David Quinn gets to make an impact at the draft
We’ve watched David Quinn coach the New York Rangers for two seasons and we know what kind of players he likes. How will that affect the upcoming NHL Entry Draft?
There’s no question about the kind of player that New York Rangers Coach David Quinn likes. He favors strong North American skaters who take the body and play hard. He values toughness over finesse and treasures players who show his proverbial “swagger” and “battle level.”
Quinn has been with the organization for two drafts, but this is the first one in which he will have an opportunity to have an impact. In 2018 he was new to the team and couldn’t have had much sway when the team picked Vitali Kravtsov ninth overall. Would he have preferred Oliver Wahlstrom or Evan Bouchard? Who knows? He probably did weigh in on the acquisition of K’Andre Miller later in the first round having seen him in NCAA action.
Last year there was no doubt about who the Rangers were going to select when they won the second pick in the lottery. It was either Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko, depending on the choice made by the New Jersey Devils. We will never know what Quinn really felt about Kakko and whether deep down he would have preferred a Kirby Dach or Alex Turcotte.
For later rounds, Quinn would inevitably have to rely on the team’s scouts as he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see much of players like Matthew Robertson or Karl Henriksson. But with all of the knowledge available about potential first round picks, Quinn could have some influence.
How much influence does a coach have?
The amount of influence a coach has on personnel varies from team to team. Every coach has his favorites and can plead with his general manager to get a specific player. In 1994, Mike Keenan was convince that he couldn’t win the Cup with Mike Gartner and he got Neil Smith to trade him for Glenn Anderson. He also persuaded Smith to trade stud forward Tony Amonte for Brian Noonan and Stephane Matteau. To trade a 23-year old who had averaged 34 goals in his first two years for two players who had never reached that goal total combined in one year was probably a transaction that Smith didn’t want to make, but Keenan got his way.
John Tortorella ran Marian Gaborik out of New York, after accusing him of playing soft in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Gaborik had been playing with a torn labrum in his shoulder, an excruciatingly painful injury, but it resulted in the departure of the best pure goal scorer in franchise history.
In that case Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett and John Moore came back to New York and were valuable members of the Rangers team that went to the Finals in 2014. Gaborik had the last laugh when he ended up in Los Angeles that spring and was a key piece of the Kings puzzle that beat the Rangers.
So far, Quinn appears to have had less to do with personnel decisions with most of his influence based on who plays, on what lines and who gets sent to the minor leagues. Observers will point to his reliance on young players like Brett Howden and Brendan Lemieux compared to his usage of players like Lias Andersson, Fiilip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko.
This draft
Who the Rangers pick this summer will be a clear indication of how much influence Quinn will have. The first sign will be if the Rangers go the European route yet again.
Since Jeff Gorton because full-time general manager in 2015, he has presided over five NHL Entry Drafts. In those draft he has selected 36 players with 20 from Europe and 16 from North America. The difference is even more stark looking at the first three rounds. European draftees outnumbered North American picks 11-6.
Knowing that the Rangers will have two picks in the top 25 of the draft this summer, there will be a lot of options. In Bob McKenzie’s mid-season draft rankings for TSN he includes 16 players from North America and nine from overseas.
There could be some tough choices. If the Rangers move up in the lottery, do they pick Lucas Raymond from Sweden who was 2018 pick Karl Henriksson’s linemate on a powerhouse line for Frolunda? Or do they got for Swedish winger Alexander Holtz who teamed up with Henriksson in the World Juniors? If Morgan Barron’s little brother, defenseman Justin Barron, is still around when the Rangers pick, is he a choice they should make?
Bear in mind that this will also be the first draft that John Davidson will have major influence. Will the Rangers move towards building a big, tough team along the lines of the Boston Bruins or St. Louis Blues? Or will they continue on the path of a speedy, finesse driven team that they already have mostly constructed? Time will tell.
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