Ex-Ducks HC Greg Cronin breaks silence on being replaced by Joel Quenneville

The shelf life of coaches in today's NHL has gotten quite short, and former Anaheim Ducks head coach Greg Cronin learned that the hard way.

After just two seasons behind the Ducks' bench, Cronin was fired following the 2024-25 campaign, despite the franchise recording its most points in a regular season since 2018-19.

Weeks later, they keyed in on three-time Stanley Cup champion Joel Quenneville to take over as their next head coach. On Thursday, the hiring became official as the Ducks hope Quenneville can push their young core to take the next steps towards contending.

In the aftermath of Coach Q's landing in Anaheim, Greg Cronin spoke for the first time since it all went down. TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun shared what Cronin had to share with him in an article for The Athletic. He posted the link to the piece on X (formerly Twitter).

"That makes sense now,’ I thought. He’s an unbelievable Hall of Fame coach... I’m grateful; I loved working here. For me to be able to coach the young kids here, I’m so grateful and proud of what they did. They’ve got a bright future," Cronin said.

Greg Cronin completes his tenure in Anaheim with a 62-87-15 record, good for 139 points in two full seasons.

Joel Quenneville reached out to Greg Cronin after the hiring

After being introduced as the next head coach of the Anaheim Ducks, Joel Quenneville took the time to reach out to Greg Cronin.

Cronin shared that in his conversation with Pierre LeBrun for The Athletic.

“He just wanted to tell me that he’s grateful for the opportunity and thankful for what we did as a staff here to develop these guys and get them ready for the next chapter in their career. He just said, ‘Hey, I want to thank you.’ He was very gracious about it. He said he was grateful about the opportunity because these players were all about to take off. And they are," Cronin said.

Cronin also went on to mention that he'll attempt to take the lessons he learned with him into his coaching future. Perhaps he'll wind up as an assistant coach again before landing another lead job at the NHL level. The 61-year-old has spent lengthy periods of time as an associate for the Maple Leafs and Islanders over the years.

On the other side, Quenneville will now take the reins and look to build on what Cronin established in Anaheim. It will be fascinating to see how the Ducks develop and whether they do in fact return to the playoffs under the lead of Joel Quenneville.