'We Intend To Keep Jack Here For A Long Time': Sabres GM Kekalainen Discusses Quinn's Future

After making the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, the Buffalo Sabres lost two key members of their core group over the summer in winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Bowen Byram.

Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen chose not to make any significant acquisitions other than blueliner Olen Zellweger during the summer, and gambled that the club's group of emerging youngsters would be able to make up for the offensive gap created by Tuch and Byram's departure.

Nearly a month into the season, only a few of Buffalo's young cadre have been effective in picking up the slack. The most successful of which is winger Jack Quinn. 

Quinn has had a difficult and unusual path since being drafted eighth overall at the 2020 Draft. Because of the COVID pandemic and the OHL being shut down, the winger played in the American Hockey League as a 19-year-old. After another full year with the Rochester Americans, the Ottawa native made the NHL roster full time in the 2022-23 season. 

After a promising rookie year, Quinn's path was derailed by an Achilles injury in the summer of 2023 that kept him out until December. Another lower-body injury cost him two more months and he finished playing only 27 games. 

His first season under Lindy Ruff saw some inconsistencies in Quinn's game, and only some marginal progress offensively, but his work off the ice before last season resulted in a career-best 51 points (20 goals, 31 assists) and this season has him tied with Tage Thompson for the club lead with five goals.

Last Thursday, Quinn tied a career-best, with four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in a 5-4 comeback victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

"It's the best game I've seen (Quinn) play. All around. Four points, he had a couple goal posts, scored a couple goals, an unbelievable fight – sort of. We'll give him the Gordie Howe (hat trick) on that one," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the game at Scotiabank Arena.

"He put a lot of work in the last two summers. I'll go back to when I scratched him two  years ago, and we put him in a weight room for two weeks, and when he came out of there, he was a better player. But he didn't look for an excuse. He said, 'I'm going to do the work', and since then he's done the work, and he's getting paid dividends for that."

The Sabres have continued their practice of being proactive in locking up their young players on long-term deals, as wingers Josh Doan, Zach Benson, and center Noah Ostlund are all under contract for at least the next five seasons and got extended well before they were due.

There's still time for that to happen with Quinn, who is in year two of a $6.75-million bridge deal and an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next summer.

Based on his early goal-scoring prowess, his price tag is likely going up. Kekalainen is hoping to avoid another player leaving town, and with the salary cap increasing and the club's core group locked up, the impetus is there to get the 25-year-old extended.  

"We've talked to all of our RFAs or upcoming RFAs. We signed a few of them, and we've talked to all of them." Kekalainen said on WGR 550 Radio on Tuesday. "Jack's off to a great  start, which is great to see. This is exactly what we've expected from our young guys, especially on that line of Quinn, Benson, and Ostlund, to take the next step and be a big part of our success.

"He's always been a skilled goal-scorer and a skilled player. Now he's getting more on the inside into the areas where he scores goals from, and the results are there. So we need him to keep trending the same way, and we have no problem paying a player that's playing great. So we intend to keep Jack here for a long time."

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