Quinn returns to New York with the Sharks, seeking his first win of the season

NEW YORK — David Quinn knows his winless San Jose Sharks will have an important game against the New York Rangers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, NBCSCA, ESPN+, SN NOW) at Madison Square Garden. But it will also be important for the coach.

Quinn started with the Rangers as an NHL coach in 2018-19 and managed them for three seasons until his release on May 12, 2021.

“I’d be lying to you if I said no (it’s nothing special)” Quinn said. “Yes it is, I mean I had a great three years in New York. I loved my time there. I loved the players. You know unfortunately it didn’t end the way we all wanted it to, but it did gonna be pretty cool.”

When the 2019-20 season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rangers were a point short of a Stanley Cup playoff berth with 18 wins in their last 29 games (18-10-1). When play resumed, they were swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup qualifiers.

“I’ve been fortunate to be on teams that you’re proud of and you know if you show up and do A, B and C, you’re going to be successful, and that was one of those teams,” Quinn said. “We felt like when the pandemic hit, starting January 7th, we were one of the best teams in the NHL.

“I mean, COVID affects people differently. … I think we had players who were worried about coming back and playing in a bubble. It was crazy unique circumstances. Things you can never plan. There’s no blue book on how to deal with coming back from the pandemic and getting into a bubble and not playing in front of anyone. Just a lot of things that are uncontrollable and things you don’t experience.

The following 2020–21 season, Rangers went 27–23–6 in the shortened 56-game season and failed to qualify for the playoffs. They ended up 11 points behind the New York Islanders in the East Division. Quinn was released four days after the season ended.

Now, more than a year later, after coaching the United States men’s team at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, Quinn is back as a coach in the NHL with the Sharks.

After losing two games to the Nashville Predators to open the season in the 2022 NHL Global Series in Prague, San Jose returned to North America to lose three more, including 5-2 at the New York Islanders on Tuesday . The Sharks (0-5-0) are one of three NHL teams without a win, along with the Minnesota Wild (0-3-0) and Vancouver Canucks (0-3-1). San Jose also has the worst goal average in the league (-11), has not scored more than two goals in any game, and ranks last in the NHL in goals per game (1.60). The Sharks have conceded at least three goals in four of five games.

Just two players from San Jose, center Nico Storm and further Evgeny Svechnikov, have scored no fewer than two goals. Five players have one.

“We’re not that far away,” Quinn said. “I know it feels like it, but we really aren’t. And you know, there are rinks where we look like a good hockey team. We just don’t do these things consistently.”

San Jose had a spirited practice session at Chelsea Piers on Wednesday that lasted more than 70 minutes and Quinn and the coaches spent about 10 minutes speaking to the team on the ice before practice began.

“I was just addressing the fragility of our group, obviously we’re not feeling well,” Quinn said. “And if you haven’t won a game, you have to understand why, but there are things we can do about the controllable elements that we can be better at that put us in a better position to win.”

The Sharks hired Quinn on July 26 to replace Bob Boughner, who was fired July 1 after San Jose won 32-37-13 last season and 20 points behind the Predators for the second wild card in the playoffs of the Western Conference landed. It was the third straight season that it failed to qualify for the postseason, having made the playoffs 14 of the previous 15 seasons.

“I believe in this group – we as coaches – and I said that too [the players]I said, you know, hopefully you guys think you’re as good as we think you are,” Quinn said [the players] have to have the same confidence that we have in them, and that’s the only way we’ll get out of this.”

Quinn’s first NHL win came on October 11, 2018 in his fourth game against the Sharks. Would it be special for him if his first win with the Sharks came against Rangers?

“I don’t care if we beat Westchester Rangers, I just want to win,” he said.