Jonathan Quick to the Golden Knights: What can Vegas hope to get?

On one hand, Jonathan Quick backstopped two Stanley Cup championships. His playoff run in 2012 was one of the most miraculous of the modern era, as he stopped everything he saw to lead the underdog Kings to a title.

In trading for Quick, the Golden Knights add a goalie with nearly 100 playoff games of experience. One who has performed at the highest level under the brightest lights.

On the other hand, Quick has been statistically one of the worst goalies in the entire NHL for the last half-decade. His minus-19 goals saved above expected this season ranks 91st out of 93 goalies. His .876 save percentage ranks 90th.

With injuries to Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit, the Golden Knights looked to the trade market for help in net and on Thursday landed on the 37-year-old who was dealt to the Blue Jackets just a day early. Vegas traded goalie Michael Hutchinson and a seventh-round pick in 2025 to Columbus in exchange for Quick. But if they’re hoping for any meaningful return, they’ll need a major resurgence for the once-great netminder.

Quick’s lightning-quick reflexes and acrobatic style made him one of the sport’s most formidable players from 2008 to 2018, but they haven’t carried into his mid- to late-30s. Over the last five seasons, his save percentage has topped the league average only once, and dipped below .900 three times. He’s had negative GSAx in four of those five seasons. During that time frame, only Martin Jones has a lower save percentage among goalies with at least 100 games.

Off the ice, the addition is unassailable. Quick will bring another strong veteran presence to the dressing room, and stabilize what has been a young, inexperienced goalie group for Vegas. He’s now the only goalie on Vegas’ roster (outside of Robin Lehner, who is out for the season) with playoff experience. His 92 playoff appearances and 49 wins both rank third among active goalies, behind only Marc-Andre Fleury and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Did the Golden Knights gain experience in net? Absolutely.

Did they get better? Probably not, but that all depends on their expectation level. It would be quite the story if Quick had a major resurgence, considering the path to a deep postseason run for Vegas likely goes through the Kings. It’s hard to imagine a player having more motivation than Quick would have in that potential playoff matchup. If he can return to anything close to his old form, it would be quite the steal for the Golden Knights, but it’s been awhile, and that shouldn’t be the expectation.

Perhaps they just see Quick as a veteran stopgap until Thompson and Brossoit return from injuries. Vegas gave up minimal assets, but also shouldn’t expect that they upgraded in goal.

Thompson and Adin Hill have both been steady this season. Thompson ranks 14th league-wide with a .914 save percentage, and 65th with minus-1.1 GSAx. Hill ranks 16th with a .912 save percentage and 75th with minus-3.9 GSAx. Those numbers aren’t spectacular, but they’ve been good enough behind a strong defense to win plenty of games.

Quick has been much worse while playing behind an equally-strong defense in Los Angeles. It’s not uncommon for talented goalies to suffer statistically when playing behind a porous defense. Goalie stats, more than any position, are influenced by the play surrounding them. In those scenarios, it’s fair to expect big improvements in a better environment, but that hasn’t been the case for Quick. The Kings have been one of the NHL’s better teams defensively. Here’s how they compare to the Golden Knights:

Vegas has protected the slot exceptionally well this season, allowing the fewest high-danger chances in the league. That has helped the relatively inexperienced goalies produce saves and wins. Quick will benefit from that as well, but he was already playing behind a Kings defense that allowed the fifth-fewest, and the results were putrid.

Quick’s minus-23.52 goals saved above average ranks 72nd of 73 goalies with enough ice time to qualify. Those struggles led to the veteran posting a 11-13-4 record. Pheonix Copley was inserted into the lineup and has an impressive 18-4-2 record despite saving only .899 percent of shots – well below the league average of .905 – which shows how strong the Kings’ overall play has been.

Quick is a legend in Los Angeles. His No. 32 jersey will likely hang in the rafters one day. The Kings knew moving on from a fan favorite wouldn’t go over well with the fanbase — and it hasn’t. Despite all of that, they knew in order to win in the playoffs, they needed to upgrade their goaltending, and they swapped Quick for Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo. Despite having the second-worst save percentage in the league, the Kings have still managed to remain in second place in the Pacific Division behind Vegas.

The Golden Knights do have a knack for finding hidden gems, though. Remember that the Pittsburgh Penguins once sent Vegas a second-round pick to convince them to take Fleury in the 2017 expansion draft, only to watch him lead the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final.

This seems like a longer shot. One of the last times we saw “vintage” Quick was in the 2018 playoff series between Los Angeles and Vegas. He was sensational for the Kings, allowing only seven total goals in the Golden Knights’ four-game sweep. That season, he finished second in the NHL with 23.7 GSAx, won the Jennings Trophy and finished ninth in voting for the Vezina Trophy.

We don’t know how much Quick will play for the Golden Knights. It could depend on the injury timelines for Thompson and Brossoit. Coach Bruce Cassidy said Wednesday that Thompson is “doing well, but nowhere near being on the ice just yet.”

As for Brossoit, Cassidy said the recent injury is not believed to be related to his offseason hip surgery but that he’s not on the ice and “he’s not with us right now.”

For now, Vegas’ goalie tandem will be Quick and Hill. How they play between now and when Thompson and/or Brossoit eventually return could play into Cassidy’s decision-making in terms of playing time.

If this addition was simply to buy insurance to hold the goalie room together while Thompson and Brossoit are on the mend, then it’s a relatively inconsequential move that didn’t cost Vegas much.

If it was intended to improve the Golden Knights’ goaltending for the playoffs, they’re betting on a miraculous improvement from a goalie who has struggled immensely.