As speculated, tonight will be Jonathan Quick‘s last start of his NHL career. Getting the nod against the Florida Panthers, Quick told reporters (via Vince Z. Mercogliano) that he is retiring after the 2025-26 season.
Quick’s professional career began back in 2005, when he was selected 72nd overall by the Los Angeles Kings. After a pair of quality years at the University of Massachusetts, the Kings felt it was time to bring Quick to the professional level.
Unfortunately, his first season didn’t go as well as he had hoped. He was disappointing in a few games with Los Angeles and spent much of the year split between the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs and ECHL’s Reading Royals.
Still, despite again beginning the year in the AHL, Quick was called up when netminder Erik Ersberg went down with an injury, and never looked back.
Throughout the next decade, Quick became one of the most dominant goalies of his era. From his call-up during the 2008-09 season through the 2017-18 season, Quick won 292 out of 553 games (.528 W%) with a .917 SV% and 2.27 GAA. Although he never won the Vezina Trophy, he took home a pair of William M. Jennings trophies in 2014 and 2018.
Additionally, one cannot bring up Quick’s dominant run in Los Angeles without mentioning his playoff performances. In that same decade, Quick backstopped the Kings to two Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014, winning 46 of 85 games (.541 W%) with a .922 SV% and 2.23 GAA. His performance was impressive during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, and he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s MVP.
If they hadn’t already, Quick’s performance in 2012 certified that he was the Kings’ goaltender of the future, and they rewarded him with a 10-year, $58MM ($5.8MM AAV) extension.
As it does so often, injuries and age crept up on Quick, and his stability in the crease began to wane during the 2018-19 season. Finishing out his 10-year extension with Los Angeles, Quick found his way to the Vegas Golden Knights after the Kings traded him to Columbus, and the Blue Jackets shipped him to Vegas.
While he didn’t have an integral role with the team, nor did he get his name on the Stanley Cup, Quick won the trophy for the third time with the Golden Knights in 2023. Knowing that his career was coming to an end, Quick signed with the New York Rangers, a team he had grown up idolizing, ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Far removed from being a quality starter, Quick has still managed to be a productive backup for the Rangers. In three years with the club, Quick has managed a 35-29-6 record in 75 games, with a .900 SV% and 2.94 GAA.
Before tonight’s contest, Quick owns a 410-306-90 record throughout his 828-game NHL career. His 410 wins stand as the 12th-most all-time in the NHL, though he won’t have a chance to crack Tony Esposito‘s record with a win tonight. Additionally, his career .910 SV% ranks 59th all-time, just a few points shy of Patrick Roy.
We at PHR congratulate Quick on a Hall of Fame career and wish him the best of luck in his next chapter.
Photo courtesy of Jerry Lai of USA TODAY Sports.
Great career he had!
I totally agree. I’ll always remember those epic battles with the Blackhawks for about 6 years in a row. Many a time he stood on his head to keep his team in the games. A retirement well earned. Good luck sir!.
I agree 100%. Those matchups between the Blackhawks/Kings were so intense during that 5-6 year stretch.
Congrats Quickie!! Thank you for helping the Kings get their 2 Stanley Cups! And thanks for the photo with my son and I! Was a memorable moment for him and he became a goalie for a few years because of you! He later became a center because of Kopitar.
Enjoy your retirement with your family!!
A statue, #32 banner and a HOF induction await you. Great career Quickie; thanks for the memories and cups!
Cheers! As a Hawks fan I can’t say I looked forward to facing him but always had a huge amount of respect for both him and a number of others on those Cup teams. Definitely one of the best at his position in this era.
Congratulations on a HOF career and 2 Stanley Cups!
Well, that was Quick!
Congrats Quickie old pal!! Cannot wait to be at his #32 jersey retirement at Staples sometime next season! Should be exciting with his night as well as Kopitar’s #11 jersey retirement night also! Certainly looking forward to it!
Congrats on a great career, JQ! Top shelf performer and highly respected. Hope retirement goes well for you and your family.
Absolute legend, Kings wouldn’t have won either cup without him!
His 2012 season was downright elite and brought me my favorite hockey memory: his Stanley Cup Parade speech. Kings legend and deservingly will get his jersey put next to Vachon in the rafters.
Congratulations on a HOF career!
Hated seeing the Rangers lose to the Kings in ’14, but was proud that he finished his career with them. A fighter to the end, highly respected on the ice and in the locker room.
From looking at the comments here, Kings fans say a certain HOF. Non kings fans? Hall of Famer or Hall of Very good? He’s borderline to me.
He should be a lock. Say that as a Hawks fan.
He’s a lock, but it is more from narrative than stats. He was amazing, but he also got buoyed by the best defense in the league at preventing shots on net. When the system failed, he was mostly able to make ridiculous saves. His backups had consistently better save percentages than he did post-2012, but he’ll be a very deserved HOF alongside Kopi and Dewey.
Non Kings fan here. Hall of Famer, for sure. Comparable with some non-HOF types in regular season cumulative stats, but he was phenomenal in the playoffs and based on that he belongs in the HOF
410 wins, a 2.51 GAA, 91% save pct, 65 SO, Conn Smythe trophy….
Setting aside his Kings Cup wins, if you watched the lousy defense the Rangers put in front of him the last two seasons and the saves he was forced to make at his age, you’d see why the guy gets my vote.
From 2008, To 2018 Quick was solid.