SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Joel Quenneville returned to South Florida on Tuesday with an applause, a welcome message and a win.
Quenneville last coached a game in Sunrise four years ago as head coach of the Panthers before he resigned and was banned from the NHL for his handling of a sexual assault scandal involving his 2010 Stanley Cup Blackhawks squad.
“I'm appreciative,” Quenneville said after Tuesday's game against the Panthers, which his Anaheim Ducks won in a shootout, 3-2. “My time here was great. It was short, but I've been watching their success over the last three and four years.”
Quenneville and Blackhawks executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac were banned from the league for nearly three years after an independent investigation concluded that the team mishandled allegations raised by former player Kyle Beach against video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s Stanley Cup run in 2010.
The trio was reinstated last July. Bowman became the Edmonton Oilers’ general manager three weeks later, and Quenneville — the second-winningest coach in NHL history — was hired by Anaheim in May.
Quenneville has spoken of his growth since that incident, noting after his hiring that he has worked to educate himself on abuse.
“I own my mistakes,” Quenneville said in May. "While I believed wholeheartedly the issue was handled by management, I take full responsibility for not following up and asking more questions. That’s entirely on me. Over nearly four years, I’ve taken time to reflect, to listen to experts and advocates, and educate myself on the realities of abuse, trauma and how to be a better leader. I hope others can learn from my inaction.”
Quenneville has spent parts of 25 NHL seasons behind the benches of St. Louis, Colorado, Chicago and Florida. He coached the Blackhawks for more than 10 years and led them to championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
The Blackhawks fired Quenneville in November 2018 after a 6-6-3 start, and he joined the Panthers for the 2019-20 season.
Quenneville returned to the United Center in Chicago earlier this month to a mixed reaction of boos and cheers.
The reaction to his return to Sunrise was rather subdued. The public address announcer at Amerant Bank Arena called Quenneville's name while a “welcome back” message flashed on the jumbotron in the first period. The crowd followed with a brief applause and cheers.
Quenneville has admired the success of the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions over the past few years.
“I remember when I came here, Vinny (Panthers owner Vincent Viola) told me, ‘We’re going to win the Cup. We’re going to win multiple cups,’” Quenneville said. “So he was right.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
Anaheim Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville, left, calls a play during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party.
Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.
“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”
Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.
In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.
Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.
“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”
The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Reform has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in last May’s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.
Jenrick, who has continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.
Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.
The Conservatives remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour.
Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.
Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.
However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.
The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the party was created nearly 200 years ago.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
