BUFFALO — Pat Kaleta stood against his stick with his skates still on after a workout with a half dozen rising hockey players from Western New York. It was the week of the NHL Scouting Combine, so his star pupil, Quentin Musty, wasn’t on the ice. He was busy meeting with NHL teams and resting his body for the off-ice testing to come later in the week. Kaleta, a native of Angola, N.Y. who played 10 seasons in the Sabres’ organization, is now president of the Buffalo Jr. Sabres. Kaleta, perhaps more than anyone, has a firm grasp on Western New York’s ability to produce NHL talent. He was a local product himself and has spent his post-playing days coaching the next generation of homegrown talent.

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Kaleta doesn’t even need to hear the entire question to have a firm answer about Musty. “Is he the best local player since …?”

“Patrick Kane?” Kaleta said. “Yeah, I mean, when you’re looking at raw attributes, his size, the way he moves, and then mixed in with his skill set, with handling the puck and being able to shoot, I think that probably is one of the best coming out of here in a while.”

Sitting in a coffee shop in his hometown less than two weeks before the San Jose Sharks selected him with the No. 26 in the 2o23 NHL Draft, Musty was at ease. This is one of the only times in a young hockey player’s career that he can exhale. The path to becoming a projected first-rounder begins so young and requires such a singular focus that most kids don’t have time to soak it in until they’re walking across that stage. Once drafted, players fly right to a development camp and the work starts all over again. Musty remembers all of the incredible places hockey took him as he was growing up, but he also remembers how steadfast he was about staying in the hotel room to rest before games while family members saw the sights. On family trips to Lake George, Quentin had to bring his rollerblades and stick.

“I couldn’t go a couple days without hockey,” Quentin says.

That’s how you can tell he didn’t get here by accident. At the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, more than a hundred players come through to do interviews with reporters. Each has a unique path to that moment but they all share that obsession. The game finds its way under their skin and they can’t get enough. You can’t arrive at this moment without that quality. The sport demands too much training for natural talent alone to carry you.

There are times Musty’s mom, Missy, catches herself thinking about the things Quentin has sacrificed, especially as other kids he grew up with go to prom and celebrate their high-school graduations. But Quentin doesn’t think much about that. He still hangs with his childhood friends when he comes back to Hamburg and has built incredible memories and friendships through the game of hockey. So while these final days before the draft could be nerve-wracking for someone in his position, Quentin’s been able to keep an even keel.

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“It’s just a sport and I try to have fun with it,” Quentin said. “It’s not like I’m not dedicated to the sport but it’s fun for me to keep playing and doing this stuff. For me to be able to play this sport for this long has been great for me and I’m trying to play as long as I can. That’s the biggest thing. I also know that once you get drafted, that’s not a guarantee. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’m focused on that.”

That’s the part Quentin enjoys most, being on the ice and putting in the work. He wasn’t a natural on the ice, though. His parents laugh thinking about Quentin’s first on-ice experience. Qunetin’s dad, Mike, says his nickname was “yard sale” because of how often he fell.

“He was a mess,” Mike says with a laugh.

Once the other coaches convinced Mike to join them on the ice, it only took a few weeks before he was hooked. Mike built a rink in the backyard and set up skill challenges like you’d see at the NHL All-Star Game. In the summer months, Quentin took his training to the driveway.

At one point, Quentin asked his dad if he could switch to goalie. Mike, who was a goalie, refused but when Mike took over the duties as goalie coach and spent time at home watching goalie instructional tapes, Quentin would sit on the couch next to him and absorb it all. He started seeing the game through the goalie’s eye. Combined with the shooting skill he’d developed, Quentin became a prolific goal scorer while playing up an age group. There was a point when Quentin was 10 or 11 that Missy turned to Mike and asked, “Are we still just doing this for fun or is this something more?”

Around that same time, Quentin told his dad, “I just want you guys to know if I have to move away, it’s ok with me.”

“That’s cool, buddy,” Mike told him. “But your mom’s not ready for that, ok?”

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“But he was dead serious,” Mike said. “I’m looking at him thinking, ‘He might be ok.”

Mike, who builds homes, and Missy, a school teacher, would shuttle Quentin to any skating session he wanted to go to. Would he burn out? He never did, even as he would sometimes doze off in class the day after a late-night skating session.

Kaleta first started coaching Quentin when he was 12 years old playing for the Jr. Sabres. He could tell quickly he was dealing with a different talent.

“When he wanted to take over a game, he took it over,” Kaleta said. “When the puck is on his stick, good things are going to happen.”

During the pandemic, when the Pegulas laid off employees across Pegula Sports and Entertainment in the summer of 2020, the coach Quentin was excited to play for with the Jr. Sabres was let go. It was at this point that the Mustys started looking for another place to play. They got a call from Vinny Smith of the North Jersey Avalanche. He would get to live with a billet family in a house with his teammates. They’d have access to a private rink and a full gym. Because of the pandemic, the Musty family got just a video tour.

“This is like a dream,” Mike thought.

Missy talked to Smith next as Mike and Quentin nervously waited in the kitchen to see if she’d have a positive reaction. When she got off the phone she came in and said, “This is too good to pass up.”

Quentin injured his shoulder early in the season, but even that ended up reinforcing their decision. The dad of one of Quentin’s teammates did orthopedic work for the Jets and Islanders and was able to get Quentin taken care of quickly. The physical therapist lived a half mile from the house where Quentin and his teammates were living. Once he got back, Quentin led the team in scoring during the playoffs on the way to a national championship.

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“That was probably the single best decision in his entire development,” Mike said.

It ended up leading to an even bigger decision the next season. Quentin always thought he’d go to the United States National Team Development Program and play college hockey. But when he visited the program for a few days prior to his age-16 season, something didn’t click.

He called his dad and said, “I don’t think I like this.”

That left them wondering about his options. His agent is based in Toronto and was connected enough in the OHL to get a feel for where Quentin stood ahead of that draft. Once Sudbury realized Quentin was considering the Canadian junior path, they had a ton of interest with the No. 1 pick.

“It’s the closest thing to the NHL when it comes to junior hockey with the schedule and the lifestyle,” Quentin said. “Getting to the rink in the morning and skating and working out, coming back for a second practice, playing games throughout the week. I thought it was the closest thing to the NHL.”

Quentin got offered a spot in the program but chose to go to the OHL, where Sudbury made him the No. 1 pick. He’d always played up an age group and loved that he’d be playing against older players on a daily basis.

“He wanted to come here because he wanted to be challenged and not just by the games,” Sudbury general manager Rob Papineau said. “He was smart enough to know it wasn’t just the games that were going to make him better at a young age. But it was going to be practicing against older and heavier players every day. The amount of competing that goes on in practice is great for development and so critical at our level. It’s often overlooked but he was aware that at his age he had two choices and he chose the path that he thought would challenge him more every day in practice and make him compete harder to win battles when no one was watching.”

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Over the last two seasons with the Wolves, Quentin has solidified his NHL bonafides. He had 31 points in 50 as a 16-year-old and then broke out this season with 78 points in 53 games. Papineau is quick to point out that 62 of those points came at even strength and 50 of those were primary points.

“His ability to score and set up a goal are unique at his age,” Papineau said. “Had he stayed healthy, he was on pace based on points per game for 100 points in 68 games. There’s not a lot of guys who have done that at 17 years old. The ones who have are all playing in the NHL right now.”

Quentin said that his first year in Sudbury was the toughest year of his life. COVID restrictions made it tough for his parents and three sisters to visit.

“I feel like every time they come to my games it just makes me a lot happier,” Quentin said. “To see them in the stands or going out to eat with them after the game, that reminds me why I’m doing it.”

That grounded perspective is part of why Quentin stopped paying attention to online scouting reports. He’s seen his teammates stress over them and saw one last fall that gave him a third-round grade.

“I knew I was better than that, so from that point, I just stopped reading,” Musty says.

Quentin’s become accustomed to scrutiny. As the No. 1 pick in the OHL Draft, he faced extra pressure and expectations. He’s felt the NHL eyes on him since he stepped on the ice in Sudbury, so he knows he needs to work on his skating and has dedicated extra time in the offseason to that.

That’s the one criticism of his game. The others that pop are his compete level and game-to-game consistency. But Papineau considers competitiveness to be one of Musty’s strengths. He thinks about the game in which Musty injured his hand this season. Earlier in the year, Musty had jumped in to defend a teammate after a questionable hit by an opponent.

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“He just does what comes naturally,” Papineau said. “That’s hard to find. There’s a lot of guys who would have stood there and done nothing. He was just defending his teammate. For a skill and finesse guy to have that mindset, that’s hard to find. It really is.”

Quentin thinks he developed that understanding of what it takes to be a teammate during that year in North Jersey. On the Tuesday of the week of the NHL Scouting Combine, Quentin couldn’t stay away from the rink. With a small gap in a schedule that is packed with interviews with NHL teams, he slipped into the back rink at Harborcenter, said a quick hello to Glenn Kaifas, his off-ice development coach, and then made his way over to the bench to watch his peers and say some words of encouragement.

“He’s a relationship guy,” Kaifas said. “He has to show up here. He can’t stay away. These are his brothers. When he comes into the facility, a lot of the reason why he’s there is to be with his brothers. These people are his brothers, not just his teammates. That’s how he thinks. He’s the locker room guy. He communicates with people.”

Kaifas, who operates an athlete development facility in Buffalo, has been working with Musty for a little under two years. Kaifas’ program includes everything from strength and agility work to nutrition and mindset training. Quentin didn’t require much work in that regard. If a workout starts at 8 a.m., Quentin is in the building by 7 a.m. getting into the cold tub and going through a warm-up before the rest of his peers arrive.

Missy and Mike sometimes can’t believe how meticulous Quentin is about his diet. He’ll pass up a steak at a local restaurant if it’s cooked in too much butter, preferring to prepare his own meals so he can control the ingredients. Quentin, under Kalifa’s guidance, has taken ownership of his nutrition and training, doing his own grocery shopping and learning to cook.

“He possesses such high IQ and skill,” Sudbury forward Alex Pharand said. “He’s a really special kid and I think he’s going to make a lot of money and play a lot of games in the league. He’s a glue guy. He shows high character. A lot of guys look up to him on and off the ice.”

His opponents gushed about him, too.

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Said Barrie Colts defenseman Beau Akey: “He’s difficult to play against. He’s very skilled, hard-working and he’s a big boy. That combination of skills is pretty difficult to defend.”

And Guelph Storm defenseman Cameron Allen: “He’s a competitor, one of those bigger bodies in the corners and a tiring guy to play against. He’s someone you have to be aware of on the ice. He brings a lot of value and you always have to know where he is.”

Still, Quentin knows there are no guarantees in the NHL Draft. He’s focused less on where he’ll go and more on enjoying the week with his family. Missy and Mike still can’t believe the week is finally here. After all the long drives in the car, the time away from home, and the money spent on training and equipment (Mike counted one year over $6,000 in sticks alone), Quentin has a chance to see the results of his hard work.

“He’s living out his dream, right?” Missy said.

Mike has spent the last few years nervously avoiding all the draft speculation. He knows how fast things can change, so he’s excited for the day to come and for Quentin to have his team. He’s just proud of how Quentin has handled the entire process. He often thinks Quentin is already a better person than he is at 17 years old.

And that’s part of the reason those who have watched Quentin closely think next week will be just the beginning.

“I did a lot of scouting in the NHL before I came to Sudbury,” Papineau said. “And when I look at Quentin Musty I think of Quentin Musty the 23-year-old version, and that’s something to get really excited about. Especially when you’re watching the NHL playoffs right now. You’re seeing how that type of player can impact the result of a game or a series. He’s clearly on that path.”

(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)