Player Discussion Jack Quinn, RW (8th overall, 2020): Named AHL Rookie of the Year

[jmelm]

I would be more surprised if he doesn't play for them next season.

Now... will people let him have a rookie year or be all twisted up if he "only" scores 15-ish goals and 30-ish points as a first year NHLer? That remains to be seen.

That kind of production/pace worked for Krebs this year and Cozens in his first full year, so while I think Quinn could be more of a 20G/40P guy, that's a perfectly respectable rookie season and I wouldn't be twisted up about it at all.

 

[Chainshot]

That kind of production/pace worked for Krebs this year and Cozens in his first full year, so while I think Quinn could be more of a 20G/40P guy, that's a perfectly respectable rookie season and I wouldn't be twisted up about it at all.

That's my thought as well and I was using a more robust version of what Pasta did in Boston his first full year (albeit he was younger than Quinn is at a comparable place on their development timeline). We have people who don't like that Cozens put up nearly 40 points in his first full NHL season. It's odd.

 

[jmelm]

That's my thought as well and I was using a more robust version of what Pasta did in Boston his first full year (albeit he was younger than Quinn is at a comparable place on their development timeline). We have people who don't like that Cozens put up nearly 40 points in his first full NHL season. It's odd.

I think that's just beause people don't have a clue about realistic prospect timelines, and they use rare freaks or generational players (or older players) as an unrealistic reference point.

People need to look at a guy like Lafraniere's first & second season, and Joe Thornton's first (partial) and second (full) seasons. And those guys were 1st overall picks.

 

[Zach716]

If he earns top 6 minutes, I don’t think 50+ is out of the question. He’s truly an elite prospect. We’ll see if it translates.

 

[joshjull]

If he earns top 6 minutes, I don’t think 50+ is out of the question. He’s truly an elite prospect. We’ll see if it translates.

I think that level of production will hinge more on the PP than what line he is on.

 

[Sabre the Win]

I would be more surprised if he doesn't play for them next season.

Now... will people let him have a rookie year or be all twisted up if he "only" scores 15-ish goals and 30-ish points as a first year NHLer? That remains to be seen.

Guy is already point per game in the NHL

 

[jmelm]

If he earns top 6 minutes, I don’t think 50+ is out of the question. He’s truly an elite prospect. We’ll see if it translates.

I assume you mean points and not goals, eh?

 

[Fezzy126]

I would be more surprised if he doesn't play for them next season.

Now... will people let him have a rookie year or be all twisted up if he "only" scores 15-ish goals and 30-ish points as a first year NHLer? That remains to be seen.

While I'd be patient if Quinn had a 30-40 point season, I'm quietly hoping for a Matthew Boldy-like impact. Would really love to see a 50-60 point pace and given what he did in the AHL I don't think it's too lofty a goal.

Of course, how much the Sabres young guys around him progress will have a big impact on his numbers as well.

 

[jmelm]

While I'd be patient if Quinn had a 30-40 point season, I'm quietly hoping for a Matthew Boldy-like impact. Would really love to see a 50-60 point pace and given what he did in the AHL I don't think it's too lofty a goal.

Of course, how much the Sabres young guys around him progress will have a big impact on his numbers as well.

Boldy is a lot bigger & stronger though, and he was playing with Kevin Fiala, who is a legit top line game-breaking type winger. If we're keeping our first line together, we don't have anyone as good as Fiala for Quinn to play with.

Hopefully Krebs and/or Cozens (or even Mitts) will get to a similar level one day, but they're not there yet. So you shouldn't use that as a comparable expectation for Quinn.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Boldy is a lot bigger & stronger though, and he was playing with Kevin Fiala, who is a legit top line game-breaking type winger. If we're keeping our first line together, we don't have anyone as good as Fiala for Quinn to play with.

Hopefully Krebs and/or Cozens (or even Mitts) will get to a similar level one day, but they're not there yet. So you shouldn't use that as a comparable expectation for Quinn.

Inb4 Fiala is a Sabre

 

[Fezzy126]

Boldy is a lot bigger & stronger though, and he was playing with Kevin Fiala, who is a legit top line game-breaking type winger. If we're keeping our first line together, we don't have anyone as good as Fiala for Quinn to play with.

Hopefully Krebs and/or Cozens (or even Mitts) will get to a similar level one day, but they're not there yet. So you shouldn't use that as a comparable expectation for Quinn.

You must have missed where I said "quietly hoping"... I also didn't compare Quinn's game to Boldy's beyond role and pure point production, or at least that wasn't my intention.

My personal expectation = ~40 points
My hope/ceiling = Calder consideration w/ 50-60 points

If he comes in around 25-35 points with some scratches mixed in, I'm sure we'll take a closer look at his game and try and assess growth areas while punting on the assessment of his long-term potential, similar to Krebs this year.

As for the teammates, we may not have Fiala, but if Quinn is deployed in the middle 6 he should have some very good teammates. For example, I can easily see him getting a shot with Mitts & Tuch to start the year, which has the potential to be a very productive line if they can stay healthy.

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[jmelm]

You must have missed where I said "quietly hoping"... I also didn't compare Quinn's game to Boldy's beyond role and pure point production, or at least that wasn't my intention.

My personal expectation = ~40 points
My hope/ceiling = Calder consideration w/ 50-60 points

If he comes in around 25-35 points with some scratches mixed in, I'm sure we'll take a closer look at his game and try and assess growth areas while punting on the assessment of his long-term potential, similar to Krebs this year.

As for the teammates, we may not have Fiala, but if Quinn is deployed in the middle 6 he should have some very good teammates. For example, I can easily see him getting a shot with Mitts & Tuch to start the year, which has the potential to be a very productive line if they can stay healthy.

I hear you and I'm certainly not ruling out that possibility. Assuming the Skinner-Thompson-Tuch line stays together....

The thing that will largely determine how much Quinn can contribute in his rookie season (besides his obvious own play, summer of training, etc.), will be if any one or more of Mitts, Cozens and/or Krebs ends up taking a big step forward in their game next year and develops some instant chemistry with Quinn.

That's certainly not outside the realm of what's reasonable to expect. Each of those 3 guys are essentially top 10-ish picks -- Mitts & Cozens obviously were, and Krebs likely would have been around 10th in his draft were it not for his achilles injury. If any of them can take a big leap, then we could see a 2nd line form that can be extremely productive. So let's hope it's that, but it could be another year of slow & steady growth but not a leap for Cozens & Krebs, though the time should be right for Mitts to take that step, I hope.

 

[jmelm]

Inb4 Fiala is a Sabre

Lol.

Here is my trade offer for Fiala (which other teams could beat).

- Ryan Johnson (but only if we're convinced he won't sign)
- Viktor Olofsson (don't care if MIN keeps him or flips him for futures, that's up to them)
- 28th overall
- and possibly add a 3rd

It's not that I don't love Fiala, but if our guys develop as expected, in the next handful of years we'll be using a lot of our cap space signing our own players and having an $8M-ish long term extended Fiala is going to conflict with that our priority needs to be to make sure we can take care of our own guys before handing out huge money to others.

And if we were going to go after a high priced forward, better to do it via UFA without giving up any assets in trade.

 

[Buffaloed]

Good! He’s going to have to get used to this and find a way to work around this kind of stuff if he’s going to be a star at the NHL level. Why not start now?

Quinn's history when the play moves up another level is to struggle a bit to figure things out and dominate when he does.

 

[jmelm]

Quinn's history when the play moves up another level is to struggle a bit to figure things out and dominate when he does.

That's cool with me! Whether you figure it out right away (like Peterka seems to have done) or you gotta go through the challenge and difficulty first before taking that next step, as long as you figure it out eventually that's all that matters

 

[Chainshot]

The playoff struggles are a blessing in disguise for someone like him. You want him going into the offseason with a chip on his shoulder.

In that regard, I almost wish Power strugggled a bit more lol. The kid had it too easy!

I think Power will have a lot to process from all of his experiences over the course of the season from the Worlds to his early success in Michigan to the truncated U20's to the struggles after he came back to Michigan sandwiched around the weirdness of the Olympics. I'm glad he transitioned well just because it's one less thing for Sabre fans to worry about. And in a way, I'm glad he had the struggles in the NCAA he did after coming back from the U20's and Olympics. He seems like he'll be putting in the work and being a year older, he's going to be more mature just from it being his D+2 next year.

 

[nickdawg95]

60 points

 

[MilkshakeMan]

Training camp in September is going to be very fun with Quinn, Peterka, R2 etc competing for spots.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I’m sure everyone will be very measured in their evalutions.

How can you be critical of a 40 goal scoring rookie anyway?!?

 

[jc17]

How can you be critical of a 40 goal scoring rookie anyway?!?

40 goals is nice, but you cant have a guy measuring his whole career on goals. Or so I've heard...

 

[Dingo44]

40 goals is nice, but you cant have a guy measuring his whole career on goals. Or so I've heard...

That's a ticket to the fourth line or the press box for sure.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

30 points would be a huge disappointment.

 

[Fjordy]

50+ points

 

[EichHart]

Was he hurt during the playoffs?