Quinn to make NHL debut Tuesday vs. Lightning

Jack Quinn watched enthusiastically as a litany of his Rochester Americans teammates got the call to make their Sabres debuts. While Quinn missed the month of December with mononucleosis, JJ Peterka and Peyton Krebs were among his peers who donned blue and gold for the first time.
"I was super excited for those guys," Quinn said. "Obviously, playing with them in Rochester, we're pretty close friends. I thought they looked great."
Quinn got his call on Sunday. The 20-year-old forward was reassigned to the taxi squad and joined the Sabres for practice on Monday morning, skating on a line with former Team Canada teammate Dylan Cozens and Vinnie Hinostroza. He will make his NHL debut at home against Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

It was a well-earned recall for Quinn, who took the AHL by storm prior to his illness. His 12 goals in 20 contests rank eighth in the AHL despite missing an entire month. His average of 1.20 points per game ranks fifth among AHL players with at least 10 games played.
General manager Kevyn Adams cited Quinn's "growth mindset" as one of the main reasons the Sabres selected him as the eighth-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. Quinn was a late bloomer, having been cut by AAA teams as he spent high school playing multiple sports. That he blossomed into a 52-goal scorer in the OHL after dedicating himself solely to hockey revealed a work ethic Adams and his staff coveted.

Quinn attacked his reassignment to the AHL this season with the same vigor. He had been thrust into pro hockey a year early, having spent last season with Rochester due to the OHL's cancelled season. He tallied two goals and seven points in 15 games during a scattershot COVID-year schedule, which ended for him with season-ending surgery to repair a hernia in April.
When Adams and coach Don Granato told Quinn he would begin this season in Rochester, he approached the assignment as if he had unfinished business.
"Obviously I think I'm having some success in the American League right now but that's kind of where my head was at before the year," Quinn said. "If I was to go to the American League I wanted to be the kind of player I am, showing I am right now, kind of dominating that league."
Granato said that approach speaks to a maturity beyond Quinn's age.
"That's what you've seen," Granato said. "So, he's really within himself. Some 30-year-old players in this league aren't like that and that's why they struggle and are inconsistent. So, he has a maturity to him that's pretty special from the players I've seen at any age."
At the same time, Quinn's age signals the latest glimpse of Buffalo's youth movement. Quinn will become the eighth first- or second-round pick under the age of 25 to appear in a game with the Sabres this season, joining Peterka (19), Krebs (20), Cozens (20), Rasmus Dahlin (21), Henri Jokiharju (22), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (22), Casey Mittelstadt (23), and Tage Thompson (24).
"I think it's just a quick glimpse of what the future here is going to be like," Cozens said. "Everyone here is very excited for what we have going and the pieces we have, and we know we're going to be a real great team in this league one day.
"We know that we're going to be a team that can compete for a Cup so we're excited with the young core we've got coming up and I think Sabres fans should be excited, too."

Monday's practice

Tage Thompson was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, joining a list of absentees that currently includes fellow forwards Krebs, Alex Tuch, and Kyle Okposo. None of the latter three players will be available to play Tuesday, Granato said, meaning the team will make another recall at forward.
Thompson leads the Sabres with 12 goals and 23 points.
"It's the chaos of what we're all dealing with in the league," Granato said. "I'm not talking any pity here. These are the circumstances, you deal with it. I like the way our guys skated today, they had great energy. They just move along."
Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald became the latest returnee to practice after entering protocol on Jan. 3. He said he felt minor cold-like symptoms the day after he tested positive but what otherwise asymptomatic.