GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Jonathan Quick received a standing ovation after a video tribute at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday, a thank you from the home team and fans for the role he played in helping the Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup last season.
The New York Rangers goalie, who grinned and waved, first with his blocker hand and then his catching glove, while the video showed highlights of his short stint with the Golden Knights, also received his Stanley Cup ring earlier in the day.
It was the appetizer. The main course will come Saturday, when Quick will be back in Los Angeles and a visitor at Crypto.com Arena for the first time in his NHL career.
He is expected to start for the Rangers against the Los Angeles Kings (10:30 p.m. ET, MSG2, MSG, KCAL).
"He should be remembered this weekend for (being) the best goalie in our organization and celebrated that way," Kings general manager Rob Blake said.
Quick helped lead the Kings to the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. He was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2012.
He is the Kings’ all-time leader in every meaningful goaltender category:
Regular season games played (743), wins (370), shutouts (57), career save percentage (.911), 20-win seasons (nine), 30-win seasons (six) and 40-win seasons (one); playoff games played (92), wins (49) and shutouts (10), save percentage (.921) and goals-against average (2.31).
"I was there a long time, a lot of us grew up there," Quick said after the Rangers morning skate Tuesday. "I have a lot of good friends there, but happy to be here now, making some new relationships and trying to help this team win hockey games."
Quick did that Dec. 10, making 25 saves in a 4-1 win against the Kings at Madison Square Garden, his first time playing against his former team.
It was clear before, during and after that game how much it meant to him.
"Oh yeah," Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said. "That was a game he wanted circled on the calendar. He wanted to play that game. It was something we really wanted to get done for him."
That night the Garden crowd gave Quick an ovation as the No. 1 star.
On Saturday, the home crowd in Los Angeles that first got to know Quick as a 21-year-old (he turns 38 on Sunday) will finally be able to give their former No. 1 goalie a proper tribute for everything he did for them for all or parts of 16 straight seasons from 2007-23.
His last home game with the Kings was on Feb. 18, a 6-5 shootout win against the Arizona Coyotes. He was traded 11 days later.
"It'll be cool to be part of that, to be there and experience that," Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. "You get the minute to two minutes maybe forgetting about the game to see what he's done and what he's meant to that city. It's going to be pretty cool."
Quick was in no mood to talk about returning to Los Angeles or reflect on his Kings career earlier this week. He was, in fact, deflecting from the obvious emotions he will be feeling, or maybe already was, by calling it "a business trip."
Clearly, it's so much more.
As Quick said, he grew up in Los Angeles. At 18 years old, he was selected by Los Angeles in the third round (No. 72) of the 2005 NHL Draft. He made his NHL debut with the Kings on Dec. 6, 2007. His three kids were born there. He and his wife sold their home in Manhattan Beach, but they built lifelong friendships there. It was home for 15 years.
It wasn't until Blake made the decision to trade Quick to the Columbus Blue Jackets last season on March 1 that anyone ever thought of him as anything but the Kings goalie.
At the time it was widely known that Quick wasn't happy with the trade. He likely still isn't, but it's not something he talks about now.
The trade hit hard around Quick's former teammates too, with Kings center Anze Kopitar and defenseman Drew Doughty, the remaining two players from the Stanley Cup championship teams, emotionally struggling to come to grips with it.
"It was really sad and unexpected," Doughty said at the time. "It [stinks] seeing one of the best friends of your life leave. So many emotions. It [stinks], that's the bottom line. I never wanted to see 'Quickie' go. I expected to play with him the rest of my career."
One day later, though, the Blue Jackets traded Quick to the Golden Knights, giving him a chance to win the Stanley Cup for the third time in his career.
"I think the fresh start helped," Quick said. "I think going to Vegas the last few months of the season last year was great for me. It allowed me to enjoy the game and enjoy coming to work every day. It kind of helped motivate me to start somewhere new."
Quick has done that successfully, leaving L.A. a legend, winning the Cup in Vegas and now getting the chance to live out a childhood dream with the Rangers.
He grew up in nearby Milford, Connecticut rooting for the Rangers and idolizing Mike Richter, the goalie of the Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup championship team. He's home again, and for good.
"Done with California taxes," Quick said, laughing. "It's awesome. It's a first-class organization. They treat all the guys well. Training staff, coaches, all the way up through management. It's been fun getting to know these guys and work with them. I'm really enjoying it.”
He has proven the backup role suits him well too. Quick enters Los Angeles with a 9-3-2 record, a 2.49 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and two shutouts in 15 games, including 14 starts for the Rangers (28-14-2), who are in first place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Kings (21-13-8) meanwhile, enter Saturday as the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"He's meant a lot to us," Zibanejad said. "We're fortunate to have [Igor Shesterkin] and the level of play he has, the caliber of goalie he is, and to add Quickie, I feel it's a two-headed monster back there. The impact he has had on us in a short time is impressive."
The impact he had on the Kings and the Los Angeles hockey community is legendary. They finally have a chance to say thank you in person on Saturday.
"I'm sure he'll get welcomed with open arms and they'll have a big ordeal for him," Trocheck said. "He played there for so long."
NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report
