Quinn played defense for the expansion Vancouver Canucks during their first two seasons of operation in the early 1970s, then returned in 1987 as the team's president and general manager. He took over as the team's head coach with 26 games remaining in the 1990-91 season and presided over one of the most successful periods in franchise history.
Quinn won the Jack Adams trophy as the NHL's coach of the year in 1991-92 and led the team to Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers.
After the Cup run, Quinn handed over the head coaching reins to his longtime assistant, Rick Ley. Ley lasted two seasons before being replaced by Quinn with six games remaining in the 1995-96 regular season. The playoffs were short-lived as the Canucks lost in six games in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.
Quinn's time with the Canucks organization came to an end in November of 1997.
Quinn was named to the Canucks' Ring of Honour in April of 2014. He passed away in West Vancouver seven months later after a long illness.
I first met Quinn's daughter Kalli while her father was running the Canucks in the early 90s, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to re-connect with her by phone for a wide-ranging conversation on the occasion of the unveiling of her father's statue.
CAROL SCHRAM: When I first met you, one of the first impressions I had was the tightness of your relationship with Rick Ley's daughter Kelly, and the overall closeness of your two families.
KALLI QUINN: (Pat and Rick Ley) played together in Toronto. That was '69. They lived in the same apartment complex and Dad and Ricky just hit it off; Mom and Ellen (Ley) hit it off. They were just really good friends when they played together. The players really socialized with each other back in those days. That was their group—they were always together.
Mom and Ellen kept in touch over the years. Dad and Ricky would see each other on the road or they'd talk every once in awhile, but it was really my mom and Ellen that kept our families so close.
Ricky—I think Dad was looking for a coach in...I can't remember, I think it was Milwaukee (the Canucks' IHL affiliate in the late 80s). All of a sudden, I show up at home one day and Ricky is in the house. I'm like "What is Ricky doing here?" I had no idea he was interviewing. I thought Ricky was just out visiting for some reason.
Ever since that day, our families became even closer than what they were. I knew of Kelly and I would see them over the years, but when Ricky started working for the Canucks, it was almost like a blended family.
I look at Ellen and Ricky—they would be my second set of parents. If anything had happened to my parents, they would have taken care of us.
Then Ricky came to Vancouver. Kelly was at university and instantly, it was like we were long-lost sisters.
Ricky was a great player, amazing player, really good hockey mind. Good coach. So Dad always knew that if there was an opportunity to have Ricky with him, he wanted him involved because of the way he thought of the game and can coach the game and how he wanted to learn the game. Ricky and Dad worked really well together—they didn't always agree on things but they worked really well together.
Our families just remained really close. When Dad was sick, I came back almost every month to help my mom but sometimes I would call Ellen and say "Ellen, can you come up and spend some time with mom and dad. I'll be back next month."
Ellen was the one that really helped my mom and she was the one that was with my mom when my dad passed away. I don't know how to explain it, it's like brothers and sisters that you never had.
CS: How are your sister and your mom doing?
KQ: We're doing well. It's a struggle and I miss Dad (sigh) every day. I probably think about wishing I could call him every day. Mom's doing well.
My parents were best friends. They were married for almost 51 years. They were inseparable—the only time they weren't together was when my dad went on the road, working.
CS: Your mom must be so proud of the work that you're doing to carry on your dad's legacy. In your Hockey Hall of Fame speech (in November of 2016), you did a magnificent job of hitting all the right notes in—I'm sure—a wildly intimidating environment?
KQ: It was very intimidating. Dad was good at that and I never really had to do that during my lifetime. I was never comfortable speaking in front of groups and in crowds—but the nature of what people were doing for Dad, Mom asked me to do it. So I just had to get over that fear and figure out a way to hopefully do our family proud.
That was a good one, but it was a hard one.
CS: Was there anything that came out of that when you were finished that surprised you, in terms of the support you got or peoples' reactions to it—when you were able to process it once you were finally through it?
KQ: I still think about that—when I had to stop and try to compose myself, because I was getting emotional. The entire gallery started clapping and supporting me. It was the most amazing feeling.
I still get emotional now about it, because—I knew a lot of people in that room. Some, I would consider family. Some I know way better than others. But just to know that people had that much respect for my dad and to, I guess, to try to help me over that hump. It's hard to explain, but you know the hockey family had your back no matter what you're going through.
CS: The statue project—who else was involved in putting this together?
KQ: It was actually a group that approached my mom about it. It was some co-workers of Dad's—Glen Ringdal, who worked with dad at the Canucks for a long time; Morey Keith, from Dueck; Ron Toigo (Vancouver Giants). They were really the ones that spoke about it and were spearheading it and wanted to make this happen. There were others that they spoke to about it, but those are the three that really wanted to make sure this happened and moved forward.
The Canucks embraced it, which was amazing. The Canucks have been more than wonderful to our family. The WHL—when the (CHL Top) Prospects Game was here (in January of 2016), they tied in a dinner. It was basically the group of people that they knew wanted to support this endeavour and this legacy. They raised the funds at this dinner. It was a very small, exclusive group of people that came together that wanted to make sure this project happened.
It's amazing. The City came to the table to help make it happen as well. People want to ensure that this was gonna happen. It was hard—I was very skeptical about it, at first. Just to see the enthusiasm that others had for it.
Obviously, they talked to my mom and to me about little things that you wouldn't know about Dad, like "How many buttons are on his vest?" Like, everybody sees him in a three-piece suit, but you don't know how many buttons it has. "Where's the slit in the jacket in his suit, and what kind of cuff links did he wear?"
Little things like that—people, they notice, but they don't really know what it is. "What kind of knot on the tie?" It was all about the little things that you'll see on the statue. You probably wouldn't notice but if you go back and look through the details on it, that's really where mom and I spoke to the artist.
CS: Another part of your dad's ongoing legacy will be a new scholarship fund.
KQ: Really what it was—it was a focus of helping support collegiate athletes after they finish their post-secondary degree to pursue a professional degree. It was something that Dad was very passionate about. People have talked about "He was a teacher of the game," and "He was a student of the game." He loved to learn as much as he could about anything.
The fact that Dad went back to law school—he started going back in '81 and he finished it in two summers, after L.A. He was 42 years old when he finished his law degree. He never practiced, but he thought "I'm gonna go back to school and I'm gonna do this."
He was an advocate of education. We thought it was something that would be another good legacy of his, because he wanted athletes to go on and be professionals. It doesn't matter what athletes want to do—wherever they want to work. But if they have a focus on being a lawyer or a doctor or whatever professional degree they need to obtain their education for, we thought it would be good to help support that.
The Pat Quinn Classic (annual minor hockey tournament), which takes place in Burnaby—their proceeds are going to this fund, which is awesome!
It's not a full scholarship for their education, it's to help support them. Give them an extra something to help them achieve what they want to achieve.
CS: Your dad was a great example of someone who built that educational foundation for himself through the end of his playing days and was able to really capitalize on that to stay in hockey.
KQ: It took 10 years to get his undergrad degree, because he went every summer when he was young. He was playing through the minors and he went to university in Oklahoma, he went in Tennessee, he went back in Toronto. Wherever he was, he would take some classes so he could eventually get his degree.
It was always important to him because he knew that there was a very slim chance that he would stay in the NHL for any length of time. Back in those days, they didn't make money like they do now and he had a family to support. He wanted to make sure that he gave himself the opportunity to succeed after his hockey career was done.
He's one of the lucky ones that got to do this and made a good living—not anywhere close to what people make now, but he made a really good living and he loved what he did.
CS: Not long after I started covering games from the press box at Rogers Arena, your dad was there (working as the Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations for the Edmonton Oilers during the 2010-11 season). Considering he was probably the most highly-credentialed person in the entire press box in terms of his experience and his achievements and everything that he had done, he was also one of the warmest people. I always appreciated seeing him—it really meant a lot to me.
KQ: That's nice! This is one thing that people said to me in Toronto. I remember specifically in Toronto—so many people said it. A photographer said it, media said it, fans said it. They just said, "You know what; I was a nobody and I was nothing, and he took the time for me."
I said this to every single person "You were more important to him than you think you were," because he was a true believer that it didn't matter what you did, that you were part of whatever success was going to come to the team that he was part of.
He really believed that. It didn't matter if it was the photographer on the second level. It didn't matter if it was the person that put the pucks in the freezer before the games. He honestly believed that everyone had a role in helping the team succeed. He loved to interact with people. He was amazing!!
CS: It makes me happy that (Canucks president) Trevor Linden carries such a big part of your dad's legacy in his heart.
KQ: I never really knew that Trevor looked at him the way he does. I never knew that—but I guess I never thought about it.
I remember when Dad passed away and the Canucks called me and told me they were going to do something at a game. I asked, "Can I come down and see that?" They said "You want to be here?" and I "Yeah. I just want to come and see that, and then I'm going to go home."
I got to the rink. They took me into the offices and Trevor said "Oh my god, Kalli, you've got to come here, I have to show you something." So I went into his office and he showed me this picture that he has in his office. It's Dad on the ice, at a practice, kind of looking over his shoulder. I don't know if they've shown this in Trevor's office before, but we have that picture in our house.
It was massive in his office, and I just started crying. I had no idea that he really thought of Dad that way, ever.
CS: I'm sure you heard when Trevor first took over (during the summer of 2014), there was talk of people wanting your dad to come in as a special advisor or a senior mentor. We didn't know how ill your father was, but there was still hope that Pat was going to ride in on his white horse and save the day.
KQ: To be honest with you, I was hoping that he was going to be able to work with Trevor again too. I secretly was hoping that. They just didn't have the opportunity.
I know they spoke—I don't know what they spoke about. They were about the same age when they came into the Canucks. I'm sure Trevor asked him for advice and stuff.
I was really hoping that he was going to be able to finish his career as a Canuck here with Trevor.
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