicago, one that turned him into a local “icon,” according to Patrick Kane, here’s a look at four impressive facts and stats that back up Quenneville’s greatness.

Long tenure

While the Hawks found unmatched stability with Quenneville behind the bench, the other 30 franchises were shuffling their coaching staffs constantly. Some guys — Barry Trotz, John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette — have been around nearly as long as Quenneville, but like the Hawks did with Colliton, teams have regularly turned to fresh faces.

Forty-nine men have made their NHL coaching debuts since 2009, when Quenneville was hired in Chicago, according to HockeyReference. It’ll be 50 once Colliton coaches his first game Thursday night.

Feels like the fourth time

If anyone should know what it’s like to be part of a midseason coaching shuffle in the NHL, it’s Quenneville. This is the fourth time in his coaching career that he has been part of a change on the bench by his bosses.

1996: Quenneville got his first gig as a head coach with the Blues after the team fired Mike Keenan 42 games into the season.

2004: The Blues fired Quenneville after a 29-23-7 start and replaced him with future Hawks assistant Mike Kitchen.

2008: Quenneville became the Hawks’ coach after the team fired Denis Savard only four games into the season.

2018: Quenneville lasted only 15 games into the season before being replaced by Colliton.

Hawks’ best playoff coach

No matter how you slice it, nobody in Hawks history comes close to what Quenneville accomplished in the postseason. He’s the franchise leader in playoff games (128) and playoff wins (76) and the only Hawks coach to win multiple Stanley Cups. Despite being around for only 10 seasons in their 91-year history, or roughly 11 percent of it, Quenneville has coached 24 percent of their playoff games and 29 percent of their playoff victories.

Best regular-season coach, too

Despite earning exactly 1,000 points in Chicago, Quenneville couldn’t reach the franchise record for all-time coaching wins, which is still owned by Billy Reay with 516. But in terms of winning points in the standings, nobody has been better than Quenneville, whose teams won 62.7 percent of all possible points. No other coach in Hawks history has topped 59 percent. He’s also the only coach in club history to win 50 games in a season — a feat he accomplished twice.