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

[Tatanka]

Man. Hard to not feel like this season is pretty much over for the Sabres with this injury. Odd that a 2nd line winger means so much but he’s clearly why Cozens produced and consequently is the reason why we had a reliable second scoring line last year.

It was long shot to make the playoffs anyway but it was nice to see the team start winning at a higher clip since his return

Yep. Miracles do happen, but this would take a doozie. I think you hit on something that isn’t much discussed and that is the lack of competition in the roster. They knew Quinn was unavailable for half a year and did not fill the role. They also didn’t really create any competition for it internally. They shuffled deck chairs. Players are slotted and when adversity strikes there is no competition to seize the opportunity. It is a product of this build from within plan, but even if you are doing that where is the competition and cycling of assets to see who might rise? I find it frustrating.

 

[Chainshot]

Yep. Miracles do happen, but this would take a doozie. I think you hit on something that isn’t much discussed and that is the lack of competition in the roster. They knew Quinn was unavailable for half a year and did not fill the role. They also didn’t really create any competition for it internally. They shuffled deck chairs. Players are slotted and when adversity strikes there is no competition to seize the opportunity. It is a product of this build from within plan, but even if you are doing that where is the competition and cycling of assets to see who might rise? I find it frustrating.

Building on that - what was the point of calling up Rosen to ride him with Jost and Vic as a "line" for a couple weeks? Did they think that was going to be a way to showcase what he could do? All of the forward recalls have been given very limited minutes and none of them ran though the proverbial wall with them. Quinn's injury timeline reminds me of Adams with Levi - he'll be here eventually, don't do anything to avoid having to make a decision later. Maybe it was how poorly all of the Rochester filler did in their limited time that had them finally take a swing at Robinson instead of just plucking him on waivers when he first hit the wire to at least have an active body to call upon.

The staff isn't consistent with what they are trying to do - are they trying to win? Are they trying to develop players? Similar conversation about people agitating for Krebs to get moved up the lineup instead of watching Cozens beat his broken face and confidence to pieces, perhaps try something different. Instead, it took a month, a healthy Quinn and Peterka willing to get inside again for Cozens to finally get back on track.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

I fear it's season ending. Sucks.

 

[Chainshot]

I fear it's season ending. Sucks.

Close to it - 8 weeks puts him just a few weeks from the end of yet another lost season.

 

[joshjull]

The staff isn't consistent with what they are trying to do - are they trying to win? Are they trying to develop players? Similar conversation about people agitating for Krebs to get moved up the lineup instead of watching Cozens beat his broken face and confidence to pieces, perhaps try something different. Instead, it took a month, a healthy Quinn and Peterka willing to get inside again for Cozens to finally get back on track.

To piggyback on that…….. Look at the difference in how Krebs is handled vs Benson.

Benson is handled in a way that suggests its a development seasons. I love him and he’s amazing…. for an 18yr old. But without that age caveat, he’s nothing special as a top 9 winger. Yet he gets chances on the top line and 5v5 atoi that usually puts him in the top 6.

Whereas Krebs is handled as if we are trying to win. He’s put where his issues can hurt us the least and not where he might grow the most.

I’m no Krebs fan. As a player he drives me crazy with his reckless passing. But if you're going to give Benson all these chances. It makes little sense to not give Krebs some as well. Especially at this point in the season.

 

[start winnin]

I'm not too worried about Quinn missing playing time, it's a crucial development year but his hockey IQ is so good, he came back from a serious injury and didn't look like he missed a step, he just needs to develop physically. I certainly worry about the implications of his injury physically and psychologically in the future.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Man. Hard to not feel like this season is pretty much over for the Sabres with this injury. Odd that a 2nd line winger means so much but he’s clearly why Cozens produced and consequently is the reason why we had a reliable second scoring line last year.

It was long shot to make the playoffs anyway but it was nice to see the team start winning at a higher clip since his return

LOL. I think it was over long before this injury. The Sabres are on an 80-point pace. It feels like people don't realize this.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

I’m no Krebs fan. As a player he drives me crazy with his reckless passing. But if you're going to give Benson all these chances. It makes little sense to not give Krebs some as well. Especially at this point in the season.

They did a nice job improving his defensive game and it's time to grow his overall game. It is enough with Okposo. I hope old man Okposo and Girgensons agree to deadline deals and we just finish the year with kids. He can't really take a faceoff but I would brink up Rosen and Kulich and play them with Krebs. Let them fly and see what happens. The season is done. Experiment with some guys. Putting Okposo with Thompson and Skinner, that's an experiment I don't need.

 

[Dex]

As a straight replacement of Quinn, I'd like to see Rosen with Cozens and Peterka. When he was up in December if I recall, he was mostly with Victor, Jost, maybe Krebs? From what I read about Rosen, current slump notwithstanding. he's fast, smart with the puck, nice shot, defensively responsible, not afraid to go into the dirty areas. So I'd like to see him with some good linemates on a consistent basis.

 

[Chainshot]

As a straight replacement of Quinn, I'd like to see Rosen with Cozens and Peterka. When he was up in December if I recall, he was mostly with Victor, Jost, maybe Krebs? From what I read about Rosen, current slump notwithstanding. he's fast, smart with the puck, nice shot, defensively responsible, not afraid to go into the dirty areas. So I'd like to see him with some good linemates on a consistent basis.

Yes, most of his minutes were Jost and Vic n slush time that was mostly ineffective for all of them.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Building on that - what was the point of calling up Rosen to ride him with Jost and Vic as a "line" for a couple weeks? Did they think that was going to be a way to showcase what he could do? All of the forward recalls have been given very limited minutes and none of them ran though the proverbial wall with them. Quinn's injury timeline reminds me of Adams with Levi - he'll be here eventually, don't do anything to avoid having to make a decision later. Maybe it was how poorly all of the Rochester filler did in their limited time that had them finally take a swing at Robinson instead of just plucking him on waivers when he first hit the wire to at least have an active body to call upon.

The staff isn't consistent with what they are trying to do - are they trying to win? Are they trying to develop players? Similar conversation about people agitating for Krebs to get moved up the lineup instead of watching Cozens beat his broken face and confidence to pieces, perhaps try something different. Instead, it took a month, a healthy Quinn and Peterka willing to get inside again for Cozens to finally get back on track.

Same pattern since training camp. Are you developing players here or preparing for a season of winning hockey games?

What's the quote again? If you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing? Something like that, which seems to apply here.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Do we know what the actual injury is?

 

[HaNotsri]

Do we know what the actual injury is?

An uncurable amount of Buffalo Sabres in his bloodstream.

 

[Chainshot]

Do we know what the actual injury is?

Only heard surgery and 8-week recovery.

 

[Beerz]

Only heard surgery and 8-week recovery.

And they ruled out his knee and nothing to do with the achilles injury

 

[toddkaz]

Not sure why they need to be so secretive. People with him in their hockey pools need to know

Also I think it started with Lindy Ruff and the upper and lower body injury thing. I remember back in the playoffs he would do it and I don't think other teams were or it hadn't caught on yet. I could be full of shit with that too though its a long time back.

 

[brian_griffin]

Back in 2019 I got tripped skating hard towards the boards to play a puck and got tripped and ended up hitting the boards left blade first. That broke, tore, and dislocated my ankle. Didn't walk for three months and it's never really been the same. Still have a plate in my ankle too. However Quinn is MUCH younger than I and a high end athlete and getting the best possible care - though my surgeon and physical therapists were very good.

Posted this before... I tore ligaments in my right ankle with a high ankle sprain playing basketball, came down from a rebound on the back of another's leg / ankle / foot and rolled it badly. I was in peak physical condition (for me) and in grad school 2 months shy of 23rd birthday, on the cusp of Thanksgiving break. Didn't have the University trainer look at it until after I returned to campus ~1 week later from being home in BUF for break. Was hell driving home and back in my leather boots but would have been worse in sneakers. No cruise control back then (or if it did exist, it wasn't in a Pontiac T1000 / same as Chevy Chevette). Head trainer couldn't do anything about it at that point as I'd been walking / hobbling on it the whole time. He would have had it in an air cast from moment of injury. He called all his training staff over to see what a severe grade whatever high ankle sprain looked like with the tissue necrosis and subcutaneous blood streaking and all that. Used me as a teaching aid. Six months later (summer) I was still not right and had limited flexibility for years. I shudder to think of my recovery timeframe if I rolled my ankle now at my age to that extent.

Hope you get closer to normal in a few years, hockey or not. It definitely takes time.

 

[Zip15]

He is an absolutely cerebral hockey player, he could easily be our best winger going forward if he can stay healthy. 65 is selling his potential really short imo.

I didn’t say that was his ceiling. I was suggesting he could be consistently around those numbers, which is really good.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Building on that - what was the point of calling up Rosen to ride him with Jost and Vic as a "line" for a couple weeks? Did they think that was going to be a way to showcase what he could do? All of the forward recalls have been given very limited minutes and none of them ran though the proverbial wall with them. Quinn's injury timeline reminds me of Adams with Levi - he'll be here eventually, don't do anything to avoid having to make a decision later. Maybe it was how poorly all of the Rochester filler did in their limited time that had them finally take a swing at Robinson instead of just plucking him on waivers when he first hit the wire to at least have an active body to call upon.

The staff isn't consistent with what they are trying to do - are they trying to win? Are they trying to develop players? Similar conversation about people agitating for Krebs to get moved up the lineup instead of watching Cozens beat his broken face and confidence to pieces, perhaps try something different. Instead, it took a month, a healthy Quinn and Peterka willing to get inside again for Cozens to finally get back on track.

Kevyn Adams did an interview on LeafsTV during the pre-season (probably didn't circulate much), and he made it obvious this wasn't a priority season. Yes, playoffs were the goal, but you could hear there was no urgency. It was obvious.

This team lacks EXACTLY what you are talking about. There is no consistency. There are panic-driven decisions. It's just so ridiculous that they burned a year off Benson's entry-level deal, and he now becomes a free agent because they couldn't fund secondary scoring with all the cap space they had.

They couldn't find one veteran goalie to bridge a gap in case three long shots (for this year because long-term is a different story) didn't work. People are just going to buy the nonsense that no one will come here. C'mon.

The team lacks any leadership. It's easy to blame GMKA but the guy at the tops sets the tone. He doesn't have a team president. I remember hearing one of Pegula's kids is now hanging around Sabres' front office.

This is a dysfunction franchise. We may succeed in spite of this but it's clear the management structure is garbage and Terry is the man who owns this

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Kevyn Adams did an interview on LeafsTV during the pre-season (probably didn't circulate much), and he made it obvious this wasn't a priority season. Yes, playoffs were the goal, but you could hear there was no urgency. It was obvious.

This team lacks EXACTLY what you are talking about. There is no consistency. There are panic-driven decisions. It's just so ridiculous that they burned a year off Benson's entry-level deal, and he now becomes a free agent because they couldn't fund secondary scoring with all the cap space they had.

They couldn't find one veteran goalie to bridge a gap in case three long shots (for this year because long-term is a different story) didn't work. People are just going to buy the nonsense that no one will come here. C'mon.

The team lacks any leadership. It's easy to blame GMKA but the guy at the tops sets the tone. He doesn't have a team president. I remember hearing one of Pegula's kids is now hanging around Sabres' front office.

This is a dysfunction franchise. We may succeed in spite of this but it's clear the management structure is garbage and Terry is the man who owns this

An owner can be cheap (Golisano) or meddling (Adelson) and still have success. But you can't be both, and Terry is both.

This team literally has a bleaker future than Arizona, and they don't even have stadium to call their own. Ownership matters more than I ever realized.

 

[5 Minute Major]

An owner can be cheap (Golisano) or meddling (Adelson) and still have success. But you can't be both, and Terry is both.

This team literally has a bleaker future than Arizona, and they don't even have stadium to call their own. Ownership matters more than I ever realized.

i get Pegula is a problem. I 100% believe that but not because he’s “cheap”. I just am not buying that narrative at all.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

i get Pegula is a problem. I 100% believe that but not because he’s “cheap”. I just am not buying that narrative at all.

Did you see his last presser? He talked about spending less money so the family can maintain their Yacht lifestyle. We have the smallest pro scouting staff in the league because he won't shell out the money. He won't hire a much-needed president because he won't shell out the money.

For a sports franchise owner in 2024, he is being cheap with the sabres.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

i get Pegula is a problem. I 100% believe that but not because he’s “cheap”. I just am not buying that narrative at all.

Really. How much more evidence do you want? He handcuffed Botterill on the O'Reilly deal by making him deal the guy the day before the bonus was due. He signed Ben Bishop to get to the floor. The Sabres retained on Taylor Hall, but for the last two years, the team has been unwilling to use its cap room at the deadline. The guy went from moronic contracts like Skinner to not wanting to spend money.

 

[Chainshot]

Really. How much more evidence do you want? He handcuffed Botterill on the O'Reilly deal by making him deal the guy the day before the bonus was due. He signed Ben Bishop to get to the floor. The Sabres retained on Taylor Hall, but for the last two years, the team has been unwilling to use its cap room at the deadline. The guy went from moronic contracts like Skinner to not wanting to spend money.

Just as a point of order, they only signed Hall to a one-year deal so they only retained for the time after he was dealt to Boston until the end of that regular season.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Just as a point of order, they only signed Hall to a one-year deal so they only retained for the time after he was dealt to Boston until the end of that regular season.

I was not referring to Taylor Hall and two years. I said for the last two years, 2021-22 and 2022-34. Taylor Hall was 2020-21.

But while we are talking about Taylor Hall, we butchered that too. We let him dictate his trade for no reason. We could have easily called his bluff, and he would have had to play it out with us. No playoffs, less chance to earn next contract.

(He would have walked for nothing. I mean, who cares? At some point, you have to negotiate hard.)

And we actually got LESS than a second when you consider we took on Anders Bjork contract and gave up Curtis Lazar. The Sabres spun a ton of BS, but we lost that part of a deal with a pricier player on a longer contract. We dumped Lazar to Chicago and had to take on one of their AHL contracts.

Pegula used his money, but it's hard to imagine you could use it in a more foolish way. We gave a pro-rated $4 M on Hall so maybe $1.5 M and theb ate maybe an extra $2.5 M plus on Bjork who was never anything special.

And what did the Sabres do with that pick? Aleksandr Kisakov – not exactly an impact player in the AHL, although he is only 21. Matthew Knies and JJ Moser were picked shortly afterward.

You can pick on dozens of threads of Sabres history and find bad negotiating, bad trades where they just give a just a little too much. The drafting does look better lately.

It all speaks to an organization that just looks weak. When it spends, it wastes on things like Ralph Krueger on a long-term deal. For some reason, we extended Granato and our hands are somewhat tied firing him now. The $72 million for Skinner is like the Cadbury secret because no team could have been that close over seven years and the kid wanted to be close to Toronto. Then there is $2.5 million for Okposo and Girgensons or $2 million for Jost.

Everything just never feels organized or thought out in Buffalo.

Honestly, who runs the place?