LAS VEGAS — With two goaltenders on injured reserve and another who was recently hurt but has returned to the ice, the Vegas Golden Knights took out some insurance Thursday.
The Knights traded for veteran Jonathan Quick from Columbus, sending the Blue Jackets veteran goalie Michael Hutchinson and a 2025 seventh-round draft pick. Columbus will also pick up 50 percent of Quick’s salary —$2.9 million. Quick will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
“This isn’t about their play,” Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said Thursday afternoon, referring to goalies Logan Thompson, Laurent Brossoit and Adin Hill. “It’s about our health. We need to mitigate that risk.”
Thompson and Brossoit are currently on injured reserve. McCrimmon said Thompson, an all-star in his rookie season and the team’s No. 1 goaltender, is expected back before the end of the regular season. But he said they had to explore bringing someone else in.
“We had talked about available goaltenders throughout the week,” he said. “We put (Quick’s) name out on Tuesday.”
Quick, who had spent his entire 16-year NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings, won two Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014 and was the Conn Smythe Award winner in 2012, was dealt to Columbus Tuesday for goalie Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. In addition to Quick, the Kings sent their first-round draft pick for 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024. The first-rounder is a conditional selection.
Quick was expected in Las Vegas sometime Thursday evening. He will back up Hill Friday against New Jersey at T-Mobile Arena but could make his Vegas debut Sunday at home against Montreal. He will wear his familiar No. 32 with the Knights. He will also be reunited with a couple of former Kings teammates in defensemen Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb. In addition, Vegas assistant coach John Stevens coached Quick when he was with the Kings from 2010-2018 as both an assistant and the head coach.
“He will play,” coach Bruce Cassidy said of how he intends to use Quick. “How soon? We’ll see.”
Quick has struggled this season. The 37-year-old has made 31 appearances, is 11-13-4 with a goals-against average of 3.50 and a save percentage of just .876. Career-wise, Quick has a 2.46 GAA and a .911 save percentage while posting a winning record of 370-275-82 with 57 shutouts.
“He’s had a tough year,” McCrimmon said of Quick. “He needs a change. He’d be the first to admit he hasn’t had the year he’d like.”
Cassidy hopes working at a new address will revive Quick’s game. He certainly won’t be lacking motivation. Especially when April 6 rolls around. That’s when the Kings come to T-Mobile Arena to play the Golden Knights. The two teams have been battling for the top spot in the Pacific Division for most of the year and that game could be a critical one for both teams.
“I think our defensive structure could help any goaltender,” Cassidy said. “We defend as a five-man group. I just hope he enjoys playing on our team and is excited to play with our group.”
Quick’s addition wasn’t the only one made by the Golden Knights this week. They acquired forward Ivan Barbashev from St. Louis last weekend and Barbashev got his first point with the team in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Carolina as he assisted on Jack Eichel’s second goal of the game. Prior to the game with the Hurricanes, Vegas acquired forward Teddy Blueger from Pittsburgh and he will be slotted on the fourth line, repacking the injured Nicolas Roy.
“I was hoping to go to a good spot and this is a good spot,” said Blueger, 28, who had two goals and 10 points in 45 games with the Penguins this year while averaging 12:46 in Time on Ice. “I’m glad to be here and I’ll bring whatever they need me to do. I take a lot of pride in my defense.”
In 250 NHL games, all with Pittsburgh, Blueger has scored 33 goals and has 59 assists.
“I like our additions,” Cassidy said. “They make what we dwell better.”
McCrimmon didn’t close the door on one more possible move before Friday’s NHL trade deadline at noon Pacific.
“If we can improve our hockey club and it makes sense to us, we’ll certainly look at it,” he said.
