Gary Bettman uncertain if NHL will reinstate Joel Quenneville

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is not positive if he’ll be open to reinstating Joel Quenneville if the previous coach asks to return to the league.

“I do not know. That is one thing I will have to deal with with him immediately,” Bettman instructed ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap on Friday’s episode of The Level.

Quenneville resigned as Florida Panthers head coach final October after an investigation revealed how the Chicago Blackhawks mishandled allegations that former participant Kyle Seashore was sexually abused by an assistant coach in 2010. Quenneville was the top coach of that crew, which captured the Stanley Cup that season.

That resignation got here after a gathering in New York with Bettman, who stated that “all events agreed that it was now not applicable that he proceed to function Florida’s head coach.”

The NHL did not formally droop Quenneville, however Bettman stated that if Quenneville wished one other NHL place he would “require a gathering prematurely so as to decide the suitable situations beneath which such new employment may happen.”

Bettman instructed Schaap that Quenneville has expressed a normal need to return to the NHL, although not for a selected job opening.

“He has indicated that he would, on the applicable time, prefer to be a part of the sport once more,” stated Bettman. “I do not assume that is the time. However we’ll see what occurs sooner or later.”

The commissioner stated it was clear that Quenneville had “let the sport down” along with his actions.

“A head coach, any coach, has a accountability to the people who find themselves entrusted to that individual,” Bettman instructed Schaap. “What he must do, or hasn’t completed, I feel at this stage it is between him and me.”

Quenneville stated on the time of his resignation that he “expressed sorrow” for the ache that Seashore suffered.

“My former crew, the Blackhawks, failed Kyle and I personal my share of that,” Quenneville stated in a press release on the time to TSN. “I need to replicate on how all of this occurred and take the time to coach myself on making certain hockey areas are secure for everybody.”

Quenneville is the second-winningest coach in NHL historical past, his 969 victories trailing solely the 1,244 amassed by Scotty Bowman. He has beforehand coached the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, the Blackhawks and the Panthers.