Report: Dave Quinn to Leave BU, Coach New York Rangers
By: Matt Dresens
According to various reports, the New York Rangers have poached BU bench boss David Quinn to fill their vacant head coaching position.
Quinn first interviewed earlier in the spring and, after taking the USA World Junior coaching position, it seemed the Rangers were at least put on the back burner. In the coming weeks, New York made a strong push for Quinn and kept sweetening the pot, not backing down. He was their man, and they were not going to be denied.
The swirling chatter that Quinn would leave for the Rangers started about a month ago. Despite a few Tweets here and there, it didn’t seem as if there was more than a small spark of a chance he would leave.
Yesterday, TSN’s Bob McKenzie all but dumped gasoline on that spark in a pair of tweets, saying:
ESPN’s John Buccigross stated in a Tweet earlier today that he believes Quinn will get a contract in the area of five years, $12 million. That works out to $2.4 million a year.
In five years at the helm for BU, Quinn went 105-67-21 overall. He won two Hockey East titles and took the program to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, a feat accomplished for the first time since the late 1990’s.
He leaves behind a program that he just started to build. Quinn said during the Connecticut quarterfinal series that it takes about five years to mold a program when talking about rising UConn. This year was Quinn’s fifth season.
It still remains to be seen what exactly this all means in terms of recruits and players staying or leaving.
As for pure speculation on a replacement, look for current Boston Bruins assistant coach and former Terrier standout Joe Sacco to be in the running. In addition, it would be dismissive not to consider current BU assistant coach Albie O’Connell as a very prominent candidate. In addition, Jay Pandolfo will likely be looked at.
The Rangers job came on the market in early April when the New York fired Alain Vigneault after five years. In those five years, Vigneault and the Rangers went 226-147-37, made the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, but lost in five games to the LA Kings.
The Rangers fell off last year, going 34-39-9, sold off all their valuables, such as Ryan McDonagh, JT Miller and Rick Nash, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
In doing so, NYR accumulated a ton of draft capital for Quinn and staff to play with. The Rangers have, potentially, five first round picks the in the next two years.
Currently, the Rangers employ former BU defensive standout Kevin Shattenkirk, who signed a four-year deal with New York last July. Shattenkirk won a national title with the Terriers in 2009 – Quinn was an assistant coach that year for BU. Former Terrier and Hobey Baker Award winner Chris Drury is also the Assistant GM of the Rangers.