Inside Jonathan Quicks road to historic 400-win milestone from those who know him best
Jonathan Quick going from breaking New Yorkers’ hearts to capturing them is only a footnote in what has been the greatest career for an American goaltender in NHL history.A 34-save performance in the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Golden Knights Sunday evening chiseled Quick onto a Netminder Mount Rushmore next to the 14 others who reached the coveted 400-win milestone.He was the first U.S.-born goalie to do so, as well as the third active player to achieve the feat.“Everything,” K’Andre Miller said of what Quick has meant to the Rangers room.
“I don’t want to talk about him not playing, but I think a good example is just when he isn’t playing, the energy he brings on the bench.Opening up the door for guys, I don’t know, putting up waters, just doing anything he can to be a part of the team and make sure the energy is up and we’re staying locked into games.”There was significant doubt when Quick signed with the Rangers ahead of last season.After a couple down years led to the end of his 16-year tenure with the Kings, Quick assumed a third-stringer assignment with the 2023 Stanley Cup winners, the Golden Knights, in what appeared to be the closing moments of his career.Not only has Quick reinvigorated his career by morphing into a modern version of his vintage self, but he has embraced a role for a team, an organization and a fan base that once cursed him for denying them a Stanley Cup in 2014.Quick has graced New York with the end of his storied career, as we witness one of the best to ever do it finish with a bang.It has to be a trip for a kid from Connecticut who grew up rooting for the Rangers.A three-time Stanley Cup winner and the winningest American-born goalie, there has never been an NHL goaltender who plays a style quite like Quick, whose trademark athleticism is as prevalent as ever despite turning 39 on Jan.
21.“All Jon ever wanted to do was stop the puck,” Todd Hall, a former Wolf Pack player and Quick’s assistant coach at Hamden...