BU's Quinn Takes Over in San Jose

David Quinn (Boston University) is back behind an NHL bench.

Quinn, 55, who previously led the New York Rangers from 2018 to 2021 in his first-ever stint as an NHL head coach, was handed the reins to the San Jose Sharks earlier this week. The Cranston, R.I. native spent last season coaching Team USA at both the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, and the 2022 IIHF World Championship in Finland.

Quinn finished with a record of 96-87-25 in 208 NHL regular-season games with the Rangers, leading them to one Stanley Cup Playoff appearance. He was relieved of his coaching duties in Manhattan following the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, after guiding the Rangers to a 27-23-6 mark that year.

Quinn served as a college assistant at Northeastern and Nebraska-Omaha to start his coaching career, and then spent five years as an associate at BU, helping the Terriers to the 2009 NCAA title in his final year there. He then coached Lake Erie (AHL) for three seasons, and spent one season as an assistant with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, before taking the top job at his alma mater in 2013. 

In five seasons at the BU helm, Quinn guided the Terriers to a 105-68-21 overall record, including four NCAA Tournament berths, two Hockey East Association regular-season titles, two HEA tournament crowns, and one Beanpot Tournament title, plus the 2015 NCAA Championship Game in Boston. He remained at BU until signing on with the Rangers in 2018.

A product of the Kent School in Connecticut, where he served as varsity team captain both of his years there, Quinn was a first-round draft choice of the NHL's old Minnesota North Stars in 1984, as a defenseman. He then skated three seasons for BU (1984-1987), while battling a blood disorder known as Christmas Disease that cut his college career short. Later, with medication, he went on to play two years professionally, one each with Binghamton (AHL) and Cleveland (IHL), before joining the coaching ranks in 1993-94 at NU.

The Sharks, who made the Stanley Cup Final in 2016, have missed the NHL playoffs the past three seasons. They finished 32-37-13 overall in 2021-22, and were 20 points out of a potential playoff slot.

BC's Gaudreau Leaves Calgary for Columbus

The NHL free agency period has begun—and the Columbus Blue Jackets have already landed the largest prize.

After eight full seasons with the Calgary Flames, who drafted him 104th overall in 2011, left wing Johnny Gaudreau (Boston College) has left Alberta for Ohio, after signing a seven-year, $68.2 million deal with the Blue Jackets.

Gaudreau, 28, who turned pro in 2014 after three years at BC, has tallied 210 goals and 399 assists for 609 points in 602 NHL regular-season appearances, all with Calgary. He notched 40-75—l15 points in 82 outings in 2021-22, setting new career highs in each category as he finished second in the league in total points, and in addition led all NHL players with a plus-64 plus-minus rating. He has also recorded 11-22—33 points in 42 Stanley Cup Playoff contests, including 3-11—l4 points in 12 games this spring in leading the Flames to the second round. The 2016 Lady Byng Trophy winner as the NHL's most gentlemanly player that season, he also scored the overtime winner in Game 7 against the Dallas Stars in the first round this year, Calgary's first true playoff series win since 2015.

Gaudreau, from Salem, N.J., joined BC after registering 36 goals and 71 points in 60 games with Dubuque (USHL) in 2010-11. Originally committed to Northeastern University, he switched to BC and registered 78-97—l75 points in three seasons with the Eagles, and won a national championship with them as a freshman in 2012. He recorded 36-44—80 points as a junior in 2013-14, winning the Hobey Baker Memorial Award that season as the NCAA's top player while also helping BC to the Frozen Four in Philadelphia before turning pro shortly afterwards with Calgary.

Gaudreau has also suited up for the United States in several international competitions, helping the U.S. to the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship, and to bronze at the 2018 IIHF World Championship. He also won silver at the 2012 Under-18 Championship.

A full updated list of 2022 NHL free agent signings is available here.

Michigan State's Keith Retires after 17 NHL Seasons

Former NCAA defenseman Duncan Keith (Michigan State) has hung up his professional skates for good. The Winnipeg native, who skated 17 seasons in the NHL and won three Stanley Cups, has called it a playing career after 1,256 regular-season contests and 151 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances.

Keith, 38, played 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, before spending the 2021-22 campaign with Edmonton, where he helped the Oilers to the Western Conference final for the first time since 2006. He finished with 106 goals and 540 assists for 646 points in NHL regular-season competition, while adding 19-72⁠—91 points in postseason play. 

Keith was a member of Chicago's Stanley Cup championship teams in 2010, 2013, and 2015, and was also the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP in 2015 after recording three goals and 21 points in 23 playoff games that spring. He also served as an assistant captain from 2007 to 2021 for the Blackhawks, who prior to 2010 had not won the Cup since 1961.

After playing two years of junior hockey with Penticton (BCHL), Keith skated in 56 games over two years with Michigan State, including the outdoor Cold War contest in fall 2001 at Spartan Stadium. He had six goals and 24 points in his short time with the Spartans, before joining Kelowna (WHL) for the remainder of the 2002-03 campaign, where he tallied 11-35⁠—46 points in 37 outings while also helping the Rockets to a Memorial Cup berth. 

Drafted 54th overall by Chicago after his freshman year at MSU, he spent two seasons with Norfolk (AHL), registering 16-35⁠—51 points in all in regular-season action. He then moved up to the NHL for good in 2005-06.

A two-time winner of the Norris Trophy (2010, 2014) as the NHL's best defenseman, Keith also represented his native Canada several times in international competition, twice at the World Championships and twice at the Olympic Winter Games. He was also a member of Canada's Olympic gold medal squads in both 2010 and 2014.

Several NCAA-Bound Skaters Selected in 2022 NHL First Round

The European-dominated first round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal on Thursday night didn't feature very many NCAA-bound players. 

The ones who were selected were a half-dozen forwards who all came from the U.S. National Team Development program in Michigan, long a feeder to both the NCAA and the NHL. All six of those skaters are committed to NCAA Division I schools for the upcoming 2022-23 season. 

Logan Cooley was taken third overall by the Arizona Coyotes, after tallying 27 goals and 48 assists for 75 points for the USNTDP during the 2021-22 season. He's headed to the University of Minnesota as a freshman this fall.

Cutter Gauthier (34-31⁠—65 pts.) went fifth overall to the Philadelphia Flyers and is committed to Boston College, while Frank Nazar (28-42⁠—70 pts.) was taken 13th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks and will skate for the University of Michigan.

Also committed to Michigan starting next season is Rutger McGroarty (35-34⁠—69 pts.), who was selected one slot after Nazar, and went to the Winnipeg Jets. Jimmy Snuggerud (24-39⁠—63 pts.) was tabbed 23rd overall by the St. Louis Blues and is off to Minnesota, while Minnesota-Duluth commit Isaac Howard (33-49⁠—82 pts.) was chosen 31st overall by the three-time Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Also selected on Friday at 25th overall by Chicago was defenseman Sam Rinzel, who played last season with Waterloo (USHL) and Chaska (Minn.) High School. He is committed to Minnesota, but not until the 2023-24 season, according to eliteprospects.com.

Rounds Two through Seven of this year's draft will be televised today, beginning at 11 a.m. ET (NHL Network).

ADDENDUM: The full slate of all 225 selections from this year's entry draft can be found here.

Former NCAA Players Moving up NHL Ranks

Former NCAA players are moving up the NHL ranks in coaching and management.

Jim Montgomery (Maine), who led Maine to the 1993 national title as a forward and Denver to the 2017 NCAA crown as head coach, is the new bench boss of the Boston Bruins. He was serving as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues, after previously leading the Dallas Stars.

The Detroit Red Wings hired first-time NHL head coach Derek Lalonde (SUNY Cortland), who was most recently an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning, whom he helped to three consecutive Eastern Conference titles along with back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He previously coached in college at Ferris State and Denver as an assistant, and as head coach with Green Bay (USHL), Toledo (ECHL) and Iowa (AHL).

Brian Wiseman (Michigan), who served as first a player and then an assistant coach at his alma mater, has joined the New York Islanders as an assistant, after three seasons in the same capacity with the Edmonton Oilers. He started his coaching career with one season as an assistant at Princeton.

Lastly, Mike Grier (Boston University), a member of the Terriers 1995 NCAA title team at forward, and a former New Jersey Devils assistant coach, has been named general manager of the San Jose Sharks, the first black GM in NHL history.

Tom Campbell 1948-2022

 

Last week saw the passing of Tom Campbell, the longtime manager of Munn Ice Arena at Michigan State University. He was a genuinely good man who was always happy to see you, and who always had a smile and a kind word.

I first met Tommy in 1994, when I played in the adult Sunday night league at Munn my first year at MSU. I used to line up against him at wing sometimes, his team usually getting the better of mine by a large margin. He was smiling then, too, as he said hello.

I recall how he was supposed to accompany Spartan Hockey to the College Hockey Showcase at the now-demolished St. Paul Civic Center in Minnesota in Nov. 1994, but had to remain in East Lansing to take care of a problem that developed with the ice at Munn. It was his baby, and there was no one better to handle it.

I saw Tom intermittently after I moved to Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1996, usually while attending games at MSU in my spare time. I saw him only once more (at Munn, of course) after leaving Michigan for good in 2000, when I last visited in 2007, and got to talk with him in his office, which blended invisibly into the walls on the main concourse at Munn. He told me the Sunday night league was unfortunately a thing of the past, but it was just good to see him again.

Tom was not only the caretaker of Munn, which has ice for all but one month a year, but he was the first player from the Greater Lansing Amateur Hockey Association to suit up for the Spartans, in the late 1960s under legendary head coach Amo Bessone. He later took over the management of Munn in 1985, after spending time working at the now-defunct Lansing Ice Arena and the MSU Physical Plant. He also played a large part in events such as the Cold War at Spartan Stadium in 2001, which launched the ongoing wave of outdoor hockey games in the 21st century. 

My condolences to his wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Grace, on his passing. He will definitely be missed.

Rest in peace, Tommy, and say hi to Jerry Marshall and Coach Mason for us up there. Go Green.