LAS VEGAS -- When the Penguins named David Quinn assistant coach earlier this month, the team only immediately specified that Quinn would coach the defensemen in his role, and made no mention of special teams.
Mike Sullivan cleared up any confusion in his media availability prior to Day 1 of the draft here at Sphere in Las Vegas on Friday: Quinn will be tasked with leading the Penguins' power play, too.
"Quinny's going to run the power play," Sullivan said. "Him and I have had initial discussions, he's in the process of watching our group right now, he's in the process of having discussions with some of our players who participate on the power play. But certainly, we have decided on a course of action as far as how it's going to work. We're in the beginning stages right now, but we'll work through that."
Quinn was an obvious frontrunner for the job ever since Todd Reirden was fired as the assistant coach in charge of the defense and power play in May. Quinn was recently let go as head coach of the rebuilding Sharks and has prior experience as an assistant coaching a defense and power play. But Sullivan and Quinn also had a longstanding, extremely close relationship going back to their time as teammates at Boston University.
A couple of years ago, Quinn even told NBC Sports in a feature that he and Sullivan were close enough as teammates and apparently looked similar enough that Quinn let Sullivan -- who is two years Quinn's junior -- use his old driver's license as a fake ID in order to underage drink around Boston.
I'm guessing the statute of limitations is up on whatever was going on there, so I asked Sullivan if that was true.
"Oh wow, how did you know that?" Sullivan said with a smirk. "That is a true story. It was pretty good, it worked. People seem to think we look alike. That is a true story, I'll validate that."
Sullivan smiled when speaking about what Quinn was like in those days.
"We were good friends, we competed hard together," Sullivan recalled. "He was a real good player. Quinn's story and how he evolved into the coach he's evolved to is really a credit to him. He was a really good athlete, a really good hockey player, a really good defending defenseman. He was a first-round draft pick."
Quinn didn't get the opportunity to have a great playing career, though. He just played two seasons in the minors -- one year in the AHL with the Binghamton Rangers in 1991-92, and one in the IHL for the Cleveland Lumberjacks the following season. Quinn was diagnosed with Christmas disease (Haemophilia B), a disorder in which blood is prevented from clotting properly.
"That essentially ended his career," Sullivan explained. "That was a hard experience for David. I was his friend at the time, and I remember going through it with him. He had such high hopes and was such an elite player in college. I think he's dedicated a lot of that passion for the sport into the coaching part of what he's doing."
Despite the obvious close relationship, Sullivan also wanted to make it clear that it wasn't the reason Quinn got the job. He and Kyle Dubas, who worked together on the search, thought he was the best man for the job for a number of reasons.
"It's no secret that Quinny and I have an established relationship," Sullivan said. "But I will tell you that that's not the reason 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. 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."
Another appealing thing about Quinn was that he was the head coach of the Sharks during Erik Karlsson's Norris Trophy-winning 2022-23 season. He can help the team get the most out of one of their top two defensemen.
"I think his relationship with Karl certainly can't hurt," Sullivan said. "Karl had a great year that year he played for Quinny in San Jose. Certainly, they have a good relationship and an established relationship. But there's no doubt in my mind Quinny's going to build those relationships with our other guys as well. He'll build that relationship with (Kris Letang) also. That's one of the strengths of Quinny's coaching accummen, is his personal relationships, his ability to interact with the players."
Sullivan said that Quinn is a "hard guy not to like."
"But also, he's a no-nonsense guy," Sullivan added. "He's a good coach. He's a detail-oriented guy. Him and I have talked a lot of hockey over the years -- on the golf course, other places. I do believe that he shares a very similar philosophy in how he sees the game and how we see the game."
