Rangers' Jonathan Quick announces his retirement, makes final career start vs. Panthers
Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick defends the net against the Florida Panthers at the Amerant Bank Arena on Monday in Sunrise, Fla. Credit: NHLI via Getty Images/Eliot J. Schechter
With typically little fanfare, Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick announced on Monday that he will retire from professional hockey at the end of this season. He made the final start of his career Monday night against the Florida Panthers.
Quick, 40, made 14 saves but allowed a Cole Reinhardt goal at 18:10 of the third period to come up short in his final game as the Rangers lost, 3-2, to the Panthers in Florida on Monday.
Quick will leave with the most wins among American-born goaltenders and 12th in NHL history. He had 410 career victories entering Monday’s game.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion summoned reporters to his dressing stall at the Rangers’ morning skate at the Panthers’ practice facility in Fort Lauderdale to deliver the news.
“Tonight will be my last game in the league,” he said. “I didn’t really want to fully admit it. It’s kind of a ‘feeling’ thing. I understand where my kids are at, and stuff like that, and how much I’d like to be around for some more of their stuff. You get asked . . . there’s teammates asking, friends asking over the past few months. It’s naturally going to put a little bit of thought into it. But when I knew what the decision was going to be, it felt right. It felt like the right time.’’
Quick spent the first 15-plus seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Kings, where he led them to two Stanley Cups, including against the Rangers in 2014. In 2022-23, the Kings traded him at the deadline to Columbus, which relayed him to the Vegas Golden Knights, where he won his third Cup as the emergency third goaltender. That summer, he signed with the Rangers as a free agent, joining the team he rooted for growing up in Connecticut.
With the Rangers, he served as a backup to Igor Shesterkin and established himself as a leader and beloved teammate over the past three seasons.
“One of the best to do it,’’ Rangers captain J.T. Miller said after Quick’s previous game, a 4-1 win over Detroit on April 4. “You know what he means to hockey, let alone just the Rangers and obviously other teams he came from.”
Quick entered his final game with a career record of 410-306-90, with a 2.51 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and 65 shutouts. He is 35-29-6 with seven shutouts in his three seasons for the Rangers.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
More Rangers
