LOS ANGELES — There’s no telling if Jonathan Quick will take the ice in Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) again as a player. It’s possible — his agent George Bazos told The Athletic that Quick is open to playing beyond this season — but no guarantee. Quick turned 40 on Wednesday, hours after he and the Rangers lost 4-3 to the Kings on Tuesday, and is in the twilight of what Rangers coach Mike Sullivan calls a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
Regardless of whether this was his Los Angeles farewell, his games are numbered in the building where he won a pair of Stanley Cups as Kings goalie. So Tuesday night deserved to be savored, even if it was otherwise largely forgettable. Just ask 22-year-old Kings’ fan Dean Hampton, who came to the game in a signed Quick Kings jersey. He carried in a sign for warmups, asking for the goalie’s stick or a puck. He had never seen his favorite player play in person.
“I got tickets months ago just so I could go to this game to see him play,” he said. “I knew it was likely my only chance.”
Quick, making his second ever start as a visitor in Los Angeles, was far from perfect, giving up four goals on 27 shots. He used only three words to describe his performance: “Not enough saves.”
The Rangers committed sloppy mistakes in front of him, including when they gave up a grade-A chance 18 seconds into the game that Adrian Kempe buried. (Brandt Clarke, whom Quick housed during the defenseman’s rookie year, picked up an assist on the play.) Sullivan liked the team’s pushback — “Didn’t give in,” captain J.T. Miller added — but the flaws in the team’s roster remain glaring. The Rangers’ lack of finishing remains an issue, as does puck management.
Injuries have exacerbated the team’s woes. Braden Schneider has struggled at points filling in for Adam Fox in a top pair role, and with Igor Shesterkin hurt, Quick has had to moonlight as the team’s starter.
The veteran goalie’s stretch of added responsibility hasn’t gone well. Playing in his 19th NHL season, Quick no longer seems capable of handling a No. 1’s workload, at least playing behind a team as porous defensively as the Rangers. He has given up four or more goals in four of his five starts since Shesterkin’s injury, and his season save percentage is down to .885. His underlying numbers are still OK for a backup: He entered Tuesday with 1.92 goals saved above expected, per Evolving-Hockey.
This is an older version of a player who was once a star. But when Quick is back in Los Angeles, fans can remember the iconic goalie he once was. Sullivan made sure he was in net against his former team. Quick, the coach said, has earned it.
“We played with him for a long time and you know what he did for this organization,” said Kempe, Quick’s teammate from 2017-23. “He means a lot to the fans and to us still. I’m happy to see that he’s still playing.”
“(The) players in the league, very few — if any — have done more for a franchise than he did here,” added Spencer Martin, Quick’s goalie partner with Shesterkin hurt. “Just legendary stuff.”
Quick spent parts of 16 seasons with the Kings. Along with his two Stanley Cups, he earned the Conn Smythe Trophy for an all-time showing in the 2012 playoffs (16-4 record, .946 save percentage). The Kings traded him to Columbus for now-Rangers teammate Vladislav Gavrikov at the 2023 deadline. One day after the initial trade, the Blue Jackets re-routed him to Vegas, where he won another Stanley Cup as a backup. He signed with New York, his favorite team as a kid growing up in Connecticut, that summer.
Quick first returned to Los Angeles as a visitor in 2024, so there were no emotional tribute videos Tuesday. Still, fans in the building made sure to show their appreciation. Numerous fans wore No. 32 Quick jerseys, both in Rangers and Kings colors, and signs supporting him lined the glass in warmups. “Hey Quickie, we love you!” a pair of fans chanted from section 314 in the third period.
Asked about the fan reception postgame, Quick showed some snark about the Kings’ decision to trade him in the first place. The move still clearly rankles him.
“It was three teams ago, right? Special going back to Vegas, Columbus — the more recent teams,” he said with a straight face. “Obviously appreciate the fan support here in L.A., while I was here.”
Quick is at another interesting point in his career. The Rangers are entering what president and general manager Chris Drury described in a letter to fans as a “retool” period. That means all pending unrestricted free agents could be trade targets. Quick has significant — but not total — control over this situation, with a 20-team no-trade list. He said after Tuesday’s game that he wants to finish the year with the Rangers.
Sullivan believes Quick is someone who can be seen as an example. His passion, the coach said, makes him easy to fall in love with. Now that he’s been around Quick on a daily basis, he’s seen his competitive fire and the consistent work he puts in.
“He’s an inspiration for me,” Sullivan said.
Quick can be aloof with reporters and isn’t one to show much of his behind-the-scenes personality. Teammates, though, rave about him. Just as Clarke lived with the goalie in Los Angeles, Matt Rempe spent a season at the Quick family residence during the 2024-25 Rangers season. Miller called him “a great human and a great leader and a guy you want to listen (to) every time he’s speaking.”
“Around the locker room he’s still one of the best guys,” Carson Soucy said. “There’s a reason he’s been around the game so long: He’s one of the best teammates and hardest workers.”
Decisions about Quick’s future are looming. Goalie prospect Dylan Garand, who is 23, will be in his final year of waiver exemption in 2026-27, so Drury could try to bring Quick back for another season without risking losing Garand to waivers. Or the GM could opt to move on, be it because of Quick’s age, performance dips or the desire to see what he has in a younger goalie.
So perhaps Tuesday will go down as the last time playing in Los Angeles. Or maybe Quick has more in store. The passion Sullivan loves hasn’t lessened with age.
“You never know,” Kempe said. “I might play him next year again.”
Eric Stephens contributed to this report.