Following his introductory press conference, Joel Quenneville participated in a separate scrum with local media. The full transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, is below:

Ducks Name Joel Quenneville Head Coach On Thursday morning, the Ducks named Joel Quenneville the 12th head coach in franchise history. Quenneville last coached in the NHL in 2021 with the Florida Panthers, resigning from his position following a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about his involvement in the Chicago Blackhawks' sexual abuse case from 2010. Quenneville had been ineligible to seek employment in the NHL up until July 2024, when he was reinstated by the league.

Your thoughts, your emotions, now that you've gotten through this, and now that you're officially the coach.

Well, it's been a process, and it's not so much of where we're at today, but learning over those four years getting here that I thought I had some work to do and growing as a person. As far as doing the work along the way, I think I progressed to an area where the education I had put me in a position where I can share some of these lessons and experiences as well. And then you're sitting there and I watch hockey every day and you're excited about watching playoff hockey and getting back in the game, how's that going to be? I just think the excitement that these young guys are going to have starting in September gets me all charged up. I'm wondering how am I going to be not being on the ice in a long time? And I think that from where I was and where I am, I feel that in watching playoffs that they are today, that I'm excited to get out there knowing that that's what I do and I love to do, and I can't wait to get going.

How confident were you, Joel, in this chance coming, whether here in Anaheim or elsewhere?

I’m grateful and appreciative (to) the Samuelis. I was hopeful, but it's not so much about me. This process was about Kyle Beach, and what I've taken away from that is going to be something I look forward to applying the best I can, and it's going to make me a better person.

You said you hadn't watched a lot of the NHL during your four years away. How aware are you of where the game's at, what's going on? 

I said live. It was my first game live (in four years), but I'm watching every game. Playoffs this year are spectacular. I'm a hockey guy. At night, we're watching basically every game. So we're in tune and I saw something special that night, I saw Anaheim play against Tampa. And since that day, the number of people that spoke so highly of the team, I started watching a little bit more and I'm excited to see how it's going to play out.

Just watching the game is a bit different than coaching the game, so how do you see your coaching tactics from four years ago translating through that gap to now with a new group?

Well, that's a good question. I know that I've been around a lot of games, I've seen a lot of players. I just think that once the puck drops, we'll grasp that excitement initially through just feeling them in training camp, and their excitement's gonna fuel me. I think it'll be a mutual fuel that we're going to share and I can't wait to find out how excited it's going to feel to be out there, because this is the anticipation alone right now. I can talk about it, but I know when I get my fingers in on it and tighten my skates for the first time in a long time, (it) feels good already thinking about it.

Aside from the three players that were here, have you talked with any other current Ducks players?

I have not. I had the pleasure of coaching (Radko Gudas). One of your favorites as a coach, because you know the warrior in him that is appreciated by his teammates and what he represents as the captain of the team. Looking forward to talking with him and being around that guy. Special kind of human.

What style of hockey do you expect this team to be playing for you?

We want to play (a) fast game. We want to be competitive. We want to be known as a very hardworking team. Eventually, we want to be known as the hardest-working team. We feel that we've got some good energy with our younger players, but we want to play a puck possession game and we want to be relentlessly trying to get it back when we don't have it. So, there's a lot of emotion, a lot of intensity playing the right way and staying out of the penalty box.

You and (Ducks GM Pat Verbeek) were teammates, you've known him a long time. What's your dynamic like? What's your friendship like and how do you think it’s going to translate into a working relationship?

Yeah, I think we've always had a great relationship as far as knowing Beeker as the ultimate competitor. You want him as a teammate, no fun to play against. I think he has kind of a comparable approach as a general manager. He's been successful. He started there in Tampa, now he's here at Little Detroit. He's been in some other places as well, but I think he's been through the hockey business as a professional for a long, long time. He's seen every type of situation. We share a lot of similar ideas in how we view the game, players and how we are expecting to look at our team in different areas, technically or special teams. But it's still early in talking about all those subjects, but we're thinking alike in a lot of ways.

A lot of parallels today drawn with when you first took over in Chicago. Do you think that sort of gets forgotten about a little bit, as opposed to people remembering how things ended in Chicago? That you kind of got them on the come up?

That's not for me to say. I just know that there's a lot of work that was done. The championships, the hard work that was done by the staff, coaches, and mostly the players over those years. They can't overlook the job those guys did.

Do you see the similarities of where this team is now and where that Chicago team that Pat mentioned (during the introductory press conference) was when you came in?

Whether there's a timeline where you might say they're a little bit ahead, or is it the same timeline? I just knew when I walked in that day (in Chicago), it was like, ‘Wow, this team's (amazing).’ There were a lot of good players. And I think when you get out on the ice, when you start seeing them on a regular basis, you get a better appreciation of how good you can be or where your team's at. But seeing it live, I created an appetite that this is a lot of upside, and I was finding (that) I’ve got two good ingredients right now—you’ve got young players and you’ve got speed. Great place to start.

Going off that, you’re the oldest coach in the NHL now and there's a lot of young players on this team. How do you plan on managing the different styles of communication those guys might have and perhaps maybe even a generational gap?

Yeah, it's a good question. I always felt that one of my strengths has always been communicating with the players where they know their roles, the job descriptions and what we're expecting from them on a daily basis. 

But, I think that being the old goat, we can find a way to be respectful. Maybe the kids need a little bit more attention now or maybe they need a little bit more feedback or information. But I think that the lines of communication are going to be wide open and we've got an open door policy. If there's anybody not up to speed, we don't want to let anybody fall behind.

When you've got a situation like this where players are excited that the bar's going to be raised (and) the expectations are going to be higher, how do you feed into that when you take the ice with them?

I think it's a healthy environment when there's peer pressure, there's pressure from the organization down throughout the coaching staff. I think it permeates straight to the players and players, they want to have success. They want to improve. They want accountability. They want to see progress. And I think they felt that over the course of the last few years that it's there, it's there. And that next challenge, or next step, is near. I think that everybody wants a push. I mean, the leadership, everybody can start taking a little bit more ownership in that collectively. Across the board, it adds up, and I think that there's big steps that can happen quickly.

To that point, before Pat hired you, he said he expects (this team) to make the playoffs next year. He just flat out said it for the first time since he got here. Henry (Samueli) reiterated that over here. He's like, ‘That’s why you write the check for Joel Quenneville, because you expect to make the playoffs.’ Is this a playoff team? Do you have to wait until  free agency to see what you think? What are your opinions on that? 

I think that our ultimate goal, when we start training camp, is going to be (that) we want to be a playoff team. And over the course of the season, you can compare their stats from last year across the board. We know the areas that we can be better in or are going to have to be better in. And I think that it's a very realistic goal and achievement. 

But that'll be our mantra right from the beginning of the year, that we're looking to be a playoff team and we expect more from one another. I think expectations are healthy within our team and if they're talking like that, you’ve got to back those kinds of things up. We don't want to just have idle speaking here. I'm excited. I don't think I'm one of those guys that a lot of people are seeing what I was seeing.

Joel, how long do you think it will take before the discourse around you is solely about hockey?

I can't control that, but I know the work I've done and what I've done through this process. I can only show by being out in the community, demonstrating that I learned through the mistakes I had and applying them going forward. Within our community service team here, we're excited about being out there, involved on and off the ice, particularly in the area right here. So that's the part that we're going to do everything we can do.