Especially in Covid-19 times, it seems like there's some sort of debut going on every night when the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice.
Tuesday night in KeyBank Center is the big one. The one fans and the entire organization knew was coming at some point this season, and which rates as the most eagerly anticipated.
Jack Quinn will wear Blue and Gold in the regular season for the first time, and it comes as the Sabres meet the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
The weight has returned. So have Quinn’s skating stride and elite right-handed shot, clearing the way for the 2020 first-round draft choice to return to the Amerks’ lineup Wednesday against Syracuse.
"It's great. I get to see the best team in the first game and go from there," a beaming Quinn said after he was put on the Sabres' taxi squad and practiced Monday. "It's pretty cool. Their best players are so fun to watch. I love watching guys like (Nikita) Kucherov, (Steven) Stamkos, (Brayden) Point. So just be able to play against them will be cool."
Quinn, the 20-year-old who was the Sabres' No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft, was a 52-goal scorer for the Ottawa 67s in his final year of junior hockey. After two goals in 15 games at Rochester in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season, Quinn tore up the AHL this year.
Quinn had 12 goals and 26 points in 20 games and was the league's leading goal scorer until he missed a month with mononucleosis. He returned to the lineup last week and played three games before Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams gave him the good news Sunday.
"He's playing with a lot of swagger right now, which is great," said Sabres defenseman and former Rochester teammate Casey Fitzgerald. "He's definitely coming into his own. ... We all knew it was going to happen. He's such a special player, and even off the ice is such a good kid."
Quinn practiced with Dylan Cozens and Vinnie Hinostroza and got time on the first power play unit Monday. With the Sabres' forward group heavily thinned by Covid-19 protocols, he's going to get plenty of marquee ice time.
Shortly before practice began Monday in KeyBank Center, the team learned center and leading scorer Tage Thompson had a positive test and needed to be added to the list.
"He's been doing great. He's been lining up, and I think we all expected that," said Cozens, a teammate with Quinn on last year's Team Canada roster for the World Juniors. "He's a great player with an unbelievable shot. He's just a pure goal scorer. We weren't surprised, but very happy to see him have success."
The Sabres have needs up front, but wanted to challenge Quinn with a debut against Tampa. It will put him in some uncomfortable spots, and they can see how he responds.
"To me, the fact that it is Tampa is really important," coach Don Granato said. "It's a bonus to me to have him play a 'top top' team, rather than not a top team. I think that's the information he needs. ... To immerse in the experience of it is how you gain experience."
Granato said the dominance Quinn has shown at times in the AHL dictated a new challenge. Remember, if not for the bout of mono, Quinn definitely gets this call to Buffalo a few weeks ago.
"This is an opportunity for us, a window of opportunity that we have to put him in the lineup on Dylan Cozens' line," Granato said. "Two young, exciting guys, offensively gifted guys that you can put together, so I'm excited for all of that. It's the right time to get him his first game."
Cozens waxed poetic Monday about Quinn's quick shot release and his accuracy, as well as his hockey IQ. Centers, of course, love to have snipers on their wings to feed. As an organization, the Sabres have been struck by the maturity to Quinn's game and his approach. When he was sent to the AHL in September, he told Granato and Adams he had not accomplished enough there last year and wanted to dominate before graduating to the NHL. He went and did just that.
"Jack has qualities that 30-year-old guys don't have," Granato said. "He has a sense of what's going on that you wish some of your older players had. He just has that feel. And that's why he's been able to accelerate his progress and development."
"No matter what the stats show, there's always parts of your game you can keep working on," Quinn said. "I think the stats are a good reflector of how you're playing and where you're at and what kind of player you are. But no matter what they are, there's always different points you can attack. So I just keep continuing to find those and keep improving on them, no matter how many points I'm getting or not."
Among big-name draft picks, JJ Peterka and Quinn have gotten their chance to debut this season. Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs, both currently on the Covid-19 list, arrived from Vegas in the Jack Eichel trade. Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen has taken over in goal. Mattias Samuelsson should be here at some point this season. And there are many others in the pipeline, led by No. 1 overall pick Owen Power.
"It's exciting. I think it's just a quick glimpse of what the future here is going to be like," Cozens said. "I know everyone here is very excited for what we've got 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. We're excited with the young core we got coming up and I think Sabres fans should be excited, too."
