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Blackhawks cut ties with head coach Joel Quenneville

The Chicago Blackhawks severed ties with the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL, announcing Tuesday morning that they have fired Joel Quenneville.

His surprising dismissal comes at the end of a five-game losing streak for the Blackhawks. Assistants Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson have also been let go.

Quenneville, who brought three Stanley Cup to Chicago in more than a decade at the helm, will be replaced by Jeremy Colliton, a 33-year-old who was named head coach of the team’s American Hockey League outfit at the end of the 2016-17 season.

Colliton is just eight seasons removed from his NHL career. He appeared in 13 games with the New York Islanders in 2010-11, and last appeared professionally in 2013-14 with Swedish club Mora IK.

How’s this for six degrees of separation?

Quenneville lasted 15 games into his 11th season with the organization. He was at his post for nearly five years longer than any other active coach in the NHL before his firing. The “longest tenured” attribution now belongs to Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Joining John Stevens, who was fired by the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday, Quenneville is the second head coach to fall on the axe in a month to start the campaign after not a single bench boss was let go in-season all of last year.

(Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire)
(Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire)

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