Joel Quenneville had to compartmentalize his life this week in Denver, celebrating the past and looking to the future. He reunited with others involved with the 1995-96 Avalanche team that provided the state with its first major-league championship, but he was in the potentially awkward position of knowing that the celebrating and reminiscing came in conjunction with a business trip for him.
On Thursday at the Pepsi Center, after the pregame ceremonies honoring the 1995-96 Avs, whom he served as an assistant coach, were complete, Quenneville stepped back behind the bench in his role as the coach of the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
So the man who played for the old Colorado Rockies, then was both an assistant and the coach for the Avs eventually, had to tune out the memories.
“It was a great night (Wednesday) night, a great scene,” Quenneville said of the gathering at the Denver ChopHouse, speaking after the Blackhawks’ game-morning skate. “Everybody looks great. Everybody had some great stories, reminiscing. It’s amazing how fast 15 years goes past you, so it was fun sharing that time. We’ll do a little bit before the game, but once it starts, it’s back to what we were all about, trying to beat each other.”
How many of the stories told Wednesday night were true?
“I think they were all true, but there’s a lot that couldn’t be told here,” Quenneville said, smiling.
Quenneville came to Denver with a defending champion that underwent major turnover in the offseason. The Blackhawks scrambled to get down to the $59.4 million ceiling with long-term extensions to center Jonathan Toews, 22; winger Patrick Kane, 21; and defenseman Duncan Keith, 27, scheduled to kick in this season.
Gone are eight players from the 2010 Cup team.
“We’re still a confident group in here,” said Keith, the Canadian Olympic standout in Vancouver last winter who also won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman last season. “It’s a new season and it presents different challenges, but also different opportunities.”
Said Kane: “Yeah, you miss some of the guys who were here. But you look at the group we have, there are some guys who have filled in right away . . . For us, we have something to prove this year and what happened last year doesn’t really matter.”
Among the exodus, goalie Antti Niemi left after the Blackhawks walked away from his $2.75-million, one-year award in arbitration and signed veteran Marty Turco to a one-year, $1.3-million deal to replace him. So it was Turco, 35, in the Chicago net on opening night. The issue is whether his spotty work for Dallas in recent seasons was a reflection of the state of his game, or whether he can be rejuvenated around such a still-youthful and talented roster.
“Everybody says we had to make a change in goal,” Kane said. “I actually think we upgraded in goal, so I’m excited about that. (Turco) is really good with the puck. He fires it up. He’s done that a couple of times in preseason where we’ve taken advantage of it and scored goals, so it should be fun to play with him. He looks really sharp in net. He’s motivated more than anyone.”
Keith played against Turco for five seasons.
“We’re really confident in Marty,” Keith said. “He’s done a great job in Dallas all those years, and we know what he’s capable of. You already can see that hunger he has.”
The Blackhawks will be a part of more pomp and circumstance Saturday, when the Stanley Cup title banner is unfurled before Chicago’s home opener against the Detroit Red Wings.
“It will be a special night,” Quenneville said. “I think the building’s going to be as loud as we’ve seen it. It’ll be a fun place to be.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
