Kings assistant Kompon reunites with Quenneville
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville might never make a more important hire.
In deciding on Jamie Kompon to fill out his staff Tuesday, Quenneville has put himself on the spot.
That’s because the 45-year-old Kompon is considered a power-play guy, and few teams had a worse power play last season than the Hawks.
It’s believed that was an important reason why Kompon wasn’t asked back for a seventh season with the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.
Before joining the Kings, Kompon spent nine years (1997-2006) with the St. Louis Blues as a video coach and later as an assistant coach, working the bulk of his time under Quenneville and alongside Mike Kitchen.
With Quenneville, Kitchen and Kompon, the 1999-2000 Blues set a franchise-record 113 points en route to the Presidents’ Trophy for the league’s best record.
“We are excited to add Jamie as assistant coach and certainly welcome the Stanley Cup pedigree he brings,” Hawks GM Stan Bowman said in a statement.
“He has over 15 years of NHL coaching experience and some obvious familiarity with our staff, having worked under Joel and Mike in St. Louis, which will help our staff and players with the transition.”
The Hawks were 26th on the power play last season, which was part of the reason why assistant Mike Haviland lost his job on Quenneville’s staff.
The Hawks could use fresh ideas on a power play that includes some of the best offensive players in the game such as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith.
Another poor start by the power play could leave Quenneville to answer a lot of questions. Quenneville agreed with Bowman’s postseason assessment that there was some dysfunction to his staff last season.
The Kings ranked 17th on the power play.
“Jamie will bring us all the great qualities you look for in a coach, most notably his work ethic and a winning resume,” Quenneville said. “We have a great working relationship, and I am confident he will be a great fit with us here in Chicago.”
Before his time with the Blues, Kompon was an assistant coach with the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League for the 1996-97 season and in 1994-95 he was named co-head coach at McGill University in Montreal after spending three seasons there as an assistant coach.