BUFFALO – On the surface, Jack Quinn’s 2024-25 season might look productive. The Sabres winger set career highs across the board, recording 15 goals, 24 assists and 39 points.
Of course, two other telling numbers must be attached to that stat line: minus-18, his team-worst rating, and six, the number of games he sat out as a healthy scratch before scoring his first goal against a goalie on Dec. 15.
“You look at a tough year, and he still ended putting up 15 goals … on what we say was a poor year for him,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said following Tuesday’s practice in KeyBank Center. “I think sometimes maybe when a player’s at that level, he’s stepping in the right direction. But I think there’s more there.”
That’s why Ruff challenged Quinn throughout last season to become faster and stronger. He often lost too many puck battles.
In his exit meetings with Ruff and general manager Kevyn Adams, Quinn, 24, acknowledged he needed to be better.
“I had a really good conversation at the end of the year with Jack, a heart-to-heart in some ways in terms of honesty that he owned where he was deficient in certain ways, and he went to work,” Adams said Sept. 17. “And I believe in the character and the work ethic and Jack Quinn. I’ll bet on that kid all day long.”
Ruff said their chat – “A positive meeting in my eyes,” he said – convinced him Quinn would use the adversity he endured to improve.
“He admittedly thought he could’ve been better right off the start,” Ruff said.
Quinn, the eighth overall pick in 2020, seemed to take the advice to heart.
“I think Lindy was pretty hard on me last year,” Quinn told the Times Herald following Thursday’s practice. “He thought I needed to get a lot stronger and a lot faster to be able to be a goal scorer in this league, so he challenged me to do that.
“I think I’ve done that. Yeah, I’m not sure what he thinks of it, but I think it’s in a good spot now.”
Quinn said Ruff “was probably pretty accurate in the things I needed to work on.”
“So I appreciate the conversations,” said Quinn, who signed a two-year, $6.75 million contract in the offseason.
These days, Quinn sounds confident. He believes his work during the offseason – “Tried to get stronger and faster and worked on my skating a lot, too,” he said – is paying off. He’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, five pounds heavier than last year.
“It’s noticeable for me,” he said of the changes. “I don’t think I’ve dominated by any means, but I feel a lot better.”
Ruff put Quinn in positions to succeed throughout training camp, and he responded by scoring one goal and three points in four preseason games.
In Friday’s 5-4 overtime road loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, he skated at left wing on the top line alongside center Josh Norris and Tage Thompson. For most of camp, he manned left wing alongside center Jiri Kulich and newcomer Josh Doan.
If Benson, who has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury, can’t play in Thursday’s season opener against the New York Rangers, Quinn could have first-line duty.
The Sabres sorely need Quinn to roar out of the gate and produce offense. After trading winger JJ Peterka, who scored 55 goals over the last two seasons, they chose to address other areas of their roster.
They believe they can fill Peterka’s scoring void and his spot on the first or second line internally.
Quinn, who scored nine goals in 27 games as he battled injuries two years ago, is perhaps the most obvious candidate to pick up the slack.
Last season, he experienced a miserable start, scoring just one goal, an empty-netter, in his first 24 games. Ruff scratched him once in October and five times in December before he ended his marathon slump.
Quinn caught fire late in the campaign, compiling three goals and nine points over a five-game stretch in late March and early April.
“I think it’s just a step in the right direction,” he said. “Obviously, an awful start. Just being able to finish pretty productively and finding a role gives you some confidence. You know you can still produce and contribute in this league.”
My guess is there is only a slight improvement in his production. I’ll have to see it to believe it.