David Quinn officially signed on as Rangers coach this past week, telling the assembled media at his Madison Square Garden news conference that he grew up with Ray Bourque his favorite player, Larry Bird his idol, and the Bruins his favorite team.
You can take the kid out of Cranston, R.I., ahem . . .
“But,’’ added the smiling Quinn, scrambling for the large spray can of charm in his coach’s kit, “the Rangers were my second-favorite team.’’
Quinn, who will be 52 in July, packed up after five seasons at Boston University, only the fifth coach ever to make the leap directly from the NCAA to an NHL bench. Just three weeks earlier, former University of Maine star Jim Montgomery left his job at the University of Denver to replace Ken Hitchcock as the Dallas coach.
Suddenly, college coaches are the burnin’ hot take in the NHL. Only three summers ago, the Flyers coaxed Dave Hakstol out of North Dakota. Before him, only Ned Harkness and Bob Johnson ever had made the direct move, NCAA to NHL.
What’s it about? Above all, it’s an emphasis on fast-forwarding player development. The greatest hockey league in the world increasingly is force-feeding young kids into the lineup, many of whom aren’t fully ready for prime time. Quinn, Montgomery, and Hakstol come fully versed in molding wide-eyed newbies into competent, trustworthy varsity contributors.
“No. 1, I think it’s really important to have somebody that can do it,’’ said Rangers GM Jeff Gorton, reached by telephone after Quinn’s news conference, “that believes in it, has a good track record of it, can really communicate it . . . and understands what we needed to do. At the end of the day, David to me, and to the group of us who make those decisions, was an obvious choice.’’
Charlie McAvoy played two seasons for Quinn on Comm. Ave. before turning pro with the Bruins in the spring of 2017. McAvoy, contacted while on vacation in the Caribbean, emphasized that Quinn’s ability to connect and communicate with players was essential in his own development and the success of the Terriers team at large.
“I think it’s just because of the way that he cares,’’ said McAvoy. “For me, I wanted to be great, and I always wanted to play in the NHL, but before I got [to BU], I don’t think I really knew what it meant to really care. And he was on top of me more than anybody, whether it was the extra videos, or the one-on-one talks about how the weekend went, or how I was feeling . . . I mean, he did so much for me.’’
To the point, noted McAvoy, Quinn at times during the school day would summon him to the rink for one-on-one tutoring sessions. Not really what a self-described “lazy college kid,’’ age 17 upon arriving on campus, had in mind between early-morning classes and the normal 2:30 practice time.
“He’d be like, ‘You’re coming to skate, we’re taking one-timers at 10:30,’ ’’ recalled McAvoy. “He’d tell me, ‘You can’t shoot the puck.’ So he’d bring me out there, against my own will, and then once I’d get out there I’d work on all the facets of my game with him, one-on-one. It’s hard to believe the head coach would be out there doing that stuff.’’
Bruins teammate and fellow blue liner Matt Grzelcyk, whose first year at BU was with the legendary Jack Parker as coach, said that Quinn worked tirelessly with him and the rest of the defensemen on their work in the defensive zone. Again, it was his connection with the players, said Grzelcyk, that set Quinn apart from most coaches.
“Very big on that,’’ said Grzelcyk, talking while enjoying a round of golf in the Boston suburbs. “He was not only just a coach, but a little bit of a father figure for everyone. He was really invested in how your life was going off the ice, and in school. I think that’s why he was such a good fit at BU.’’
Now Quinn, a first-round pick of the North Stars when he arrived on the BU campus in September 1984, brings his act to Broadway. Gorton purged the Rangers’ roster with a series of trades in February, and Thursday he formally handed the raw clay to Quinn in hopes of kickstarting a franchise turnaround.
“You’re putting such young kids on your team now,’’ said Gorton, the former assistant GM of the Bruins, “and really, it’s impossible to think that’s a finished product. So it’s what you can get out of them once you get them, and keep getting them better till you get them in their prime. And that’s the key. You can get all these talented kids in the world, age 18 and 19, but if you can’t make ’em better, then shame on you, I guess.’’
SHAKING IT UP
Leafs make major changes
What a revolting development in Toronto, though hardly a surprise. In the precise scenario foreshadowed in this space last month, the Maple Leafs this past week lost both GM Lou Lamoriello and assistant GM Mark Hunter from their front office.
The departures, the direct fallout of team president Brendan Shanahan promoting stats stud Kyle Dubas to the GM role, left the Leafs without Lamoriello’s decades-long wisdom and Hunter’s keen eye for identifying and drafting amateur talent.
Hunter, upon notifying Shanahan early last week that he would be resigning, offered to stay aboard through the draft (June 22-23 in Dallas), but was politely rebuked. Shopping for the groceries now is up to Dubas, whose meteoric rise to power came via dissecting and interpreting analytics.
Lamoriello also this past week was hired to be the Islanders’ supreme leader (read: president of hockey operations), which probably does not bode well for longtime GM Garth Snow or, by extension, coach Doug Weight. The Islanders have been a dumpster fire for so long that Lamoriello all but arrived on scene wearing a FDNY helmet and boots.
The tight-lipped “Lou Lams’’ said repeatedly during his introductory news conference that he has “no preconceived notion’’ about Snow or Weight. But he’s been brought to the Island, just east of his former Devils digs, as a makeover artist. At age 75, he’s not expected to dillydally over some three- or five-year plan. Like ownership, he is looking for immediate impact.
Don’t be surprised if Lamoriello hires Hunter as his GM, and be less surprised if he somehow works ex-Devils star defenseman Scott Stevens into the coaching mix. Playing structure was a bedrock tenet of Lamoriello’s stay in East Rutherford and Newark. You may remember the neutral-zone trap? Bet on the Islanders adding healthy elements of grind to their game for 2018-19 as long as Lamoriello’s holding the keys to the Zamboni.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Dubas was quick to reshape his front office. He promoted Brandon Pridham, 44, to assistant GM and then added Laurence Gilman, 53 and ex- of the Canucks’ front office, as another assistant GM.
Will Gilman or Pridham turn out to be the next Hunter? The former Habs forward proved to have a fine eye for what is the most coveted skill in any front office — spotting what 18-year-old can grow into useful, productive NHL talent. Perhaps Dubas can do that alone, or by committee, but true talent sommeliers don’t exactly grow on every grapevine. The Leafs have two picks (Nos. 25 and 46) in the top 50 in next month’s draft. Neither will factor in the Leafs’ success next season, but this year’s draft is tomorrow’s followthrough, and it has taken the Leafs a very long time to solidify a roster to act as the basis for a followthrough.
Lamoriello, in the meantime, arrived with a different clock ticking. In a little more than 30 days, franchise center John Tavares can walk as an unrestricted free agent. Bereft of playoffs success in his nine years with the Islanders, they really don’t have any edge in talks other than the fact that they can offer an eight-year deal instead of seven. With the cap expected to be $80 million, the Islanders could go full boat (eight years, $16 million per), but no team yet has forked out the maximum 20 percent cap hit allowed in the CBA.
Will Tavares be the first 20 percenter? Not likely with Lamoriello on the watch, but it should make for a very interesting month-plus, at minimum.
ETC.
Seattle appears next in line
On June 20, the same day of the NHL awards presentation in Las Vegas, the league’s Board of Governors will meet along The Strip and likely grant Seattle a provisional OK to enter the league in October 2020. A full-throated endorsement, for a record $650 million expansion fee, likely will follow in September or October.
The new club, funded mainly by 75-year-old investor David Bonderman, will play in downtown KeyArena, former home of the late NBA Seattle SuperSonics (now doing business in Oklahoma City). But it won’t be the home barn until Bonderman and investor friends, including TV icon Jerry Bruckheimer and longtime sports executive Tim Leiweke, pour upward of $600 million into a KeyArena rehab that will include — hold on, Big Dig survivors — burrowing 15 feet deeper into nearly all of the building’s exiting footprint.
Upon completion, presuming the 1962-built edifice hasn’t collapsed like a John Tortorella defense, KeyArena will have added a new “lower’’ lower bowl with increased seating that will peg a hockey sellout at 17,500 — an increase of some 2,400 seats over what the building could handle today.
ACME Mining & Blasting is expected to start digging this fall and ideally wrap up by puck drop at the start of the 2020-21 season. Leiweke’s brother, Tod, recently was named the club’s CEO, and he’ll be one busy Leiweke these next 24-30 months, with a GM to name, scouts to hire, and even a team name to choose.
Kraken, a legendary sea monster believed to bar hop along Puget Sound with ex-WHA stars, is a lead contender for the franchise’s name.
Let’s not laugh, because this is a league that once welcomed the California Golden Seals, who played even funnier than their name. They were owned by Charlie Finley, the irascible owner of baseball’s A’s, and were sometimes outfitted in white leather skates.
Some of the other teams names being considered in Seattle: Emeralds, Totems, Rainiers, Evergreens, Renegades, Sea Lions, Firebirds, Cougars, Eagles, Seals, Whales, and Sockeyes.
Team Original 32, with an entry fee $150 million above what the Vegas Golden Knights paid, will select form the same caliber of draft stock that GM George McPhee and friends picked over and, voila, turned into this year’s Cup co-finalist. The Seattle GM also will be allowed to engineer deals around the draft, allowing clubs to protect players they are forced to leave exposed. Case in point: The Wild last June dished ex-Boston College stud Alex Tuch to McPhee, with McPhee in turn agreeing not to pluck valued Mathew Dumba from the St. Paul backline.
No doubt in part due to the Knights’ success, the response at the ticket window bordered on the absurd at the start of March when the prospective owners asked for deposits on season tickets. A total of 25,000 deposits were received in the first hour, 10,000 of which were logged in the opening 12 minutes. The process was closed when they hit 32,000. All of that came only two weeks after the investment group (Oak View) filed its $10 million application fee with league headquarters.
Such numbers, by the way, help explain why Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, who doubles as chairman of the Board of Governors, keeps working Houston into the conversation whenever talk turns to expansion. Seattle-Tacoma ranks No. 14 among US television markets, while Houston is No. 8. Lots of eyeballs and money in Houston, not to mention it is only a 240-mile drive north to Dallas, the makings of a divine Lone Star vulcanized turf war.
Growing pains
The Golden Knights, now four victories from clinching the Cup, finished the regular season with a 51-24-7 record (109 points) and became the first of the 10 expansion teams since 1991 to qualify for the playoffs in their first seasons.
The prior nine clubs in their inaugural seasons averaged 21.1 wins, 51.1 points, and needed 4½ seasons to clinch a playoff berth.
How the other nine fared:
San Jose (1991-92) — 17-58-5, 39 points. Qualified in third season.
Tampa Bay (1992-93) — 23-54-7, 53 points. Qualified in fourth season.
Ottawa (1992-93) — 10-70-4, 24 points. Qualified in fifth season.
Florida (1993-94) — 33-34-17, 83 points. Qualified in third season.
Anaheim (1993-94) — 33-46-5, 71 points. Qualified in fourth season.
Nashville (1998-99) — 28-47-7, 63 points. Qualified in sixth season.
Atlanta (1999-2000) — 14-57-11, 39 points. Qualified in seventh season.
Columbus (2000-01) — 28-39-15, 71 points. Qualified in eighth season.
Minnesota (2000-01) — 25-39-18, 68 points, Qualified in third season.
Loose pucks
The Knights surrendered their first pick in the draft to acquire Tomas Tatar from the Red Wings. They chose No. 6 overall last June and plucked center Cody Glass from WHL Portland, where he rolled up 37 goals and 102 points this past season. Fellow Winterhawk Kieffer Bellows, who bailed on BU after one season, potted 41 in Portland, which might get him a serious look at Islanders camp in September. The Isles selected him 19th in the 2016 draft . . . The draft’s top prospects will filter into Buffalo this coming week for Combine testing on Friday and Saturday. Boston GM Don Sweeney, tied up this past week with his scouting staff at the Causeway Street bunker, will meet with the media late Thursday afternoon in Buffalo . . . No telling where Boston University turns to replace David Quinn. One possibility: ex-Bruin Shawn McEachern, now the assistant AD and coach at the Rivers School in Weston. McEachern departed BU in the spring of ’91 to turn pro with Pittsburgh, then finished up his degree over a decade later while still playing in the NHL . . . Sweeney and backup goaltender Anton Khudobin, an unrestricted free agent on July 1, have exchanged numbers on a new contract to keep “Doby’’ here as Tuukka Rask’s backup. Not much to report, said Khudobin’s agent, Kent Hughes, adding by e-mail, “Both sides hope to get a deal done.’’ . . . Pretty good week for old Terriers. First Paul Fenton (class of 1982) was named the new Wild GM — after his long tenure as David Poile’s assistant in Nashville — and then Quinn (class of 1987) took over the Blueshirt bench.
Cedric Paquette scored only 19 seconds into Game 5 to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead over the Capitals. Paquette, the 101st pick in the 2012 draft, was a horse in Round 2 vs. Boston. A total 110 players were selected after Paquette in ’12, and he has played more games (236) than any of them . . . KeyArena was built in 1962 at a cost of $7 million, and refurbished in ’95 for an additional $74.5 million. It’s more than 20 years old now, but TD Garden, planted within nine inches of the old building, came in at a cost of $160 million . . . The Sabres, who ditched Matt Moulson to the AHL last season after his 0-0—0 start in 14 games, are expected to buy him out when the two-week emancipation begins June 15. If so, the former Cornell standout will be paid a total $2.62 million over two years, bringing to a close his five-year deal that he signed for $25 million.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
