Quinn to play center at Prospects Challenge

Kevyn Adams said on the night of the 2020 NHL Draft that the Sabres saw centerman qualities in Jack Quinn. Quinn, Buffalo's selection with the eighth overall pick that year, had played on the wing during his OHL career with Ottawa, which included a 52-goal campaign in 2019-20.
The Sabres are putting those traits to the test entering Quinn's second pro season. Quinn centered a line with 2020 second-round pick JJ Peterka and third-year power forward Brett Murray on Wednesday and will continue to play down the middle for the duration of the Prospects Challenge.

"He's a play-driver, and there's not a ton of wingers that are play-drivers," Rochester Americans coach Seth Appert said. "… He is incredibly intelligent, and he has a cerebral intelligence to how he attacks the game, both on the ice and how he looks at the game off the ice and how much he wants to get better."
"When you ask Jack about players he admires and who he looks at, he can talk about Patrice Bergeron and players like that, so we believe that he has a lot of traits mentally, physically, and competitively that are going to make him a really effective centerman."
Quinn's rookie season in Rochester ended prematurely due to a hernia that required surgery in April. He tallied nine points (2+7) in 15 games with the Amerks, the last three of which he played center. The organization challenged him to improve his skating and his shot release during the offseason.
"He's put a ton of work in," Appert said. "The beauty of Jack is he's really coachable, so when you tell Jack Quinn to go attack an area of his game in practice last year he does. When you watch video with him, he's listening and absorbing. He wants to get better."

Wednesday's practice

Appert got to work implementing the identity he and Sabres coach Don Granato will seek to establish throughout the organization, leading an hour-long session heavy on battle drills.
"You want to be a team that's hard to play against, that's demanding to play against," he said. "You want to be a team that's fast and attacking in style, especially with our young core that we have - not only in prospects but in the organization. I think we want to be a fast, aggressive, attacking organization.
"We want to be an organization that's demanding to play against, we want to be an organization that wins puck battles and makes life difficult on our opponents at both ends of the ice in terms of getting to the blue paint and making life miserable on our opponent's goalie and making life miserable on our opponent's forwards trying to get to our end."
Quinn the session after chipping his teeth during a late drill. Appert will provide an update on his status prior to practice on Thursday.
Here's how the Sabres prospects lined up:
Forwards:
57 Brett Murray - 22 Jack Quinn - 77 JJ Peterka
81 Viljami Marjala - 25 Arttu Ruotsalainen - 65 Linus Weissbach
63 Josh Bloom - 58 Riley Fiddler-Schultz - 54 Olivier Nadeau
73 Matej Pekar - 48 Tyson Kozak - 61 Thomas Casey
Defensemen: 38 Nick Boka, 56 Matthew Cairns, 68 Charlie Desroches, 59 Clay Hanus, 64 Oskari Laaksonen, 23 Mattias Samuelsson, 67 Peter Tischke
Goalies:
1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
50 Mack Guzda