Avalanche Hires Quenneville

Joel Quenneville was hired Wednesday to coach the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, succeeding Tony Granato, who will become his assistant.

Quenneville coached the St. Louis Blues from January 1997 until last February, when he was fired.

Quenneville said he had been in contact about openings with several teams, just not the one that hired him.

“This came about so quickly yesterday -- I’m cutting the grass in the backyard and here I am sitting in front of everybody when Colorado wasn’t even an idea,” Quenneville said.

Granato was an Avalanche assistant when he was promoted to coach in December 2002, succeeding Bob Hartley, who was fired. Granato had only three months of coaching experience, all as an assistant, and was two years removed from his playing days.

Granato said he brought the idea of hiring Quenneville to General Manager Pierre Lacroix.

In five of his six full seasons at St. Louis, Quenneville led the Blues to at least 40 regular-season victories.

The Blues won 307 regular-season games but were only 34-34 in the playoffs.

Quenneville was an assistant with the Avalanche in 1995-96 when the team won its first Stanley Cup championship.

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