Star Hangs Up Pads

Professional athletes know when its time to call it a career. After playing a sport for a long time, you know when its time to put the gear away and hang the jersey up for the final time. At the age of 40, NHL goalie Jonathan Quick has realized that now is that right time. Quick has called it a career. After 19 years in the National Hockey League, Quick has decided that this was the right time to bring the curtain down on an outstanding career.

Quick was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings with the 72nd overall pick in the 2005 entry draft. The Kings called him up in December of 2007 and he never looked back. He made the jump to the NHL for good during the 2008-09 season. He stayed in Los Angeles until he was traded to Vegas during the 2022-23 season where he finished that year out. He then went on to sign with the New York Rangers and spent the final three years of his career there before hanging the pads up. During that 19 year career, he played 829 games going 410-307-90 with 65 career shutouts, a .910 save percentage and a 2.15 goals against average. He won two Stanley Cups while in Los Angeles and another one while in Vegas, winning a Conn Smythe trophy (playoff MVP) in 2012. He played in three NHL all star games, was named to the NHL Second All Star team in 2012 and twice won the Jennings Trophy (which is awarded to the team with the fewest goals against in the league) in 2014 and 2018.

Quick’s 410 wins and 65 shutouts are the all time record for American born goalies. His 829 games played are the 2nd most by an American, behind John Vanbiesbrouck’s 882. His goals against average is 4th and his save percentage is 10th amongst American goalies.

Quick was and is a great representation for American hockey in the best league in the world. He was one of the most agile goalies in the history of the sport and, for my money, was one of the biggest reasons the Kings had the level of success they did while he was playing out in LA. He wasn’t as flashy, at least not as far as numbers go, as some of the other goalies of his time. Guys like Carey Price, Roberto Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury may have put up the better numbers. What Quick had in his favor was his consistency. Up until his final year here in New York, He had only had two other seasons in which he finished the year with a losing record.

Now for the big question, are the numbers and everything else good enough to get Quick into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I’d say yes, depending on the year. He had good enough numbers to get him into the Hall, it just depends on who else is on the ballot in the given year. There’s only one goalie right now, maybe two, that deserve to get in ahead of Quick when his time for induction comes around. Still he’s had a good enough career that he deserves enshrinement.

Congratulations on a heck of a career Quick, and enjoy retirement!