Sabres' Quinn: 'I'm very excited to try to be able to make this team'

Jack Quinn felt his pre-Draft meetings had gone well with the Buffalo Sabres. Still, he had no certainty regarding his fate until general manager Kevyn Adams called his name with the eighth pick in the 2020 NHL Draft on Tuesday night.
"Tonight, I was just super excited and kind of relieved and there was a lot of emotions," Quinn said.
"But when I think of Buffalo, I think of a great sports town and a great hockey town. I think I was very excited just because of that, first of all. And also, I think it was just a great spot. Right away, I thought I'm very excited to be able to try to make this team and be a part of it."

Quinn's selection by the Sabres is the culmination of a journey that saw him progress from a multi-sport athlete who was cut from AAA teams to one of the top prospects in the world.

As Quinn put it, he didn't train for hockey growing up. He just played it. He also played baseball and golf. He spent most of his minor career playing AA as a result, until he finally earned a spot on the AAA Kanata Lasers in 2016-17. He scored 28 goals and 52 points in 45 games.
"I worked on my skating a lot that year and I think that was a big reason my game improved and I was lucky enough to get drafted into the OHL, he said. "I think the three years from there my game continuously got better."

After being selected by Ottawa in the second round of the OHL Priority Selection, Quinn was sent back for another season with Kanata's CCHL team. He made his debut for the 67s in 2018-19, tallying 12 goals and 32 points.
In the meantime, Quinn began weight training and dedicated his full attention to hockey. His coach, André Tourigny, challenged him to change his mentality on offense.
The result was a 52-goal explosion in 2019-20, a number that ranked second in the OHL and first among draft-eligible players.
"I think there was a lot of factors that went into it," Quinn said. "A great offseason training-wise and a great skill coach. I think those things translated through the year. One thing André was hard on me about, my coach, was getting to the inside of the ice and using my competitiveness. Kind of a different mindset, to get to the middle of the ice and score goals that way and not sit back and just try to make plays."
Quinn became just the fourth OHL player in the past 10 seasons to score 50-plus goals in his draft year, joining Arthur Kaliyev, Alex DeBrincat, and current Sabres forward Jeff Skinner.

NBCSN's Pierre McGuire compared Quinn to Boston Bruins star David Pastrnak.
"There's no question, because of the pure scoring ability," McGuire said. "David Pastrnak is one of the better scorers in the National Hockey League. ... Whether Jack Eichel is there or Eric Staal is there, the biggest thing with Quinn is he knows how to get to the front of the net. Just like Pastrnak, he'll battle for pucks in scoring areas, he'll make a difference that way.
"I can't stress enough, this is a player who never got burnt out playing high-level hockey when he got to major junior. He's taken advantage of his opportunities."

The Sabres saw Quinn's competitiveness and elite finishing ability in their evaluations and excitedly made him the eighth overall pick.
"I'm an offensive player," Quinn said. "I'm a goal scorer. I like to shoot the puck, but I also like to drive the bus offensively and make plays and kind of make it hard on other teams defensively. So, I think first and foremost I'm an offensive player. But I think my defensive game is pretty well-rounded too."
The selection also marks the end of a long wait for Quinn, one that was extended when the NHL Draft was postponed from June to October as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He used that extra time to hone in on his training in the gym, working to become steadier on his feet and improve his skating.
Quinn will continue those efforts until the day finally comes that he can step into a Sabres jersey, whenever that may be.
"I've gotten better each and every year as a player and I want to continue to do that year after year down the road in my career," he said. "That's my goal as a player."