Chicago Blackhawks: Kane, Toews Receive Quick’s Praise

In the midst of the dog days of the NHL offseason, Los Angeles Kings all-world goalie Jonathan Quick wrote an article for The Players Tribune. The article is titled “Elite Snipers 101.” In the article, Quick tries to explain the complexity of playing goalie at the NHL level, stating that “in the NHL 90 percent of the saves happens before the player shoots the puck.”

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After detailing one of his more brilliant saves against Patrick Kane …

… Quick then digs a little deeper on the issue of playing goalie in the NHL. He tries explaining why elite snipers are so difficult to defend against.

Quick explains why the combos of Ryan Getzalf/Corey Perry and Kane/Jonathan Toews, as well as Pavel Datsyuk, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin individually, are so hard to goaltend against. Quick states that he feels like he plays more heavy minutes when playing against Getzlaf and Perry. He thinks Daysyuk is a magician and most deceptive guy in the NHL. He says Crosby has the best backhand in NHL and that Ovechkin shoots so hard Quick only see blurs coming at him.

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Quick saves the best for last in Kane and Toews. As for Kane, Quick thinks he has a top-tier release, ridiculous hands and one of the most underrated hockey intelligence levels in the NHL. He states that when Kane is on the ice, a goalie must immediately take notice. He said pairing Kane with Toews take the strain to a whole new level. Quick says Toews is constantly moving and has a psychic ability to find the puck. He says if playing Anaheim creates heavy physical minutes, then playing Chicago creates heavy mental minutes.

To quote Quick on Kane and Toews,“ You have to be constantly tracking the movements of Kane and Toews because you’re paranoid that Kane is going to float back door and Toews is going to know he’s there without even looking.” He goes on to lavish praise on the Blackhawks by saying “Chicago has won three of the last six Stanley Cups. Kane and Toews aren’t the biggest guys in the world, but they are incredibly intelligent, mentally tough and have amazing intuition when playing together.”

Quick is right about all of this, and the Chicago Blackhawks while featuring Kane and Toews have his number to an extent. In his career, Quick has appeared in 407 regular season games, recording a 212-139-46 record with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. In his career against the Blackhawks, he is 7-14-1 in 22 games played. He has allowed 62 goals for a 2.84 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. Kane (11) and Toews (13) have scored 24 goals against him in the regular season and have 16 assists (Toews 10, Kane 6) on top of that.

In the playoffs, Quick is 5-7 against the Blackhawks. Toews has 4 goals and 6 assists in 12 games against Quick, while Kane has 5 goals and 10 assists. Quick ended his article by saying, “Man, I want to beat them so bad.” Assuming he meant Kane and Toews, join the club.

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Chicago Blackhawks: Kane, Toews Receive Quick’s Praise

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