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Jonathan Quick announces final appearance with Rangers

April 13, 2026

On Monday morning, the NHL headlines were dominated by a goalie from the Kings’ glorious past and another from their cautiously promising immediate future.

Jonathan Quick, the netminder with two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy from what were unequivocally the greatest years of the organization –– as well as a third Cup after he was unceremoniously jettisoned in 2023 –– will make his final appearance on Monday night when his New York Rangers take on the Florida Panthers.

Meanwhile, the Kings have found a goalie who, at least in a small sample size, has given them Quick-like confidence of late in Anton Forsberg, who was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week.

If Anže Kopitar, the Kings’ leading scorer on both of their Cup runs and in franchise history, was understated and hesitant to embrace the spotlight, Quick was outwardly stoic and practically shunned attention. Fittingly, he saved his announcement for the morning of his final start, a road game against the two-time defending champions. He told reporters in Florida matter-of-factly.

“My wife flew down with the kids; my parents will be here. I am looking forward to this last one, to try to get one more win here,” Quick said. “When I knew what the decision was going to be, it just felt right, like the right time.”

During Kopitar’s swan song, one that hasn’t always been mellifluous as the Kings have scraped and clawed into their tenuous grasp on a playoff spot amid injuries to Kopitar and others, he has shared many postgame moments with opponents, especially former teammates.

“My favorite one was definitely with ‘Quickie’,” Kopitar said in an interview with SCNG last month. “Playing for the last time against him, and playing all those years with him, you almost don’t appreciate as much how good he is, and how good of a person and how good of a friend he is, and now the last few years that he’s been gone, you miss him and everything. So it was definitely a special moment.”

Quick, 40, is the all-time leader in wins and shutouts for an American-born goalie, ranking second in games played behind John Vanbiesbrouck. He also has the most playoff shutouts of any U.S.-born netminder (tied for 12th all-time among all goalies) and sits second in postseason wins behind Pittsburgh Penguins great Tom Barrasso. He and Barrasso are the only Americans to backstop their teams to multiple championships.

Forsberg, a Swede, is enjoying his moment in the sun presently. As starter Darcy Kuemper has faced difficulty since a mid-December injury and really lost footing since returning from the Olympics –– the exacerbation of his symptoms, along with Kevin Fiala’s broken leg and Joel Armia’s undisclosed injury, made the Kings the hardest-hit NHL club in Milan –– Forsberg has emerged to salvage the Kings’ season and potentially extend Kopitar’s career.

Last week, he went 3-0-0 with a stingy 0.97 goals-against average and .964 save percentage while recording a shutout. Tacking on his final start of the previous week, he’s gone 4-0-0 with a 0.91 GAA and beat back 96.7% of the shots he’s faced. Despite his individual excellence, Forsberg deferred to the Kings’ recent coalescence.

“The team has really gotten together and played a really, really good defensive game,” said Forsberg following a 1-0 shutout of the Kings’ arch-nemeses, the Edmonton Oilers. “There were a lot of guys out there that were blocking shots, (Quinton) Byfield did a great job of shutting down (Connor McDavid). It’s the way we have to play to win games.”

Orange County Register

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Jonathan Quick announces final appearance with Rangers

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