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Quenneville interested in coaching Olympics, on board with participating in ’18

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Joel Quenneville has won two Stanley Cups in the last four years, the kind of success that would put him in the running for an Olympic coaching job.

So, would such a gig interest him?

“Yeah, it’d be great,” Quenneville said, per ESPN. “I think the Canadians, they’ve done an outstanding job, that staff. I commend them on what they’ve accomplished over the last couple of Olympics.

“They’ve been perfect. I’m happy for them.”

Mike Babcock, who’s been one of Quenneville’s coaching rivals over the last few years in the Detroit-Chicago series, has led Canada to gold at consecutive Winter Games. By the sounds of it, Quenneville would like to get in the mix and, on Tuesday, told CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada radio he was on board with NHLers participating in the 2018 games in Pyeongchang.

“I’m fine with the whole process. I don’t mind it, I think the players are excited about it,” Quenneville explained. “I think at the start of the year we had a lot of guys competing for [Olympic] jobs, and I think that was a healthy situation to be in from our team environment.

“Watching it from a fan’s perspective, I thought there were some excellent games, exciting games. It’s a little different style of game than we’re accustomed to seeing but, at the same time, I think everybody having a chance to represent their country and come back being a champion is something that’s thrilling.”

Chicago had 10 players participate in Sochi, six of whom medaled: Marcus Kruger, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya all won silver with Sweden while Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews captured gold for Canada.

Finally, it’s worth noting that -- as a dual-citizenship holder -- Quenneville could theoretically coach Canada or the U.S. So, which would he choose?

“I don’t know,” he said (smiling, according to ESPN). “We’ll see. I’m a Canadian. I don’t know if that’s ... We’ll see.”