Joel Quenneville set to meet with Gary Bettman, report says

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will meet with Joel Quenneville after the playoffs to review the veteran coach's status with the league, TSN reported Friday.

Quenneville has been out of the NHL since October 2021, when he resigned asFlorida Pantherscoach. His resignation came after an independent investigation into how the Chicago Blackhawks handled a sexual assault allegation in 2010 that implicated Quenneville and other then-Blackhawks leaders for their inaction in the case.

Quenneville was coaching in Chicago when then-player Kyle Beach said he was sexually assaulted by video coach Brad Aldrich. The report found that Blackhawks officials didn't want to take action against Aldrich at the time because they didn't want to disrupt the team's path to the Stanley Cup title.

The NHL never formally suspended Quenneville, but Bettman previously outlined that if Quenneville wanted another NHL position he would "require a meeting in advance in order to determine the appropriate conditions under which such new employment might take place."

TSN reported in November that Quenneville -- the second-winningest coach in NHL history behind Scotty Bowman -- wanted to coach again after a year off. Five NHL franchises have openings: the Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames and New York Rangers.

If any team wants to hire Quenneville, it will have to get permission from the Panthers to speak with him, and Quenneville must get approval from Bettman to return to the NHL.

TSN reported in April that there was a strong possibility of Quenneville receiving permission to rejoin the NHL. Former Chicago general manager and president of hockey operations Stan Bowman has also been out of the league since 2021 following the investigation into the Blackhawks and has spoken with teams about a possible return to the NHL, according to TSN.

Quenneville, 64, has a career 969-572-150 mark with 77 ties in the regular season with the St. Louis Blues (1994-2004), Colorado Avalanche (2005-08), Blackhawks (2008-19) and Panthers (2019-21). He won three Stanley Cup titles with the Blackhawks (2010, '13, '15) and has a postseason record of 121-104.

Information from ESPN's Greg Wyshynski and Reuters was used in this report.