Jonathan Quick added to Hall of Fame

In some ways, Jonathan Quick was like the EURO League’s Pete Rose. They were both arguably the best at their position but were still dogged by questions about whether or not they should be in the Hall of Fame.

Rose, an American baseball great whose gambling got him into trouble with the league, died Monday without making into the Hall of Fame. Quick won’t suffer the same fate because EURO League general managers have voted him into the Hall, it was announced today in league headquarters by Sepp Blatter, Director of Player Safety and Discipline.

Quick, an American who first made a name for himself as a Los Angeles Kings goalie in the NHL, was spectacular in his time with the Belfast Giants in the EURO.

When the ballot was voted on by GMs this September, Quick was ranked number 1 all-time in both save percentage (.913) and goals against average (2.48). It’s hard to argue with those facts. But Quick might have benefitted from some questionable management decisions in Belfast. When the franchise got into financial difficulty, Quick was waived during Season 10 and no other team was able or willing to pick up his huge salary. So from Season 10 until his retirement in Season 15, he was basically stashed away on Belfast’s farm club, the Belfast City Bruins. If he would have played until he was 38 or 39, would have his averages degraded? Would he still be the all-time leader? His absence from the league is probably the reason he is only 9th all-time in wins.

Regardless, Quick IS the all-time leader and also the fifth player in the Hall of Fame, joining Zdeno Chara, Nicklas Lidstrom, Teemu Selanne and fellow goalie Jimmy Howard. (Funny thing: Chuck forgot Howard was in the Hall of Fame and mistakenly included him on the most recent ballot. He didn’t make it this time. Ha ha. Ha. Ha?)

When the league’s initial draft was held, Munich seemed to be onto something when they drafted Quick third overall behind Gabriel Landeskog and another goalie, Pekka Rinne. Quick played for the Bavarian team for three seasons keeping them in the Top 5 of the league all three seasons. Then, in Season 4, he was involved in a trade that changed the course of EURO League history. Belfast had finished between 19th and 21st the three previous seasons but were showing real signs of progress. Quick came into the squad in exchange for goalie Cory Schneider and talented scoring threat Filip Forsberg. What happened next? Belfast skated off with the Cup at the end of the season, beating Athens in the Finals. Then they won it again the next season … and two seasons after that .. and two seasons after that. Four cups in six seasons with Quick in goal.

Quick’s personal trophy case includes 10 pieces of hardware: 4 Playoff MVP trophies, 2 Best Goalie honors, 3 Best Goals Against Average trophies and 1 Best Save Percentage honor. He was also voted to the All-Star Game six times.

In 601 games, his GAA was 2.48 and his save percentage was .913. In the playoffs, he was a little harder to beat: a 2.46 GAA and .916 save percentage through 156 games. And today, he still ranks 2nd all-time in playoff wins, behind only Calvin Pickard.

Here are the results of the most recent Hall of Fame ballot. A score of 8.1 was needed for entry into the Hall: