New Penguins assistant coach David Quinn to take over power play

LAS VEGAS — Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan and new assistant coach David Quinn share a lot of common traits.

A New England accent.

The same alma mater (Boston University)

And similar facial features.

So much so that when they were each in college, a cherubic Sullivan once borrowed the identification of Quinn – his elder by one year – in order to … engage in activities people under 21 might not be allowed to.

“That is a true story,” Sullivan, now 56, guffawed. “It was pretty good. It worked.

“People seem to think we look alike. I don’t think we do but a lot of people do. Maybe we do.”

Cosmetic similarities noted, they also think the sport of hockey along familiar lines. That’s why the Penguins hired Quinn on June 12 in order to replace former associate coach Todd Reirden, who was fired on May 3.

Quinn will take on Reirden’s former duties of overseeing the defensemen as well as the power play.

Despite deploying a handful of All-Stars and future members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Penguins’ power play was ranked 30th in the NHL last season with a conversion rate of 15.3%.

“(Quinn) and I have had initial discussions,” Sullivan said prior to the first round of the NHL Draft at the Sphere entertainment venue. “He’s in the process of watching our group right now. He’s in the process of having discussions with some of our players that participate on the power play. Certainly, we have decided a course of action of how it’s going to work. But we’re in the beginning stages of it right now. We’ll work through that over the course of the summer.”

Sullivan and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas worked through a laborious search for Reirden’s successor before hiring Quinn.

Sullivan stressed his friendship with Quinn was not the leading factor in bringing him on staff.

“Kyle and I went through a process when hiring the person for this position,” Sullivan said. “Ultimately, we decided on (Quinn). But we went through a pretty extensive process. We built a profile on what we were looking for in that person. We went out and put a list together on who might best potentially fit that profile and then we went through an interview process and spoke to a number of different people before we made the decision on who we felt was best. We both feel comfortable with the process that we went through.

“Obviously, it’s no secret that (Quinn) and I have an established relationship. But I will tell you that that’s not the reason the Pittsburgh Penguins hired him. We hired (Quinn) to be part of our coaching staff because I know he’s going to make us a better staff. He’s going to challenge our thinking as a coaching staff. He’s a really good coach, and he’s got an opportunity to have a positive impact on our group. That’s why he was hired.”

Quinn also has a previous relationship with Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson. During the 2022-23 season, Quinn was the San Jose Sharks coach and directed Karlsson, who posted an outrageous 101 points (25 goals, 76 assists) in 82 games.

“His relationship with (Karlsson) certainly can’t hurt,” Sullivan said. “(Karlsson) had a great year (2022-23) when he played for (Quinn) in San Jose. Certainly, they have a good relationship, an established relationship. (Quinn) has got to build those relationships with our other guys as well. He’ll build that relationship with (Kris Letang) as well. That’s one of the strengths of (Quinn’s) coaching acumen. His personal relationships, his ability to interact with the players. He’s a hard guy not to like. But he’s also a no-nonsense guy. He’s detail-oriented. Him and I have talked a lot of hockey over the years, at the golf course and other places. We share a very similar philosophy on how he sees the game, how we see the game.”

Dubas expressed intrigue in Quinn perhaps seeing some things differently than Sullivan.

“The key thing for me with (Quinn) was that it was very clear to me that he is very much his own person,” Dubas said. “Because of the relationship, I think the positive is that he’s maybe disagreeing or pushing back on (Sullivan). They’ve been challenging each other for a long time. I think when you have two people that can have that strong of a relationship, that can push back on one another … I think it’s a great fit for us.”