The words are practically tied together. When coach Terry Murray says the name Jonathan Quick, it’s almost always followed, in the next breath, by the words “No. 1 goalie.” Murray wants to establish, early and often, that Quick is the Kings’ clear-cut goalie, and eliminate any suggestion of a competition between Quick, Jonathan Bernier and Erik Ersberg.
How long will that last? It’s hard to say. Quick set franchise records for wins and games last season, but Bernier was the top goalie in the AHL last season, and there’s a lot of eagerness to see what he can do at the NHL level. Quick has put himself in a good position, showing up to camp in what one team executive called the best shape of Quick’s career. And a reduced workload should also help. Quick never complained when his game total soared to 72, even when he clearly appeared to wear down late in the season.
Today, Murray talked about his plans for the goalies this season, and Quick talked about his preparation and the upcoming season…
MURRAY: “In net, it’s going to be an interesting battle. Quick is our No. 1 guy, and we’ve got Bernier and Ersberg who are going to compete very hard for the No. 2 position. Clearly the organization is not going to carry three goaltenders, so as we get through the scrimmages and into the games, they will be watched very closely by everybody in the organization.
“There’s no gray area there. Jonathan Quick is our No. 1 goaltender. He’s going to play a lot of hockey this year. I just felt, as I mentioned at the end of the season last year, that maybe he got extended a little bit last year, playing 70-plus games. If I can get his numbers to a max of 60, say, or in the high 50s, and have our No. 2 goaltender getting into the rotation on a pretty regular basis. It’s very hard to play after a couple weeks of not playing. If I can get one game a week out of the second goaltender, I think it would be a nice rhythm to get ourselves into.”
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Question: Terry has talked about reducing your workload this season. Is that something you would look forward to?
QUICK: “I’ve always kind of had the same outlook on this. Optimally, I would want to play every night and I want to be able to play every night. I think any goalie in this league, when they’re on the bench, they do what they can for the team, to support them, but I think everyone wants to be on the ice every night. So this summer, I trained as if I was going to play 72 again. If I don’t, I don’t, but right now I don’t think there’s a point in looking at the overall picture. I think, right now, we’re focusing on camp and getting everyone prepared for Game 1 in Vancouver.”
Question: You had a long season, with the 72 games, the playoffs, the Olympics… How much did you rest this summer?
QUICK: “A couple weeks. I think it was probably about two and a half weeks before I started doing leg workouts and getting a sweat going. Probably around three or four weeks, I was back in the weight room hitting it hard.”
Question: Someone said you’re showing up in the best shape of your career. Did you do anything different this summer?
QUICK: “As far as training, it was nothing too different. Maybe the workouts were a little bit longer, getting in a little more exercise per day. I think the biggest thing was my diet. I had a pretty strict diet over the summer, and it paid off a lot in the long run.”
Question: Every chance he gets, Terry calls you his No. 1 goalie. Does that do anything in particular for your confidence?
QUICK: “It does mean a bit, but at the end of the day, if I’m not playing up to my capabilities, you can’t blame them for putting someone else in there. At the end of the day, it doesn’t make a difference. I still have to play and I still have to be able to win games to keep that spot.”
Question: Did you end up putting on weight this summer?
QUICK: “I lost a lot of body fat and put on a little bit of muscle. Overall my weight is down.”
Question: Coming into camp as the clear No. 1 goalie, does it change your mindset at all?
QUICK: “I don’t think the mindset has changed. Even though Terry Murray has said I’m the No. 1, I still feel like I need to earn it every day. There are guys there who are competing for playing time, and they’re not taking a day off, so you just go out every day and work your butt off and put your best foot forward every day.”
Quick’s got a great attitude, I hope he can hold off Bernier. He’s gotta have a great season if he wants to remain the starter, and I think he’s capable of it.
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holly Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
@Seabass,
I think that our season could be even better with no clear cut number 1. Neither Quick nor Bernier have ever struck me as guys who need ego fluffing to play well and who knows what could happen if every start was a battle for the next one. They both likely know the odds of the team carrying two guys who are number 1 caliber post deadline…
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mcsorleyfan Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
@Seabass, I wouldn’t worry too much about either guy being traded in the next three years. The Goalkeeper market is flooded right now, and will be for some time. The odds of the Kings carrying them both (at No. 1 caliber) past the deadline is excellent. For a franchise that has struggled to find 1 top shelf keeper to suddenly find themself in posession of 2 is a dream come true, and one they won’t relinquish anytime soon. Injuries happen. Trade 1 and injur the other and suddenly we’re back in the Bad Ol’ Days. With all due respect to Holly, I don’t think we see either guy leaving anytime soon, when goalies are easy to find and we have a lot of other prospects to package as trade bait.
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holly Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
@mcsorleyfan,
I don’t know, speaking to Bernier towards the end of last season he was pretty confident that at the deadline this season, there’s a very good chance one of them is gone.
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Old Time Hockey Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
@mcsorleyfan, I wouldn’t hold my breath if anyone would expect the Kings to trade Zatkoff either, this kid is going to be not only as good as Quick or Bernier but probably better, positionally he keeps getting better and he’s not all mechanical, he has some great reflex movements to go along with his mechanics and is 6′ 2″, needs a few more pounds on the bones though. There have been some super goaltenders come out of Detroit, Michigan.
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KC23 Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
@Seabass,
Got to love a player that gives no excuses and takes nothing for granted. I got a feeling Quick’s gonna have an even better year this go round.
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Gotta love the attitude by Quicker. Would love to see Bernier get that second spot (no slight on Ersberg) but I think one will push the other one to be better every single day. They will play off of each other. Bernier has something to prove at this level, Quicker sees Bernier fighting to take minutes from him. I see nothing but positive coming from that competition. In my opinion with Quick getting 72 games in last year, Ersberg on the bench most of the season, that hurts his (Ersberg’s) chances of pushing Quick any further than he already has.
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i think the competition between quick and bernier will only make them better!
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It doesn’t really pass my straight face test that Ersberg plays into this competition scenario in training came. I think that the only way Ersberg is one of the Kings two goalies at the start of the season is if Quick or Bernier gets injured or if one of them has an absolutely horrible camp. And I think it is highly unlikely that either of them will have a horrible camp.
The Kings have had too many seasons in the past when the No. 1 guy in goal wasn’t getting the job done and the backup would come on and not do any better. That should not be the case this season. The Kings should not suffer any long losing streaks this season as the result of poor goaltending.
And best of all, TM does not have an excuse to overwork either goalie.
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I find it odd that management and coaching staff are in a rush to declare Quick the number one guy, and not have an open competition for the number one job. They handed the job to Quick last year, and are doing the same this year. Quick hasn’t earned anything…
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holly Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
@Berniernextroy,
I don’t know that they handed it to Quick as much as they really had to default to him. I think the additional season in the AHL was definitely important for Bernier mentally. And Ersberg certainly wasn’t going to be a true competitor for the number one.
That said, Quick showed that he was capable of playing the bulk of the games. With a guy as strong as Bernier backing him up, there will probably be a little more breathing room for the team.
At this point in time do I think that Bernier is good enough to be a number one? Probably. But sometimes you just have to pay your dues. And sometimes that means breaking in as the number two.
But really, the best thing about this is that with a talent like Bernier behind him, Quick won’t likely have the burn out that he seemed to have at the end of the season. Of course, the fact that he was a new father probably added to it.
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Old Time Hockey Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
@holly, I remember when The Redwings and their goaltender Harry Lumley won the Stanley Cup and Lum was traded to Chicago in June of 1950 and a guy by the name of Sawchuk was brought in. Jonathan Quick earned his spot to be the starter last season, he wasn’t given anything. There is a difference between the A and the N, They play for keeps here and in the “A” most of them are just making a living and don’t expect to get called up.
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holly Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
@Old Time Hockey,
I wasn’t saying that I don’t think that if the situation had been different, the outcome wouldn’t have been the same. But it also is fairly obvious that they’ve wanted to take it slow with Bernier, which I have no problem with, and that Ersberg wasn’t really a true threat. Even if Bernier had been NHL ready last year, Quick would’ve walked out with the number one.
But as far as saying that the guys in the A are just making a living, that’s ridiculous. If anything, many of them have more on the line. Every game for these young guys, regardless of where it is, counts and they know it. Their future is on the line every single time they step on the ice. Every single guy on an NHL contract in the AHL is playing to make sure their name is known in the organization. They’re playing to prove themselves. Do they expect a call up? No. But that’s because they’ve all learned that the best way to earn a call up is to play at the top of their game every game. They certainly hope for one.
KC23 Reply:
September 18th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
@Berniernextroy,
Some might argue that 39 wins and being forced to play 72 games in his first real full season earns you something … and I would agree with them.
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Berniernextroy Reply:
September 19th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
@KC23,
Uh, no. He played 72 games because Management didn’t have a clue how to handle the goaltending situation. They handed it off to Quick for the playoffs because he played 72 games. The 39 wins is a team effort, everyone gets credit for that. The goalie is part of that effort, sure but Quick isn’t the sole reason for those 39 wins. So to me, I don’t use goalie wins as a barometer of elite goalies. What I look at are goalies that have ice veins during crunch time. Quick blew it in the playoffs and down the stretch…I don’t want to waste another playoff run on an average goalie.
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
September 20th, 2010 at 9:46 am
@KC23,
I’m with you on this. Quick earned respect for shouldering the load he did last season, and if that respect amounts to calling him the number one going into this preseason, that’s fine. A lot can happen in a few weeks, and I expect all three goaltenders to apply their freshness to hitting the ground running.
Let’s say things come out the way everyone seems to expect. In that case Quick’s got the new father thing behind him, and seems to have attacked the job with new vigor. He’s going to spend less time in goal, and Bernier jumps into the line-up with the same opportunities, only more, that he had at the end of last season. He’ll be a constant reminder to everyone of the apparent future. If he keeps preforming and Quick disappoints, Bernier will obviously start getting more starts.
It’s win-win. There’s a chance that Quick comes back better than ever, and Bernier has to prove he belongs. There’s a chance we’re glad Bernier’s available (presuming he makes the backup slot, which is somewhat hard to discount) when Quick lapses.
Really, and this goes back to the writing on the wall toward the end of last season, the only downer is the obvious inability to keep Ersberg in the lineup.
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Quick’s attitude >>>>>>>>>>>> Ersberg’s attitude.
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As long as Bernier gets to show what he can do this year ill be happy (assuming he makes the team.) I do not want to see Quick play over 70 games this year. I dont like the idea of a clear cut number one, we dont have a goalie with Patrick Roy status on the team as of right now. After just one good season nothing should be handed to a goalie on a silver platter.
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Rich, please help with the following logic
Something just doesn’t add up right here
JQ is making $5.4 mil over next three years (average $1.8 mil / yr)
Then we have Carey Price for Mtl making $5.5 mil over next two years (average $2.75 mil / yr)
And both these deals are recent when everyone has seen who is the better of the two. Has Mtl overpaid? Did Quick feel he should take more years for less money? Is the league all about the pedigree, even with a couple guys in their early 20′s? Or maybe Lombardi is just pure genius?
But the wild card in all of this is Mtl damn near took Bernier over Price in 2006 with the 5th pick.
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go quick, you are the man
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