After the Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup in 49 years last June, extending the contract of coach Joel Quenneville was a no-brainer for general manager Stan Bowman.
And for once during the off-season, Bowman didn’t have to consider the NHL’s salary cap in making a key personnel decision — one that lengthens Quenneville’s deal through 2013-14. The Blackhawks have had to shed eight players, including playoff heroes Antti Niemi and Dustin Byfuglien, from their championship roster due to the league’s US$59.4 million player payroll limit.
“We’ve talked a lot about the cap and thankfully this wasn’t something that we had to worry about that way,” Bowman said. “We’ve got some fresh (player) faces coming into the mix, but I also think it’s important to say the flipside of that is the stability we have up top, particularly behind the bench with Joel leading the group.”
Financial terms of Quenneville’s three-year extension weren’t disclosed Thursday. He had one year remaining on a three-year contract he signed when he took the Chicago coaching job four games into the 2008-09 season after Denis Savard was fired.