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David Quinn

Snapshots: Rangers, Wilson, Mitchell

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The New York Rangers have hired David Oliver and Greg Brown as assistant coaches, rounding out David Quinn’s new staff in preparation for 2018-19. Lindy Ruff, a holdover from the last staff, will also be retained as an assistant. Oliver actually hired Quinn as head coach when working as GM of the Lake Erie Monsters, and even served as an assistant for him before the head coach was promoted to Colorado and then departed for Boston University.

Brown is coming in from Boston College where he has spent nearly a decade and a half, coaching elite collegiate talents including Rangers forwards Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes. Quinn should be quite familiar with Brown from their days coaching against each other at the college level, and will try to bring a new enthusiasm and style to the Rangers as they continue to rebuild their NHL organization.

  • Tom Wilson is still without a contract, and according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post the Capitals preference is to work out a long-term deal with the power forward. The two sides have had “steady dialogue” and GM Brian MacLellan admitted that he’s the top priority right now. Even if a deal isn’t imminent, it’s clear that there will be something done to keep Wilson playing for the Capitals for some time. After a successful season with 35 points, Wilson really dominated in the playoffs for the Capitals and recorded 15 points in 21 games while making an impact physically on almost every shift. Selected in the first round six years ago with a hope that he’d turn into a premiere power forward in the NHL, the Capitals and Wilson are starting to see the results of his hard work.
  • Torrey Mitchell has signed a one-year contract in Switzerland, leaving the NHL after a decade and 666 regular season games. The 33-year old forward recorded 11 points last season while suiting up for 60 games between the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings, but may not have received much interest in free agency. He’ll join Lausanne HC for next season to hit the ice with other former NHL players like Joel Vermin, Dustin Jeffrey and Christoph Bertschy.

NCAA Notes: Boston University, Illinois, Penn State

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Boston University has been on the hunt for a new head coach ever since David Quinn left for the New York Rangers. Although they considered Boston Bruins assistant Jay Pandolfo, former NHLer and current head coach at The Rivers School Shawn McEachern, and Union College head coach Rick Bennett, the team ended up deciding to promote assistant Albie O’Connell. The school announced O’Connell as their twelfth head coach in program history and another in a long line of alumni who have filled the role. O’Connell played four seasons at BU under legendary coach Jack Parker from 1996 to 1999, winning four Beanpot titles and a Hockey East Conference championship and captaining the team as a senior. A fifth-round draft pick of the New York Islanders in 1994, O’Connell never reached the NHL and eventually transitioned into coaching with stops at Colby, Niagara, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Northeastern, and Harvard. He joined Quinn’s staff at BU in 2014 and was instrumental in the recruiting and development of several stars such as Jack Eichel, Charlie McAvoy, and Jordan Greenway. O’Connell inherits a team that was a win away from a Frozen Four berth this year and is set to add potential first round pick Jake Wise to the mix among others.

  • Given the success of the Big Ten Conference this year, in particular how well the relatively new Penn State performed, it’s not surprising that Big Ten members in other sports are now beginning to consider adding hockey. University of Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman acknowledged today that he is “increasingly confident” that the school will field a team in the near future. While the scholarship and roster management and Title IX compliance challenges alone are overwhelming, Illinois would also have to raise an estimated $50-60MM to build an arena for the team. However, interest is high and donations are already coming in earmarked for a hockey program that doesn’t yet exist. Whitman feels that the chance to jump into an elite conference and immediately attract high-end athletes is too much to pass up and hopes that the Champaign would be quick to embrace a team. It sounds like it’s only a matter of time before the Fighting Illini are the newest NCAA Division I team.
  • Speaking of Penn State, the team got some good news recently when forward Will Cuylle announced his commitment to the program. The 16-year-old Toronto native was recently selected third overall by the Peterborough Petes in the OHL Priority Selection Draft and has great upside as a player, but appears to have chosen against pursuing the major junior route in favor of the college game. The big winger already plays a strong power forward game, equipped with checking ability and a howitzer shot, but seemingly feels that he can develop better outside of the OHL. Cuylle is not eligible for the NHL Draft until 2020 and will not join Penn State until at least 2020-21, so there is time for him to change his mind, but right now it seems like an incredible acquisition for the upstart program.

Snapshots: Ekman-Larsson, Boston University, Gurianov, Lockwood

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With the news that the Arizona Coyotes have offered defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson a new contract extension at eight years and $66MM, the real question is whether or not the 26-year-old star defenseman intends to stay in Arizona. The defenseman can’t officially sign an extension until July 1, but not signing the deal will make it clear whether he really wants to stay in Arizona like he has previously said.

The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that if the defenseman doesn’t agree to sign the extension in the next couple of weeks, the team will almost guaranteed trade their star before the NHL draft this year to get the best possible return in the final year of his deal. In fact with the likelihood that the Ottawa Senators might be ready to move Erik Karlsson, this might be the best time for teams to get their hands on a star defenseman. Brooks adds that was one of the main reasons that the New York Rangers moved Ryan McDonagh at the trade deadline, because they foresaw the possibility that both Ekman-Larsson and Karlsson might be available during the offseason which would have limited their return for McDonagh had they waited until now.

  • Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe writes that Boston University has narrowed its head coaching search to two candidates after the school lost David Quinn to the New York Rangers last week. The scribe writes that the head coaching post will come down to former alumni and ex-Boston Bruins winger Shawn McEachern and Union College head coach Rick Bennett. McEachern, who is currently the head coach at the Rivers School, would maintain the school’s long-time BU lineage, while Bennett would offer new blood and a coach who has already won a NCAA title.
  • With the Dallas Stars’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars in the AHL Calder Cup Championships, much has been made about the Stars’ Denis Gurianov, Dallas’ first-round pick in the 2015 draft (12th overall), who was listed as a healthy scratch before Game 1 today. Despite tallying 19 goals for Texas this season, the fact that he has been a healthy scratch multiple times during the playoffs is an immensely bad sign, according to NHL.com’s Patrick Williams. In 14 playoff games this year, Gurianov has just five points. The Stars drafted Gurianov over several impactful players that year, including Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor and Jack Roslovic.
  • Vancouver Canucks and University of Michigan prospect Will Lockwood, who injured his shoulder while at the World Juniors this winter and required major surgery, has been cleared to skate and hopes to be ready for the Canucks’ annual prospect development camp this summer and is expected to be fully healthy for his junior year with the Wolverines, according to The Athletic’s Mike Halford (subscription required). The 2016 third-round pick was having a solid year with Michigan, putting up four goals and seven assists in 16 games before getting injured.

Prospect Notes: Coyotes, QMJHL, Team USA

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The NHL Scouting Combine is currently underway, and the Arizona Coyotes are busy interviewing potential draft picks. Team reporter Dave Vest writes that the Coyotes will interview approximately 80 of the 104 players at the combine over the next few days, trying to get an idea of their personal character before heading to the draft on June 22nd. GM John Chayka explained why those interviews are so important:

The Combine is a great opportunity to gather more information on the players of interest. It’s an enjoyable experience to meet the players that have been scouted all year and get to know them better as a person. Drafting character players is important to our organization and is definitely a part of the decision-making process.

That character will come into play when the Coyotes make the fifth selection at this year’s draft, and try to add some more blue chip talent to their prospect pool. With Dylan Strome finally looking like he’s ready to make an impact at the NHL level and Clayton Keller already dominating, there are good times ahead in Arizona. If they’re able to add a player like Quinn Hughes, Oliver Wahlstrom or Adam Boqvist with the fifth-overall selection, those times could come even quicker.

  • Jeff Marek of Sportsnet was keeping an eye on some CHL trades today, as he reports that Cedric Pare (Boston), Mitchell Balmas, Antoine Morand (Anaheim) and Jordan Maher are all on the move in the QMJHL. It’s been a busy few days for Morand, who won the Memorial Cup with Acadie-Bathurst on Sunday and signed his first professional contract with the Ducks earlier today. He’s heading to Halifax along with Maher, meaning he’ll get another chance to play in the Memorial Cup regardless of his performance next year. Halifax will be the host of the 2019 tournament, and are loading up on older talent to make sure they are ready for the competition.
  • Now that David Quinn has taken the New York Rangers head coaching job, USA Hockey needed to find another head coach for the 2019 National Junior Team. Mike Hastings has been hired for the job, after previously serving as an assistant for the program. Hastings is the head coach at Minnesota State University-Mankato, and has guided that program to six straight winning seasons. He’ll be tasked with trying to get the team back to the gold medal game, after ending up with bronze this year.

New York Rangers Officially Hire David Quinn As Head Coach

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Though it had been expected for some time, the New York Rangers have officially announced David Quinn as their next head coach. The former Boston University coach will be the 35th head coach in Rangers history, and try to take the team in a new direction after a disappointing 2017-18.

New York has had a tumultuous few months, since finding themselves out of the playoff race relatively early. After telling their fans in an open letter that a rebuild was coming, the team traded away several key pieces including Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash, J.T. Miller, and Michael Grabner, collecting draft picks and prospects for their future seasons. At the end of the year, Alain Vigneault was let go as head coach, with an expectation that a fresh new voice would be introduced as the next head coach. That could have been Jim Montgomery, who reportedly turned down a bigger offer from the Rangers to go and coach the Dallas Stars, but will instead be Quinn, fresh off another successful season with BU.

Quinn, 51, will jump right from the college ranks after five seasons as the head man for BU. He has just one season of NHL assistant coaching experience, and three years as the head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. The Monsters finished out of the playoffs in two of those years, and were knocked out in the first round in the third. Quinn never played in the NHL, despite being a first-round pick of the Minnesota North Stars. After starring at BU as a defenseman he was diagnosed with Haemophilia B and was forced to retire, though he returned to the game briefly a few years later, playing 19 games in the AHL.

Still, there are many who believe Quinn can find success in the NHL despite his relative lack of experience. Players like Jack Eichel, Clayton Keller and Charlie McAvoy all speak highly of their time playing under him in the NCAA, and believe he was an integral part of their development into NHL players. The Rangers will hope he can do similar things for some of their young players as they try to turn the franchise around quickly.

After trading McDonagh and others, the Rangers find themselves with three first-round picks this season and several high-profile prospects in the pipeline. That’s after already selecting twice in the first round last season, and seemingly hitting on both Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil. If the team can find some more talents in the first round, and develop the likes of Brett Howden, Libor Hajek and Ryan Lindgren, it might not take long for them to be back among those fighting for the playoffs. Quinn will be tasked with helping a roster that could lose even more veteran presence this summer compete in both the short and long-term.

Snapshots: Torrey, Quinn, Predators

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The hockey world is saddened today, as it learned of the passing of Bill Torrey. A legendary executive, Torrey was the architect of the New York Islanders dynasty and first GM of the Florida Panthers. Not only was he an outstanding general manager and president, but he was beloved by nearly the entire hockey community. A outpouring of grief has come from former players, media and executives, all sharing their favorite stories and memories.

At PHR, as with the rest of the hockey world, we extend our condolences to the Torrey family and friends. He was 83.

  • David Quinn, coach of Boston University, has been rumored as a potential candidate for several NHL vacancies including that of the New York Rangers. Today, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that though he hasn’t told the Rangers, Quinn has indicated to friends that he’ll return to BU next season. Quinn is also set to coach Team USA at the World Juniors next year, something he obviously wouldn’t be able to do should he take an NHL job.
  • The Nashville Predators look like they’ll shake up their lineup for Game 4, inserting Yannick Weber and Scott Hartnell. Adam Vingan of the Tennessean reports that Alexei Emelin and Kevin Fiala were both on the ice late doing extra work, and appear to be coming out for the matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. The Predators are down 2-1 in the series and need to find a way to steal a game in Winnipeg to even the series, or face elimination on home ice Saturday night.

Coaching Notes: Peters, Quinn, Stars

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As soon as former Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters resigned from his position with Carolina this morning, hockey pundits around the continent proclaimed him the leading candidate for the open Calgary Flames job. While no one has yet made any sort of concrete connection between Peters and the Flames, there is nearly universal agreement that he is the top option. The Athletic’s Rick Carpinello has taken it one step further. The New York Rangers beat writer states that Peters was never an option for the Rangers, as his deal with Calgary is “done”. It seems a deal could be imminent between the two sides. While on it’s face, Peters’ hire in Calgary could be a good fit, as he is a widely-respected coach who has always carried high expectations, the parallels between the underachieving Flames and underachieving Hurricanes is cause for some alarm.

  • If Peters won’t be the next head coach in New York, who will be? For a while, the top candidate has seemed to be Boston University head coach David Quinn. Quinn’s Terriers have been have made the NCAA Tournament four years in a row, most recently winning the Hockey East Tournament this season to sneak in and make it to the Northeast Regional final. During this time, Quinn has coached more top NHL prospects than any other bench boss in college hockey. The rebuilding Rangers could greatly use Quinn’s talent for working with young players. USA Hockey has recognized that ability as well, today naming Quinn the head coach of the 2019 U.S. World Junior team. Some Rangers fans have worried that this appointment could remove Quinn from the running for New York’s new head coach, but the New York Post’s Larry Brooks says not so fast. Per Brooks, Quinn’s role as Team USA coach won’t hurt what Brooks calls his “strong candidacy”. In fact, Brooks calls Quinn the exact “developmental coach” that owner James Dolan is seeking and ensures that everything would work out if Quinn was offered the job.
  • While Carolina, Calgary, and New York make waves in the coaching pool, the vacancy in Dallas has received little attention. That hasn’t surprised SportsDay’s Mike Heika, who says that GM Jim Nill will be patient with his decision on Ken Hitchcock’s replacement. Heika states that Nill has a long list of candidates, including many former Stars coaches. That could be a benefit for Dallas, an organization with ties to Glen Gulutzan, Dave Tippett, and Willie Desjardins, or could be a hindrance if the team doesn’t want to recycle a former coach again as they did with Hitchcock. Alternatives include hiring displaced Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, offering a promotion to several AHL head coaches, or even poaching Craig Berube from the division rival St. Louis Blues, according to Heika. Nill will take his time in sorting out the candidates, only setting a deadline of the NHL Draft in late June for the hire.

Coaching Notes: Baumgartner, Vegas, Quinn

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Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun is reporting that Nolan Baumgartner is expected to join the newly-hired Travis Green behind the Vancouver bench. Baumgartner was an assistant coach of Green’s in Utica, and is the epitome of a professional hockey journeyman. Playing for seven different NHL franchises, but only getting into 143 games, Baumgartner is considered a solid coaching prospect that has a good insight for the game. This will be his first opportunity behind an NHL bench.

The Canucks will announce their new staff tomorrow afternoon, and will begin to work on their roster for next season. As MacIntyre writes, Green and the new staff will be expected to just develop the younger players coming up for the immediate future, with no pressure to compete for the playoffs right away. If the Canucks do in fact stay the course with a rebuild, Green will try to slowly shepherd the team back towards a competitive culture during his four-year contract.

  • Gerard Gallant won’t start his assistant coach search until after he’s done his work at the World Championships, but he already has an initial list of names to potentially join him on the Vegas bench. Though he’s set to help Jon Cooper coach Team Canada at the Worlds, he hopes to have the search completed in about six weeks. “When it’s a good job, a lot of people want the job,” he told Dan Marrazza of NHL.com who also reports that GM George McPhee and AGM Kelly McCrimmon will have to sign off on his staff.
  • Among the many staffing notes in Elliotte Friedman’s latest “30 Thoughts” column for Sportsnet, is one about David Quinn and the potential job in Buffalo. Obviously, Quinn—who currently coaches at Boston University—would be a solid fit with a young team looking to take the next step but it is his connection to Jack Eichel that now makes it a bit awkward. The report that Eichel wouldn’t sign an extension with Dan Byslma as coach was thoroughly dismissed by both sides, but it did precede Bylsma’s firing by just a day. The optics of Eichel being a “coach-killer” would get pumped up even further if the replacement was his old college coach, even if the report was incorrect. Terry Pegula likely doesn’t want to pour any more gasoline on that Eichel fire, after working so hard to put it out immediately.

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