The Rangers’ new backup goalie is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and a future Hall of Famer.
Jonathan Quick signed a one-year, $825,000 deal with a maximum of $100,000 in performance bonuses with the Rangers on Saturday afternoon as the NHL free-agency window opened.
“I think it’ll be [a] seamless [transition],” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said of Quick, a fellow Connecticut native, going from a career No. 1 goaltender for the Kings to the backup for the Blueshirts.
“He’s excited to be a Ranger. Connecticut kid that wanted to come here and play here and be a Ranger. He obviously knows all about [Igor Shesterkin] and his accomplishments.
“I think he’s ready to take on a role of mentor, similar to what he did in Vegas.”
According to PuckPedia, Quick will receive a $50,000 signing bonus from the Rangers.
Among his performance incentives, Quick can make $25,000 for each of the following accomplishments: If he appears in 40 games, finishes with a save percentage above .915, collects 20 wins and helps the Rangers win the Stanley Cup.
The Rangers will be the third team Quick, 37, has played for in the last two seasons.
The Kings traded him to Columbus on March 1, and the Blue Jackets then flipped him the next day to the Golden Knights.
Quick only appeared in 10 regular-season games and didn’t play in the postseason for Vegas, which won the 2023 Stanley Cup, but his name was engraved on Lord Stanley’s Cup all the same.
He was a sort of third-stringer, behind Laurent Brossoit and Adin Hill.
That was on account of the dip in his numbers at this stage of his career, as well as the rise of Hill, whom the Golden Knights signed to a two-year extension on Friday.
This past season with the Kings, for which Quick played 16 seasons and helped deliver two championships, he finished with a 3.50 goals-against average and a .876 save percentage.
With Vegas, he posted a .901 save percentage and a 3.13 GAA in nine starts and 10 appearances.
Rangers fans probably remember Quick best from the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals, in which he faced the Blueshirts in all five games as the Kings won the series, 4-1.
He shut out the Rangers in Game 3 and made 28 saves in the series finale in Los Angeles.
Quick posted a 4-1-0 record with a 1.63 GAA and .932 save percentage in five playoff games against the Blueshirts. Chris Kreider is the only remaining Ranger from that 2014 team.
All time against the Rangers, Quick owns a 7-6-1 record with a 2.53 GAA and a .907 save percentage.
Once it became clear that the salary cap was only going to be raised $1 million, the likelihood of Jaroslav Halak re-signing with the Rangers on a deal similar to his $1.5 million contract last season was nonexistent.
His agent, Allan Walsh, then announced Halak would test the free agent market.
Halak put up pretty solid numbers in 2022-23 after an 0-5-1 start with the Rangers, finishing five wins away from the 300-milestone with a 10-9-5 record last season.
It remains to be seen if Quick will be an upgrade over Halak, but the presence of a veteran netminder who has 92 games of playoff experience can only be beneficial.