Major conflicts in reports regarding Joel Quenneville's future.

There are some major conflicts in the reports regarding the future of head coach Joel Quenneville and to be perfectly honest given the sheer number of reports from credible sources on this one, I can't tell left from right anymore.

The first report came from arguably the best insider in the entire business, with perhaps the notable exception of TSN's Bob McKenzie, Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reported this morning that not only were the Florida Panthers in talks with the former Chicago Blackhawks head coach, but he added that this had caught him off guard and that the talks between Quenneville and the Panthers had progressed significantly already.

Here's what Friedman had to say:

There is a real sense today that the process between Florida and Joel Quenneville is much further along than many of us realized. It’s not a done deal, but it’s close. It would not be a surprise if this process closes in the near future.

Now considering that Friedman is the source I was very confident upon reading his report that this would nearly be a done deal, and it seemed like he had some pack up coming from other media members in the industry. New York Rangers beat reporter Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post reported a very similar story to the one reported by Friedman, except Cyrgalis was even more confident in the information from his sources and even declared the date on which the signing would be announced.

There is however one major conflicting report that would appear to dispute the first two I have just mentioned, and again this one comes from a strong source. Florida Panthers beat reporter George Richards, arguably one of the best connected journalists to the Panthers organization, is reporting that the Panthers are indeed working hard on getting a deal done with Quenneville but that other teams remain in play. Specifically Richards cited the fact that both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffao Sabres have entered the mix as well, and that makes a ton of sense.

The Flyers were arguably the favorites to land Quenneville earlier in the season and the Buffalo Sabres have just fired Phil Housley from their head coaching position just a few short hours ago. This one is not over yet.

[pub]