Rangers backup goalie takes blame for his role in ‘disappointing’ season
There are many reasons why the New York Rangers are not playing playoff hockey this postseason: a dreadful losing stretch to end 2024, too many no-show performances, a lack of commitment to playing team defense, countless trades and turnover in the locker room, down seasons for their top scorers and … the play of their backup goalie?
According to Jonathan Quick, he may have cost the Rangers a chance at making the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Rangers finished with 85 points (39-36-7), six back of the Montreal Canadiens (91 points, 40-31-11) for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Had a few regular-season games gone differently, including their 5-4 overtime loss against Montreal on Jan. 19, the Rangers could be the ones facing off against the Washington Capitals in the first round.
Quick finished 11-7-2 with a 3.17 goals-against average and .893 save percentage in 2024-25, but he still takes blame for his role in New York’s disappointing season.
“I could think of three or four games that I could have performed better and we could have got wins … and maybe that’s the difference in why we didn’t make it,” Quick said at break-up day on Monday.
Quick was in net for the aforementioned overtime loss to the Canadiens, a game that saw the Rangers blow four one-goal leads, including one going into the third period. He conceded the lead on a Juraj Slafkovsky goal at 12:52 of the third before Patrik Laine won it for Montreal in overtime.
You’d be hard pressed to find any teammates who blame Quick or No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin for the Rangers’ woes this season. Their statistics were not so great, but terrible defensive play and structure in front of the goalies were a major reason why.
Quick had three shutouts among his 11 wins, and he became the first U.S.-born goalie to win 400 NHL games when he backstopped the Rangers’ 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 2. However, he also allowed five goals or more eight times, the Rangers losing all eight games.
“You always got to start there, you got to start with yourself,” Quick said. “I’m certainly going to look at those three or four games off the top of my head, and I’m sure more when I put some more thought into it.”
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Jonathan Quick believes Rangers ‘need to have those high expectations on ourselves’
Quick’s two seasons in New York have been far from similar – one ended with a Presidents’ Trophy and a trip to the Eastern Conference Final; the other was an embarrassing disaster that saw the Rangers miss the playoffs.
“First and foremost, obviously it’s disappointing in the sense of the expectations we put on ourselves individually and as a team,” he said. “To come up short of what we wanted to do is a disappointment.”
Quick agreed to a one-year, $1.55 million contract on March 12, meaning the three-time Stanley Cup champion will once again be Shesterkin’s backup next season. By the time the 2025-26 season ends, Quick will be 40; it could very well be the last season of his career.
“I like the guys in this room,” Quick said. “Despite not making the playoffs, I think we need to have those high expectations on ourselves and what we can achieve next year.”
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