RinkWise podcast: David Quinn on Olympics, coaching and wanting to stay in NHL

Ex-BU and Rangers coach David Quinn was the guest on the RinkWise podcast. (Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)

David Quinn, the head coach of the U.S. Men’s Olympic and World Championship Teams, is the guest on the latest episode of the RinkWise podcast.

The Cranston, R.I., native was a first-round pick of the Minnesota North Stars in 1984, but after a chronic illness curtailed his playing career, he has taken a long road to the top of the coaching ranks. After leading the Boston University Terriers as head coach from 2013-18, he became the N.Y. Rangers bench boss for three seasons. With his contract up this offseason, he is looking to find another NHL head coaching job.

He joins Kirk Luedeke and guest host Matt Keator to talk about the Olympic Games, his coaching philosophies and thoughts on team building, being a part of a 2009 national championship at BU, coaching professional players and more.

Listen:

From the podcast:

On what the future holds for him after this season:

I love the NHL game. I learned an awful lot at my time in New York, especially my last year there, and that’s where I want to be. I want to take what I learned over my three years in New York and and apply it, hopefully in my next job in the National Hockey League. It’s a very volatile profession. Unfortunately, guys are going to lose jobs here in the next month. My next challenge is to coach the  (U.S.) World Championship team, which I’m looking forward to. But, you know, I want another crack at the National Hockey League.

On coaching some of the area players in the Olympics and what could come next for them:

Matty Beniers, you know, I’ve known Matty since I recruited him to go to BU and he’s everything you want in a player. I mean, there’s no secret why he was picked second overall in the NHL draft. He had a heck of an Olympics. He’s a guy you want to build your franchise around not only what you see on the ice, but what you see off the ice. He’s got a dynamic personality. He’s got such swagger. You know, the great players have great swagger. And it’s not arrogance. It’s swagger. And he’s got it in spades. And Seattle certainly has an incredible building block and I think a future captain in Matty Beniers.

Sean Farrell had a great tournament. He’s a guy that’s kind of a quiet assassin. He plays at a great pace: competitive, skilled. You know, he’s another guy that I have was familiar with from my days, and he’s got a great future ahead of him. And  Marc McLaughlin is a really good player. He’s big, he’s strong. He’s got some skill to complement that and it’s been lot of fun watching him play for the Bruins.

And again, we were deep and it was a hard, you know, a couple of guys, we had to sit out because we just we felt like we had 14 really good forwards. And one of the things that I think is a testament to our team, the conversations that I would have with the guys that weren’t playing. Obviously, they were disappointed they weren’t playing, but you never saw it in their faces. You never saw it the way they carried themselves. It really epitomized the team mentality we have had over there. But all three of those players are going to have great, great pro careers and they really were impactful players for us in the Olympics.

On coaching Chris Kreider with the Rangers and missing out on him as a BU recruit:

So I’d feel a lot better if I was still coaching him. But you know, Chris and I, as Matt knows, I think I was the first guy to offer him a full scholarship when he was at the prep school. But he’s a special player and he’s a great person, and I loved coaching him. And I’m not surprised he’s a 50-goal scorer. I just think it all came together for him this year. He’s a very impactful player on and off the ice, and I’m incredibly happy for him.

The podcast can be streamed at hockeyjournal.com/podcast and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

“RinkWise” is brought to you by Paul Vincent Hockey, Laura Stamm Power Skating, Sacred Heart University and University of Nebraska High School, Lovell Hockey and Pro Ambitions.

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