David Quinn looking to boost weak areas on Penguins

New hire takes important position where the Penguins seek improvements

A couple of weeks ago with the flurry of activity around the draft and free agency, some key thoughts and insight about the Penguins were noticed, but quickly cycled out of the spotlight given the rapid development of all the news back then.

Now that the dust has settled a little bit, it’s a good time to circle back to what David Quinn will mean to the Penguins and what will be a very key figure on the team for the Pens in 2024-25.

The Pens’ official website had the following quotes from general manager Kyle Dubas and coach Mike Sullivan.

“I thought the process we went through with Sully was great,” Dubas said. “Together, we built it out. We each had different questions that we had that we felt were important. We went through a list of names and coaches that were going to be available and we wanted to talk and who we needed permission from, then I got to know some of them throughout the process.”

Sullivan knows Quinn well, as they are good friends dating back to their college hockey days at Boston University. “Obviously, it’s no secret that Quinny and I have had an established relationship. But I will tell you that that’s not the reason why the Pittsburgh Penguins hired him. We hired Quinny to be part of our coaching staff because I know he’s going to make us a better staff,” Sullivan said. “He’s going to challenge our thinking as a coaching staff. He’s a really good coach, and he’s got an opportunity to have a positive impact on our group. That’s why he was hired.”

In addition to his solid resume – which includes coaching Erik Karlsson during his Norris Trophy-winning season on San Jose and Adam Fox in New York – Dubas believes Quinn’s willingness to disagree and push back with Sullivan can be a positive. “It was very clear to me that he is very much his own person,” Dubas said with a laugh.

In addition to building on his relationship with Karlsson, Sullivan said that Quinn is going to establish one with Kris Letang. The core that includes those players, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is still playing at an elite level, “and we feel like we’re in a position where we’re trying to surround that core group with what we can and trying to be as competitive as we can be, and challenge,” Sullivan said.

It was interesting to hear Sullivan’s thoughts on the matter, especially his take on whether or not hiring someone he has known and had a close personal relationship for over 30 years would end up just being a ‘yes man’ to him.

Regardless of how the Quinn/Sullivan dynamic works, what Quinn can do as a coach will be key. Quinn is inheriting the full role of fired associate coach Todd Reirden. That means being in charge of the team’s defenseman and also the power play. Those two elements are two of the biggest reasons the team missed the playoffs last season.

On defense, Quinn’s familiarity with Erik Karlsson from the two spending time together in San Jose is intriguing. But it might be how Quinn works with the aging Kris Letang and a bounce-back candidate in Ryan Graves that determine if Quinn’s addition can cause any positive changes. Similarly, Matt Grzelcyk will be new to the club and isn’t coming in on the upswing himself, making for another challenge on Quinn’s hands.

Initial work on the power play has already begun, per a comment by Sullivan to the Tribune Review at the draft last month.

“[Quinn is] in the process of watching our group right now. He’s in the process of having discussions with some of our players that participate on the power play. Certainly, we have decided a course of action of how it’s going to work. But we’re in the beginning stages of it right now. We’ll work through that over the course of the summer.”

That unit can use no shortage of brain power and coaching work to come up with new ideas and strategy for a group laden with Hall of Famers that saw power play work go beyond stale last year.

Any improvement for Pittsburgh next season has to begin with it’s 15.3% (30th ranked) power play taking extreme steps to improve. Quinn will be at the point now of trying to help his old buddy Sullivan improve in the areas where they are weak.