Hockey East players say Quinn’s coaching style a good fit for Blueshirts
The three Hockey East players who participated in the Rangers’ development camp this past week agree that one thing is for certain about new head coach David Quinn: He’s a player’s coach.
Drafted goaltenders Adam Huska (Connecticut) and Tyler Wall( Massachusetts-Lowell) join camp-invite Drew Melanson (Boston University) as the players representing the conference in which Quinn spent 12 years of his coaching career, as an assistant at Northeastern (1994-96) and BU (2004-09) in between, he was an assistant at Nebraska-Omaha (1996-02). He also spent 2009-13 as an AHL head coach and as an assistant with the Avalanche before coming back to BU as head coach from 2013-18.
Melanson, who played three seasons with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before going to Boston for his senior year, was reunited with his former coach this week after an impressive run together at BU that included winning the Hockey East tournament this past season and a regular-season title in 2017.
“I was really happy for him. Coach Quinn believes a lot in me, we did a lot of good things together as a team,” said Melanson, who scored his first goal during a scrimmage at camp Friday. “I think he’s great for the organization. I’ll be pulling for him.”
Seeing Quinn sport his Rangers gear this week made Melanson smile. He said seeing the guy he once called his head coach take over an NHL team was interesting, but that maintaining professionalism was most important.
Quinn’s ability to communicate with players and get the best out of the teams he works with is something Melanson said he believes will serve him well at the professional level. To the leftwinger, Quinn always has a team mentality and “he never hits the panic button.”
“He’s just used to developing high-end players,” Melanson said. “He’s used to developing the Clayton Kellers (Coyotes), Jack Eichels (Sabres), guys who have shown that they make an impact at this level.
“Keller was up for rookie of the year, Eichel is one of the best players in the NHL, so I don’t think he’s going to be star struck at all — he’s used to dealing with high-end talent.”
Under Quinn, the Terriers went 105-68-21 and ventured to four straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. He was named Hockey East Coach of the Year and New England Coach of the Year in 2015. Both Wall and Huska agreed that Quinn’s BU squad was a group that made being a goaltender a challenge.
Huska, who faced Quinn and BU five times last season, including the Hockey East quarterfinals, admired the Terriers’ speed and physicality. He said he imagines Quinn will bring the same grittiness to the NHL.
“BU is a real good team and we played them in the playoffs, I think we played really well against them” Huska said. “They bring everything every game and it was really hard to play against.”
Wall said BU’s quick transition style and gravitational pull on top prospects made them the top dogs of Hockey East. He admires Quinn’s success at BU and said the Rangers’ franchise could use a down-to-earth guy like him.
“I think that kind of team will be good for the Rangers, because we’re young guys who look like we’re going to have a fast team,” said Wall, who participated in his third Blueshirts development camp this week. “So I think that style of play will be really beneficial for them.”