Prospect Info: Jack Quinn, RW (8th overall, 2020) -- Ottawa 67s (3 year ELC signed 11/16)

[tsujimoto74]

The why of the bolded matters.

The kid played 3 sports until he was 15 years old. Anyone who has played or has kids who’ve played travel/high level sports these days knows just one of those sports eats up a lot of your time. Three sports is absolutely nuts in this day and age. He would have no time for anything else.

Quinn comes across as a really good athlete who finally decided to focus on hockey later than most. Then used the time he gained from dropping the other two sports to work on his strength/skating to improve in hockey. It took only two years of that to end up as the best goal scorer in his draft year. That’s pretty impressive.

I agree that he is raw but even as that he’s still the best goal scorer in his draft class with a pretty solid two way game. Not a bad starting point for a raw player to keep growing from.

As for the size stuff....... Its not hard to imagine the Sabres being excited by all the skill elements Quinn already brings to the table with the potential for more to come while him also being capable of growing in size and strength. Dismissing that as simply being excited he’s a couple inches taller than Rossi is trying too hard to be negative.

The thing I like most about Quinn is he scores goals because of his drive and instincts. Two things you can’t really teach. A player has them or they don’t. Its not like he was scoring due to his blazing speed or enormous size. He was roughly average to slightly above in both in his OHL years.

Yeah, Quinn's highlight reels are full of pro-style goals. He's not a prospect who's scoring just because junior defensemen let him.

 

[Beerz]

Some people misuse them, but I'll always defend the stats to comments like this. Saying they are meaningless is as bad as saying they create a perfect ranking. The "graphs" have outperformed nhl scouts, using nothing but basic stats. Add a little bit of real scouting to the mix, and it's not a bad combo. I just don't get how analytics are constantly bashed as meaningless when they've shown to have value.

This was specific to this guys charts ... they aren't really advanced stats.. he just compares prospects stats with stats of former or well established NHL players and gets hits by dropping comparisons to those well established players

 

[BananaSquad]

There were questions about his accuracy, not 'he couldn't make a throw'. Either way, we're talking about completely different sports, so there's no way anyone could make a comparison in earnest.

People are acting like Quinn scored 20 goals but has massive goal scoring potential, he scored 52!

 

[Fjordy]

delete

 

[jc17]

This was specific to this guys charts ... they aren't really advanced stats.. he just compares prospects stats with stats of former or well established NHL players and gets hits by dropping comparisons to those well established players

This guy? I think you're right in that the player comparisons are silly. But overall I think the percentages are ok, not great but a decent indicator

 

[joshjull]

I think the 3 sport thing is a positive too. It gives some explanation for his late rise. But I can't imagine he's the only kid thats had that type of refocus. And I see your main point, I certainly see why they would be excited about a guy that quickly became one of the best goal scorers in the draft class, but why not be excited about the best overall scorer in the class, you know?

I'm really not trying to paint the Quinn as bad or the pick having no hope, I just think it's based in a lot of hope.

And for what its worth, Jarvis scored goals at a similar rate and also credits his improvement as focusing on hockey. I think he played football or something too, before dropping it this year.

He definitely isn’t the only player to focus on hockey late after playing at least one other sport. But the guys we’re comparing him two are not those types of players.

I get what your saying about top point getter. Fair or not, teams generally value goal scoring more, especially when the player can create their own goals. Which is the case with Quinn.

Ultimately I think the Sabres were looking to add the best goal scorer they could in the draft (as @Zip15 points out). Its fills a big need in the system.

I think the hope with Quinn is about his overall play offensively. That he can grow into more than just a goal scorer. That would give him a higher ceiling than Rossi but its a long shot he gets there. IMO Quinn’s realistic ceiling is as a top 6 goal scoring winger who can play in all situations.

 

[bert]

Yes they are both old, but I'm saying Rossi produced last year at a rate that you would want from an older guy, Quinn didn't.

Like @bert said, Quinn had a monster 2nd half of the season, so he could just be a late bloomer, but age is important in juniors. So you have a guy that's already older, not really turn it on until the second half of his draft year. You can look at that and say he's trending up, or that he's just another older guy scoring a lot in juniors. I dont think there's a right answer, but if I were the Sabres I wouldn't even want to deal with that question.

The narrative on Quinn that its just because he is older couldnt be further from the truth. He is a late bloomer was 5'8 two years ago and is still growing he is a late bloomer physically. His hockey IQ is very high.

The Sabres haven't taken a risk like this in YEARS. Under Murray and even moreso under Botterill the Sabres tended to go towards safe, predictable players sometimes eschewing prospects with higher upside.

The Cozens pick was the "riskiest" 1st round pick the Sabres had taken in a while. This might be the riskiest 1st round pick since Kruikov. Heck, even Grigorenko wasn't considered that risky of a pick at 12....he was considered a steal.

This IS the "occasional risk" pick. If he hits, he's going to be a very good player in the NHL for a long time. If he misses.....it's not like this is going to set us back years. Go listen to Adams in the Embedded vid posted Monday. He flat-out mentions the need to take risks on occasion on players with high ceilings. That is EXACLTY what this is.

Rossi was the safe pick. Rossi is going to be an NHLer of some sort. Maybe he becomes a 2nd line center. Maybe he caps at a 3rd line winger. But he's going to play in the NHL and be a nice complementary piece when building a team.

Quinn is the boom-or-bust pick. Frankly, I like that Adams had the balls to take a pick like this as his first pick as a GM. We'll see how it pans out.

He really isnt a boom bust style player he is an elite defender and PKer that has a high compete level. Worst case scenario he is a two way 20 goal scorer best case he is a 40 goal guy that isnt a liability in his own end.

 

[valet]

People are acting like Quinn scored 20 goals but has massive goal scoring potential, he scored 52!

Yeah I agree with your overall point. He's not some unknown or unproven talent.

 

[ceky]

still pissed... and it has nothing to do with Quinn. He could be the better pick long term, i don't really care.

austrian 1st rounders happen not that frequently...

 

[Buffaloed]

Here's the article about Quinn I was referring to earlier. His defensive play is also why I think he could make the Sabres this season.
2020 NHL Draft: The interesting, meteoric rise of Jack Quinn



If Quinn is able to improve his positioning drastically in juniors and is able to show consistency in his goal-scoring prowess from this past season, then he projects as a top-6 player at the next level. Though I am adamant to believe he can score 50+ goals in the NHL, he has the upside to be a consistent 35 to 40 goal scorer from a year-to-year basis. His playmaking, though not shown often, could be a massive help in his pursuit of NHL stardom.

 

[brian_griffin]

People keep saying “Rossi is better” like the Sabres aren’t aware of that. You don’t pick the better prospect, you pick the one who will be the most valuable NHL player in four years.

Yeah, that's the right philosophy. The problem is the surety of the proclamations by the BUF organizations (Bills and Sabres). Under Botterill, the trade-ups in late rounds for what are essentially lottery tickets smacked of hubris. I don't think 2020 Round 1 Quinn pick was hubris, but I do wonder if they moved away from Botterill's staff pick - Rossi, just to be new and different and show Pegulas they were further cutting the cord / burning the love letters from the last GM regime / staff.

That's why he keeps getting the Pasta comparisons. I'm not gonna lie, I would have preferred Rossi seeing that he was still on the board, but Quinn is not a bad pick. He'll be a good NHL player, maybe a really good one if he reaches his potential. Just gotta have faith that Adams did his homework, cause we're not gonna know for quite some time.

Again, in the end, the Sabres should get an NHL caliber talent, regardless of whether they chose Quinn, Rossi, Perfetti, Lundell, etc. So in that regard, I'm calmer today than I was last night. But, given the dearth of NHL-caliber center talent on the Sabres for going on nearly a decade, I'm not sure why one of the available centers wasn't chosen. They are more valuable trade chips, generally.

Now that we've had some time to be disapointed given who was on the board, we need to move on and give this kid a fair shot. I say this as one of the many people who overreacted.

I was really happy to see him say that he was always a 3 sport athlete growing up and didn't really take off until he began focusing solely on hockey. Raises his ceiling imo.

I agree. A story from when I was in HS growing up in WNY. There were 4 high school boys, all a year behind me, who were cream of the crop in our sport. I wasn't even in their caliber, though I was a teammate of one, and competed against two of the other three. They were all good friends, too, btw. TBN (BEN) wrote of their legit possible Olympic potential. One of the 4 didn't even start the sport until age 14 (same as me). I also believe / hope a late (hockey) bloomer like Quinn won't get "burnt out" and/or keep a great attitude going forward.

I'm hoping we end up calling Eichel "Jack", and Quinn "Jack-Jack", because hopefully Quinn will have special powers!

 

[ForsbergMoDo21]

Some people misuse them, but I'll always defend the stats to comments like this. Saying they are meaningless is as bad as saying they create a perfect ranking. The "graphs" have outperformed nhl scouts, using nothing but basic stats. Add a little bit of real scouting to the mix, and it's not a bad combo. I just don't get how analytics are constantly bashed as meaningless when they've shown to have value.

Right? It’s almost like it’s a big crapshoot that’s very difficult to figure out, and that’s why for decades teams have dumped tons of money into scouts and analytics and number crunchers to help them figure out the draft.

Oh, and that in spite of that, it still doesn’t work out for most picks. Literally every team leaves every draft with multiple big whiffs, because someone ended up with a great player 1-75 picks after their picks that went nowhere.

Sure, watching and growing attached to prospects is part of the fun, but I don’t see the reason for people to go chicken little over this stuff.

 

[jc17]

Here's the article about Quinn I was referring to earlier. His defensive play is also why I think he could make the Sabres this season.
2020 NHL Draft: The interesting, meteoric rise of Jack Quinn



If Quinn is able to improve his positioning drastically in juniors and is able to show consistency in his goal-scoring prowess from this past season, then he projects as a top-6 player at the next level. Though I am adamant to believe he can score 50+ goals in the NHL, he has the upside to be a consistent 35 to 40 goal scorer from a year-to-year basis. His playmaking, though not shown often, could be a massive help in his pursuit of NHL stardom.

I dont think they know what adamant means

 

[TalkingProuder]

Yeah, that's the right philosophy. The problem is the surety of the proclamations by the BUF organizations (Bills and Sabres). Under Botterill, the trade-ups in late rounds for what are essentially lottery tickets smacked of hubris. I don't think 2020 Round 1 Quinn pick was hubris, but I do wonder if they moved away from Botterill's staff pick - Rossi, just to be new and different and show Pegulas they were further cutting the cord / burning the love letters from the last GM regime / staff.


Again, in the end, the Sabres should get an NHL caliber talent, regardless of whether they chose Quinn, Rossi, Perfetti, Lundell, etc. So in that regard, I'm calmer today than I was last night. But, given the dearth of NHL-caliber center talent on the Sabres for going on nearly a decade, I'm not sure why one of the available centers wasn't chosen. They are more valuable trade chips, generally.

I agree. A story from when I was in HS growing up in WNY. There were 4 high school boys, all a year behind me, who were cream of the crop in our sport. I wasn't even in their caliber, though I was a teammate of one, and competed against two of the other three. They were all good friends, too, btw. TBN (BEN) wrote of their legit possible Olympic potential. One of the 4 didn't even start the sport until age 14 (same as me). I also believe / hope a late (hockey) bloomer like Quinn won't get "burnt out" and/or keep a great attitude going forward.

I'm hoping we end up calling Eichel "Jack", and Quinn "Jack-Jack", because hopefully Quinn will have special powers!

I would think about finding a different player than what Botts wanted too.

 

[Yultron]

We needed goals and a sniper so I’m thrilled with the pick

 

[Genny Screamer]

Last year many fans were upset that the Sabres passed on Arthur Kaliyev for Ryan Johnson. That year Kaliyev had 51 goals/51 assists with a minus 13. This year Jack had 52 goals/37 assists, but was a +48. This year Kaliyev had 44 goals/54 assists with a minus 7.

Of course, Kaliyev is still a great prospect, but maybe we are getting a better goal scorer that is more defensively responsible. Hopefully, Adams is righting a wrong, but getting the sniper we should have got last year.

How many goals can a line of Olofsson, Eichel and Quinn produce? Do we do dare dream?

 

[Team Cozens]

Based in his Instagram workouts... he already looks "Jacked"
Let's just say much better than the Mittelstadt IG posts.

 

[Jim Bob]

Based in his Instagram workouts... he already looks "Jacked"
Let's just say much better than the Mittelstadt IG posts.

But, are they Risto level?

Seriously though. I do like that he wears a Whoop strap.

 

[Zman5778]

Based in his Instagram workouts... he already looks "Jacked"

 

[Fearnot]

Feels strange reading the losers of the NHL draft thread and it being 50/50 columbus/buffalo. was the gap between him and rossi really that big?

 

[joshjull]

I dont think they know what adamant means

Certainly a ham fisted attempt to cram it in that sentence.

 

[Husko]

We needed goals and a sniper so I’m thrilled with the pick

He's not really a sniper. Definitely a goal scorer, but not of the sniping variety.

The comp fails because of his defensive praise and work ethic, but what about Vanek in terms of his goal scoring acumen?

 

[Zman5778]

Feels strange reading the losers of the NHL draft thread and it being 50/50 columbus/buffalo. was the gap between him and rossi really that big?

Depends on who you read and listen to.

To many posters on HFboards in general, yes. Huge gap.

To many professionals who do this for a living.......not really as big as some would have you believe. There are even some out there who truly believe that Quinn might be better than Rossi.

 

[Fearnot]

Depends on who you read and listen to.

To many posters on HFboards in general, yes. Huge gap.

To many professionals who do this for a living.......not really as big as some would have you believe. There are even some out there who truly believe that Quinn might be better than Rossi.

I'm going to give Adams a shot, most hated the Josh Allen pick too.

 

[HaNotsri]

Feels strange reading the losers of the NHL draft thread and it being 50/50 columbus/buffalo. was the gap between him and rossi really that big?

Devils should be losers as well. I'd be depressed if we picked Holtz.