Pat Quinn is hoping his new post of senior advisor with the Oilers will be one of some substance.
PENTICTON, B.C. -- Pat Quinn isn't asking Steve Tambellini for much. Or, for that matter, for anything more than a man of his stature in the game deserves.
"Steve has his whole organization, and I hope he sees where I can fit in and do (something meaningful). I don't want to carry bags," Quinn said on Sunday afternoon, addressing his job status for the first time since he said he was blindsided by his firing as head coach on June 22.
As another hockey season dons, and rookies from five NHL teams hit the ice here in B.C.'s interior, Quinn sat next to Tambellini in the stands of the South Okanagan Events Centre discussing his future with the Oilers. With one year left on a deal he signed to coach the team, both know the post of senior advisor could mean anything, really.
For now, Quinn just wants it to have some substance.
"I don't want to go off in the sunset yet," the 67-year-old grandfather said. "When you turn pro in '63, and it's your work every day -- and it's not really work -- it's been my life. I developed no hobbies or anything else. What I looked forward to was going to work every day.
"So when it's not there, and you're not busy every day -- you don't see something where you feel some meaning in it -- there's a void. I want to have that feeling.
"I had it last year," he said of his first, failed campaign back behind the Oilers bench. "Lots of days it was pretty sour, because we weren't succeeding as we hoped. But at the same time, each morning you get up and you feel that renewal."
Tambellini hired Quinn with a plan that associate coach Tom Renney would succeed him as head coach in Edmonton. That plan unfolded at least one year quicker than anybody thought it might.
The Oilers party line is that things were simply "accelerated." That Quinn was somehow promoted. "This was the right time for Pat at this position, the right time for Tom at this position," Tambellini said in announcing the shuffle on June 22.
"If that was indeed the plan all along ... it's probably not a good plan," Quinn said that day.
He went away for the summer, and had zero input into team decisions: "Sporadic, I haven't been really involved at this point."
So on Day 1 of the Young Stars tournament Quinn and Tambellini sat together and tried to shape the year that lies ahead for the former Toronto Maple Leafs head coach.
"I can see participation with the young coaches in Oklahoma City. I can see involvement in our player development program, and we're just starting Step 1 with that. There are a lot of different areas," Tambellini said before sitting down with Quinn.
Quinn says that from early on last season, he could see the rebuild coming in Edmonton. He'd like to be a part of helping this once-proud franchise get back up off the mat.
"I can foresee a day when this team is going to keep going (up). Certainly I want to be around and watch it and help wherever I can," he said. "Maybe it's working with coaches at the minor-league level, or going around visiting some of the players they've drafted. I have a broad spectrum of jobs over the years. I think the only one I've missed is I haven't been a trainer."
It seems crazy that an organization like Edmonton -- one that admittedly hit rock bottom last year -- would not be trying to accumulate all the hockey knowledge at its disposal for this rebuild.
Well, it turns out Tambellini is doing just that. The more opinions the better, and Quinn's -- for all the things those eyes have seen over the years -- is one the Oilers plan to utilize, Tambellini promises.
"Expertise that he brings, that Billy Moores brings, that Mike Sillinger brings," Tambellini said. "We're investing in people. Eventually, down the road, we'll see some dividends."
