the beauty of quinn is he has never not improved
like, i knew he was going to develop a shot. and he probably would have sooner but he worked really hard the summer before last and the one before that on his defensive game, because he thought it would be more impactful. and he was right.
and speaking of that shot, there’s a bit of joe sakic to it. it comes off his stick sneakily fast and mid-stride as he turns a corner. it’s not a laser like sakic’s yet, but i can see it getting there in another offseason.
but what i really came to this thread to say is we’ve had a few guys where you kind of just had to make room in your life to watch as much of them as you can because you are witnessing greatness. petey is a special player, but he’s not quite at that level, imo. naslund was dominant but he wasn’t at that level, and even bertuzzi in that ridiculous first four months of 2002 wasn’t there. but even as a kid i knew this with bure, and as an adult i made time to watch luongo that first year we had him, and then when the sedins peaked. like, you just knew you were never going to see anything like that again. i also felt the same way about that 2011 team, as a team.
hughes and demko are both at that level right now. this is tell your grandkids someday-level hockey.