BU 2020-21 Season: The Road to … Nowhere?

[Harry Cleverly]

I'm not so sure about Quinn losing the Rangers better players. The whole team played HARD in their final game against the Bruins. They could have more easily just rolled over, but they didn't. They certainly didn't play like a team quitting on their coach.

[Cross Check]

so to see Gorton and Davidson shown the gate after not addressing those glaring issues this season was hardly a surprise.

Gorton and Davidson were let go for letting it be known behind the scenes that they did not support or have anything to do with the Rangers' public statement demanding George Parros be fired after the Tom Wilson incident, which was a Dolan job all the way. They were fired for perceived disloyalty to the owner. That they both were canned the day after that came out...I don't believe in coincidences.

[Split-N]

By nearly all accounts, David Quinn did just what he was hired to do ... bring along a develop a young team in a full-blown rebuilding mode. He may have done too good of a job, because Dolan thought they should have been in the playoffs before they were targeted to get there. In three years, he was over .500. That was an excellent return from what he started with...Quinn can sit out the next year. Wait for another NHL job that he wants. Or return to college.

Totally agree. NYR in recent years has shown a remarkable ability to shoot itself in the skates at the most inopportune times.

[Chuck Murray]

By nearly all accounts, David Quinn did just what he was hired to do ... bring along a develop a young team in a full-blown rebuilding mode. He may have done too good of a job, because Dolan thought they should have been in the playoffs before they were targeted to get there. In three years, he was over .500. That was an excellent return from what he started with.

Quinn never wanted to leave BU. He turned the Rangers down twice before they threw so much money at him that he couldn't refuse. He is going to get paid for two more years. He is set for life, financially. So he can be choosy about what he does next.

Albie has put the bullseye on his back in his spring newsletter, stating that BU expects to be the best team in Hockey East next year.

I don't think Quinn potentially being available adds any additional pressure on Albie. He put it all on himself. And he is right, they should be at or near the top of Hockey East next season. If they are not, Albie knows that he is a goner.

Quinn can sit out the next year. Wait for another NHL job that he wants. Or return to college.
What people seem to forget is that Quinn is in his 50s. "GQ" may look younger, but he's no kid. If he returned to college, he would likely look at it as being his last job.
My guess is that he will get another job in the NHL. He will be viewed as someone that can develop a young team. He is a competent NHL head coach, even if he is not an elite, Xs and Os head coach.

If BU does move on from Albie, I would not expect them to turn back to Quinn. Nor would I expect Quinn to look to go back.

I agree with a fair amount of what you've posted here, especially with regards to AOC's outlook at BU, and Quinn's future likely not involving a return trip to Comm Ave. unless he views it as the final stage of his coaching career (I was admittedly surprised to see he'll turn 55 before the start of next season). Quinn will get more NHL level opportunities, even if it might not be as a HC right away. Like you said, he's set for life, and can (should) be choosy on what/where his next stop will be.

I will disagree respectfully, though, on how his time at the Rangers will be viewed elsewhere in the NHL. It's pretty common knowledge that Quinn lost control of the top half of his room these last couple of months, and his inability to get his better players to play a two-way game is what ultimately cost him the playoffs, and in the end his job. As you probably know, he had a ton of young talent on that roster, and at this time last year, we would have been in full agreement that he had them arriving ahead of schedule. Then they got lucky in the draft, and suddenly expectations were heightened.

Everyone knew after last season that the Rangers were a "soft" team, so to see Gorton and Davidson shown the gate after not addressing those glaring issues this season was hardly a surprise. Quinn was guilty by association to some degree BUT if some of his elite talented players had shown progress in adopting better two-way play - instead of tuning Quinn out and doing their own thing - they wouldn't have gotten embarrassed by the Islanders (and others) in key games down the stretch this season, and Quinn might still be in a job at MSG. But they didn't, so he isn't.

I don't want to get into a long technical discussion of what .500 means in the NHL these days, but simply put ... if OTL's are counted equally as OTW's, then DQ had one (1) winning season, and an overall losing record. As a practical matter, roughly half of the NHL teams make the playoffs, and just under half don't (it'll be 50-50 next season). NYR had a short stint in last year's expanded "playoffs" and missed the other two years. And despite getting this year's top pick, the Rangers regressed.

Quinn might get another shot at NHL head coach at some point, or he might not. He's a smart guy, and will learn from this experience, no doubt. I'm not sure other NHL GM's will be impressed by him losing the top of his room late this season, but for the start of a rebuild, he may well get another shot? Columbus is looking, and while lots of folks are speculating about Tortorella replacing Quinn at NYR, I think it's more likely Quinn could get a shot at doing something (HC/AC) in Columbus.

He certainly won't need to rush into anything at this point. Last time around, it was for the money - next time, it should be for the best possible opportunity for long-term success. I wish him luck.

[Harry Cleverly]

By nearly all accounts, David Quinn did just what he was hired to do ... bring along a develop a young team in a full-blown rebuilding mode. He may have done too good of a job, because Dolan thought they should have been in the playoffs before they were targeted to get there. In three years, he was over .500. That was an excellent return from what he started with.

Quinn never wanted to leave BU. He turned the Rangers down twice before they threw so much money at him that he couldn't refuse. He is going to get paid for two more years. He is set for life, financially. So he can be choosy about what he does next.

Albie has put the bullseye on his back in his spring newsletter, stating that BU expects to be the best team in Hockey East next year.

I don't think Quinn potentially being available adds any additional pressure on Albie. He put it all on himself. And he is right, they should be at or near the top of Hockey East next season. If they are not, Albie knows that he is a goner.

Quinn can sit out the next year. Wait for another NHL job that he wants. Or return to college.
What people seem to forget is that Quinn is in his 50s. "GQ" may look younger, but he's no kid. If he returned to college, he would likely look at it as being his last job.
My guess is that he will get another job in the NHL. He will be viewed as someone that can develop a young team. He is a competent NHL head coach, even if he is not an elite, Xs and Os head coach.

If BU does move on from Albie, I would not expect them to turn back to Quinn. Nor would I expect Quinn to look to go back.

[J.D.]

New Pac 12 commissioner was a rower at BU?

[Chuck Murray]

Do you know that's a fact? Is there any possibility that maybe 3 - 4 years were guaranteed?

I've read in several sources that Quinn has (had?) two years left on his contract.

[Chuck Murray]

According to The Athletic, they parted on good terms. In reality, who knows?

The Athletic intimated that Drury let DQ know that whoever is NYR HC will be under heavy pressure to make the playoffs, and that if DQ were coach, and the team got off to a mediocre start and/or had a multiple game losing streak, goodbye.

I wonder how long Drury had to come up with that pitch? I mean, to paraphrase ... "Well, buddy ol' pal, you couldn't figure out a way to overcome the Islanders last season, and when we go back to the Metropolitan Division, I doubt you'll be able to overcome one of the Pens/Caps/Canes or Islanders again next season, either. And if you hit a rocky stretch, I'll have to fire your ar$e anyway, so we might as well do this now, and you can enjoy summer and make other plans."

No wonder Dolan put him in charge, on this evidence, Drury could sell air conditioning to Eskimos.

The Rangers have enough talent to make the playoffs, they need someone to get it out of them.

[buoldtimer]

Quinn can hold out for an NHL job since he's being paid by the Rangers for two more years. Beyond that he did a decent job with a rebuilding team so I doubt he's closed off from any head coaching positions in the future.

Albie should be under pressure because he's a terrible coach regardless of Quinn's employment situation. Now we missed out on the UMass assistant which makes Albie's continued presence that much worse.

Do you know that's a fact? Is there any possibility that maybe 3 - 4 years were guaranteed?

[buoldtimer]

That next BU alumni golf outing could be frosty!

According to The Athletic, they parted on good terms. In reality, who knows?

The Athletic intimated that Drury let DQ know that whoever is NYR HC will be under heavy pressure to make the playoffs, and that if DQ were coach, and the team got off to a mediocre start and/or had a multiple game losing streak, goodbye.

[Chuck Murray]

I don't even think I would call his stint with the Rangers a failure. Goal differential is usually pretty telling and the Rangers were a decent team but stuck in a tough division. I just don't think he has the track record to get fired and then immediately hired as NHL HC again. Trying to think of examples, maybe John Hynes actually fits that scenario? Not common though.

The Rangers were a notoriously soft team, and didn't show enough grit to compete against the Islanders, much less the B's or Capitals or Penguins. Their top talent padded their stats habitually against the Devils, Sens and Sabres, but when the chips were on the table late in the season against Trotz's Islanders, the Rangers were clearly not ready for prime time. That's what got Davidson and Gorton fired, and Quinn's inability to get his several talented young stars to play a two-way game in turn is likely what cost him his job.

Not sure about "tough division" ... you could have written in the bottom three teams in indelible marker at the outset of the season, the Rangers' job was to simply pick off one of the other four teams to sneak into the playoffs. They didn't. Rangers need an experienced GM to better round out the roster, and a more experienced head coach to get across to the young talent.

Rebuilds by definition initially require the teaching sort of coach to set the foundational expectations. It's why a guy like Jeff Blashill has hung around so long in Detroit (although he could be gone any day now?), so I don't see Quinn having shown he could do that with a flawed but talented NYR team. Dolan may be a kook, but he's saved most of his rash decisions for his basketball team, and he's usually erred on the side of patience in hockey. So if Quinn's job was to get his foundation pieces set in a system at NYR, then he failed. It will be interesting to see if Drury goes for another run with Tortorella (doubt it), hires the AHL guy in Hartford (Knoblauch?) or brings in Gerard Gallant, who I'm hoping is the guy former linemate Yzerman hires to replace Blashill at DRW.

Should be an interesting offseason.

[J.D.]

I don't even think I would call his stint with the Rangers a failure. Goal differential is usually pretty telling and the Rangers were a decent team but stuck in a tough division. I just don't think he has the track record to get fired and then immediately hired as NHL HC again. Trying to think of examples, maybe John Hynes actually fits that scenario? Not common though.

[Chuck Murray]

I do not see any way Quinn gets a NHL HC job next year. I think he either takes the year off or hooks on as an NHL assistant somewhere or perhaps even AHL head coach. Now I'm curious where Greg Brown ends up as well.

Agree, I don't think Quinn amazed anyone with his HC abilities at the NHL level. He lacked important buy-ins from some of his better NYR players, and that's coaching poison at that level. Drury didn't have to fire him, Dolan trusted him with that decision, so let's not hang this on Dolan. Quinn basically failed in an NHL rebuilding job already, not sure why several on this thread think he'll get a second chance right away at that level? In the short term he'll either take time off, hook on as an NHL assistant or take a step back and (as you suggest JD) build his resume back up as an AHL head coach. I doubt he returns to D-1 coaching, and even if he did, I don't see BU (or anyone else) being overly eager to hire a guy with clear NHL ambitions.

[Rover]

Quinn can hold out for an NHL job since he's being paid by the Rangers for two more years. Beyond that he did a decent job with a rebuilding team so I doubt he's closed off from any head coaching positions in the future.

Albie should be under pressure because he's a terrible coach regardless of Quinn's employment situation. Now we missed out on the UMass assistant which makes Albie's continued presence that much worse.

[J.D.]

Actually, how do these contracts typically work? If he's employed next year aren't the Rangers off the hook for part of his salary?