LOS ANGELES — Jonathan Quick was selected eighth among the 23 goaltenders chosen at the 2005 NHL draft, behind names such as Carey Price, Tuukka Rask and Ondrej Pavelec and in front of 15 players who have thus far combined for 18 NHL games.
None of those players — and perhaps only two or three players of any draft year, really — have meant as much to their team as Quick has meant to the Los Angeles Kings this season. The goaltender, who turns 26 later this month, was selected Thursday to his first All-Star Game.
With an NHL-leading six shutouts — as well as five straight starts and 14 overall in which he yielded no more than one goal — Quick is in the midst of posting the best season by a goaltender in Kings franchise history. His results would suggest serious consideration for the Vezina Trophy.
Until Quick, the team's spotty goaltending history had peaked during Rogie Vachon's excellence in the 1970s, Mario Lessard's 35-win season of 1980-81 and Felix Potvin's career resurrection during a blazing 2001 stretch run. Quick is the fourth Kings goaltender to make the All-Star team and the first since Lessard in 1981: (Terry Sawchuk in 1968; Vachon in 1973, '75 and '78 and Lessard in '81).
Kings captain Dustin Brown sees something different in Quick from the previously rotating door in net. There's something about Quick's persona, even if it's difficult to place.
"It's just hard to really finger it with him. It's more about an attitude," Brown said.
"Two things I think haven't really changed with Quicker is his work ethic and his — I don't know how to put this — he's got a cockiness to him, and he's had it since the day he's come up here from the East Coast League, I believe.
"He walked in — it's not a cockiness where you want to punch him in the face, but like, `I'm going to stop the puck; you guys do your job.' That kind of cockiness. He chirps guys in practice."
"He definitely wants to let you know if you haven't scored on him in a couple weeks. That's about the only time I've seen him brag is when he's got someone's number in practice."
Selfless and more eager to defer credit to those around him, Quick never extends past confidence. As he surmised earlier this year while in the middle of his franchise-record 202-minute, 11-second shutout streak, it's a team that produce gaudy defensive numbers, not merely a goaltender.
"I just feel that goaltending in general is the most dependent position, maybe, in all of sports," Quick said in October. "As the team goes, so does the goalie. When the goalie's doing really well, he usually is getting more credit than he deserves. There's guys that aren't getting credit that are blocking shots, and fighting hard in the tough areas along the wall, in the corners and stuff like that that are helping the goaltender get the numbers that he is."
At the Kings' practice facility Wednesday, Quick described how he has been able to develop such an acute focus that doesn't show any signs of abating. His 1.93 goals-against average ranks fourth among qualified goaltenders; his .934 save percentage ranks fifth.
"You just go in trying to make one save at a time," Quick said. "Whether you're making one save every minute, or one save every five minutes, you'll see how that plays out throughout the game."
Without any room for error, Quick and backup Jonathan Bernier have produced the type of minutes necessary to lift a team that ranks last in the league with 93 goals — the Kings have scored 23 goals in Quick's 17 regulation and overtime losses — into position for a playoff berth, only two points behind division-leading San Jose, though the Sharks have four games in hand. Los Angeles is 6-1-3 in new coach Darryl Sutter's first 10 games and appears to be trending upward, though with the lack of offensive consistency, there's absolutely no room for a bad goal, even every now and then.
"When your mind wanders, that's when you tend to let up goals. Sometimes you might for a sec, and you've got to have the awareness to snap right back," Quick said. "Realize what you've got to focus on, it is that one shot at a time, and you go from there."
Sutter coached Ed Belfour in Chicago, Mike Vernon in San Jose and Miikka Kiprusoff in Calgary. The coach understands that it's not just innate athletic ability that determines a goaltender's fortunes, but also the approach and character that projects current success over a longer span.
"I think he's really similar to a lot of top goalies I've been fortunate to coach, in terms of his practice habits and his respect in the locker room in terms of leadership," Sutter said.
Quick is a legitimate contender for the first Vezina Trophy in Kings history. There will be stiff competition from Henrik Lundqvist, who appears well on his way to a career year behind a first-place team, boasting a win total (19), GAA (1.85) and save percentage (.939) that rank superior to Quick's statistics. Tim Thomas and Jimmy Howard also have statistics in the range of Quick's, but is there any one player, let alone goaltender, currently as valuable to his team?
When Los Angeles scores exactly two goals in front of Quick, it has won six games and earned points in nine of 15. The Kings have won two 1-0 games, courtesy of Quick shutouts. Without the world-class goaltending the Kings have received, they would be much closer to a lottery pick than a playoff berth.
