Throughout camp, younger guys will try to make a positive impression on management and the coaching staff in a bid to earn more ice time and greater responsibility.
You know the roll call. Filip Chytil. Alexis Lafreniere. Kaapo Kakko. You should toss in K’Andre Miller, who probably will get the shot to skate with Adam Fox.
“Those opportunities are going to present themselves in training camp,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said following on-ice testing sessions Thursday. “With that opportunity, you’re going to need to make the most of it, but that’s not just the young players.
“But certainly [for young players] when that opportunity presents itself, they’ve got to knock the door down.”
At the other end of the spectrum, though, one veteran is preparing for a season in which, if all goes well for the Rangers, he will play less than he has in any of his full 16 seasons in the NHL.
This is Jonathan Quick, an elite No. 1 goaltender for more than a decade and surely on a Hall of Fame track, entering a season as a backup for the first time in his career — at the age of 37.
“I don’t feel like it’s a different job,” said the Connecticut native, who agreed to a one-year free agent contract for $825,000 with the Rangers on July 1 after coming off the 10-year, $58 million deal he signed with the Kings in the flush of his first Stanley Cup victory in 2012. “My job still is to stop the puck when I’m called upon.
“Obviously prepare for those moments, understand the role that this job is and who I get to work with every day. So just support the team, support [Igor Shesterkin] and when my number is called, just try and win games and stop the puck.”
Very few goaltenders make the transition from an upper-echelon No. 1 to a backup. Few even try. Ryan Miller pulled it off. Kirk McLean did it a couple of decades before Miller. Braden Holtby gave it a try. A million years ago, Terry Sawchuk gave it his best shot. John Vanbiesbrouck did it.
There is a different discipline to it, a different mentality, adifferent preparation required. Practice regimens are different. Quick was a workhorse through most of the last decade, getting 70-plus starts twice and 60-plus another four times. Now, if Shesterkin remains healthy, Quick probably is looking at 20-to-24 starts.
It should help, though, that Quick gained some experience in that role after being traded to Vegas (via Columbus) at the deadline last season. He did not play a minute in the Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup run, instead filling the role of understudy for Laurent Brossoit and Adin Hill to earn his third ring.
“I think the way the year finished up, my role with Vegas, there were times when there were injuries and I was the No. 1 guy and then when guys were healthy, I wasn’t,” Quick said. “So what I did realize and what I tried to be great at was recognizing the importance of having that backup goalie that goes out early, stays out late and being there for my teammates’ needs.
“It’s about what the team needs. Fortunately I have some experience with that and I’m going to bring that here. I do love coming to work. I enjoy the game. I enjoy being around the guys, going through the ups-and-downs of the season. I know it’s not something that I won’t be able to find someplace else, so I’m going to try and stick around as long as possible and give it my best effort as long as possible.”
Quick is not only adapting to a different role, he is attempting to bounce back from the poorest season of his career, through which he posted an .882 save percentage and was toward the bottom of the league in analytical categories such as Saves Above Expected and Goals Saved Above Average.
To that end, Quick, who has settled in with his wife and three children in Greenwich, Conn., has been working at the rink for a stretch with head goaltending coach Benoit Allaire.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with him a few times over the past couple of weeks and get his take on how he wants goalies to play,” said Quick, whose stick save at the net on Mats Zuccarello in Game 3 of the 2014 Cup final may still trigger nightmares among Rangers fans. “There have been great conversations back and forth, my reads and his reads.
“I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Quick is the first goaltender ever to join the Rangers after defeating the team in a Cup final. The backplate of his mask features the lyrics — such as they are — of the Rangers’ goal song:
“HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!”
“I let my kids decide and my [10-year-old] son likes it,” Quick said. “It’ll be nice to hear it now. It’s been a few years since I enjoyed it.”
