Much like fellow teammate Shane Prince, Alan Quine was a passenger for most of the 2016-17 season. The solution? Just grind it out.
61 games played, five goals, 18 points, and a -2 rating. Alan Quine had a rough go in his first full season with the New York Islanders.
The young forward was once drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the third round in 2011 but unfortunately never cracked the NHL roster. It’s understandable as to why the young forward was not rushed to the majors.
Quine has a decent frame at 6-foot and 200 pounds, but he couldn’t find himself on the score-sheet consistently.
Delegated to playing mostly on the third and fourth lines, Quine was (again, like Prince) often a shoe-in as the 13th forward most nights. When he did get time on the roster, his best feature was in the face-off dot and even that aspect suffered, finishing last season with a 61.5% rating in 15-16 (26 face-off sample) and ending the 16-17 season with a 48% rating in 550 attempts.
Like most of the Isles roster, the potential is most certainly there, but still ways away. It’s still a mystery why Quine was slotted in most nights, sometimes in favor of Anthony Beauvillier, who undoubtedly has the highest ceiling of the rookies on the NHL roster.
This isn’t to discredit Quine either. Most nights he found himself making the right plays. He fought hard for pucks in the corner (I refuse to use the word ‘battled‘) and sometimes covered his man. The name of the game is experience, and for Quine, there is not much more to do in the AHL.
The remedy? Just keep playing.
In the 2014-2015 AHL season, Quine amassed 23 goals and 61 points through 75 games. Before his recall in 2015-16, he amassed 48 points in 56 games. Clearly, there isn’t much more for him to work in the minors.
Experience isn’t something a forward can purchase, and for Quine the remedy is some consistent playing time on the third or fourth line, learning the dynamic of the NHL and gaining that first-hand. With a plethora of young talent on its way and with the Isles building up their depth, Quine will find himself battling for a roster spot sooner than later.
Quine needs to buckle himself in and prove to management why he’s worth keeping in 2017-18 or he might find himself in the minors or on the trade block.
