SAN JOSE — Growing up near Vancouver, Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan saw up close how Pat Quinn helped lift the Canucks from the doldrums of the old Smythe Division to the seventh game of the 1994 Stanley Cup final.

“There was always that persona,” Hannan said Monday. “A man’s man, he was a hockey guy. Been around a long time. When you think about the Canucks there for a long time, he was synonymous with that team.”

Hannan and teammates Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau all played for Quinn, who passed away Sunday night in Vancouver at the age of 71, on Team Canada’s World Cup winning team in 2004.

“He was just an old school guy,” Hannan said “He knew the game, he knew the ins and outs. A lot of respect for him, from all different ages. I’m sorry to see him go. My condolences to his family.”

At the NHL level, Quinn played in over 600 games and coached nearly 1,500 games. He also held titles of president and general manager in the NHL and was the part-owner of the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.

As a coach, he led two teams to Stanley Cup finals appearances, Philadelphia in 1980 and Vancouver in 1994.

“The thing for me about Pat is that he was able to do so many different jobs and adapt to every one of them while the game has been changing,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “Right from the Philly Broad Street Bully days, to offense, to goaltender changes, he came through all of that, and always was able to adapt and change.

“I got to meet him a few times. In coaching against him, I didn’t have a relationship with him. But from what I hear from Larry (Robinson), just a tremendous man.”

Thornton also played for Quinn at the 2006 Winter Olympics and remembered a man who had a soft side despite a large presence.

“You always heard he was a hard-nosed defenseman,” Thornton said. “You could see by how big he was, he was quite an intimidating guy. Seemed to be quite a gentle guy too.”

For more on the Sharks, see David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks.