RI Hockey Great Dave Quinn Fired as San Jose Sharks Coach - McMahon

RI Hockey Great Dave Quinn Fired as San Jose Sharks Coach - McMahon

The San Jose Sharks fired David Quinn on Wednesday as coach after finishing with the worst record in the NHL this season, 19-54-9.  This season marked the fifth straight season that the Sharks did not make the NHL playoffs and the second losing season under Quinn, who was hired before the 2022-23 season.

Prior to his San Jose stint, Quinn was the head coach of the New York Rangers for three years and led the Rangers to one playoff appearance in 2019-20 season.

Quinn has coached since 1993 at all levels of hockey.  He has head coaching experience in the American Hockey League, as an assistant and head coach at the college level and in the NHL, and as the coach of the USA team in the 2022 Olympics.  Due to the NHL's decision not to let its players play in the 2022 Olympic games, the USA team did not have their expected players participating, and Quinn’s USA team was beaten in the quarterfinal round by Slovakia.  Finland won the gold in the 2022 games.

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Quinn’s most successful coaching record was achieved at his alma mater, Boston University, where he replaced the legendary Jack Parker. Quinn led the Terriers from the 2013-14 season to 2017-18 with a 105-69-21 record.  The Terriers were selected to the NCAA playoffs in Quinn’s last four years at BU. 

BU and Quinn lost in the 2015 NCAA championship final, 4-3, to the Providence College Friars at the Boston Garden.

David Quinn was part of a long line of Cranston skaters who played in the Cranston League for Cranston’s Future (CLCF) youth hockey program, whose graduates enjoyed hockey success at the high school, college, and professional levels. The Bennett family, Joe Cavanaugh, Dan DiMichael, Rich McLauglin, the Gaudreaus, David Emma, David Littman, the Capuanos—David Quinn is part of that incredible Cranston youth hockey heritage.

Quinn, a standout defenseman at the Kent School was the 13th overall draft choice by Minnesota North Stars in the 1984 NHL draft but opted instead to play for the Boston University Terriers.  He only played two years, however, because he was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that sidelined his hockey playing days for several years until medication was discovered to allow him to play hockey again in the American Hockey League from 1991-1993.  He began his coaching career in 1993 as an assistant coach at Northeastern.

Quinn is likely to land another coaching job, possibly at the assistant coach level, in the NHL. He never had much to work with at San Jose as the team has drafted poorly and made bad trade after bad trade for the last several years.