Jonathan Quick on his struggles, his teammates and being ‘in the same boat’ as the Avs

Quotes from LA Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick on Sunday’s end-of-season conference call…

On the feelings and emotions today:

“The first feeling I would say is disappointment. I think a lot of our team and I think that we could have made a push for it there again. I think as a team, and individually, I don’t think we played as well I think we could have played. You have to tip your cap to Chicago. They played a great series. They had a lot of guys step up and make some big plays at the right times. I’m just a little disappointed that we weren’t able to do it.”

On how he would characterize the 2013 LA Kings season:

“We set out this year to defend what we did last year. We set out to defend the Cup and we weren’t able to do that. So, in that sense, we fell short of what we wanted to do. I do think that we did accomplish a lot and we did play hard. We had some ups and downs throughout the season, and were able to overcome it and get in the playoffs. We wanted to get home-ice. Obviously we weren’t able to do that, we missed out by a couple points. That’s three or four years in a row that we weren’t able to get home-ice. We were in the running for home-ice and we weren’t able to get it. So, we came up a little short there. In the playoffs we put together a little bit of a run, but we didn’t complete it. We thought we’d be playing hockey for another couple weeks. Obviously we’re not doing that.”

On expectations for the organization having increased:

“If you think about it, who finished in 30th this year – Colorado? We’re in the same boat as them. There’s 29 teams that don’t accomplish what they set out to and there’s one team that does. We’re all in the same boat. From the organization’s standpoint, we’d only been to one Conference Final before last year. And we were able to do two in two years. But, they still want more. And I think that says a lot about what Dean has put together, and the coaching staff and their direction…We have great leaders on our team, good captains, guys that really care for each other. When you put all those things together you expect a lot. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do everything we wanted to do. But, I wouldn’t say it’s a lost season because we didn’t do that. I think we did accomplish a lot, but it wasn’t everything that we wanted to do.”

On how he evaluates his season from start to finish, and his plans for the off-season:

“It wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t very good throughout the regular season. Got a little better later in the season. Then, I played pretty good hockey for a couple rounds and then I feel like there was a pretty good let down this past series. In all, I think that feeling of under-performing these past five games is going to kind of sit with me for a while. You’re going to think about that all summer, for most of the off-season. Leading up to camp you’ll start to think about next season. So, where I go from here is you feel that sting for a little bit. You take a week or two to rest and recover. Then, you get back at it.”

On if there was a point this season when he started to feel more comfortable, coming off the back surgey last summer:

“If I felt I wasn’t 100% in January, I would have told the coach and I wouldn’t have been playing. I felt 100% going into the season. I don’t think the back surgery had anything to do with my lack of performance early on.”

On if he was dealing with any injuries during the playoffs and how much of a grind it was:

“I don’t think there’s any need to reveal anything you’re going through. Obviously it’s a grind, but everybody deals with it. You’re playing every-other night. We did all season because of the way the schedule was set up. Chicago had to deal with the same exact grind. San Jose had to deal with it. St. Louis had to deal with it. So, it comes down to who is more prepared each given night. You have to be prepared. I think Chicago was more prepared than we were. That’s the season. Every year people ask about the grind. If you think of it as a grind, obviously it’s going to make it more difficult. You just have to think of it as the season. That’s what it is every year. Even last year, it wasn’t as condensed, but what’s the difference – maybe one game a week, every other week. So, that’s what the season is. That’s what hockey is. You have to prepare yourself. If you use an excuse like, ‘It’s a grind,’ then you probably won’t be in this league very long.”

On the realization that some of his teammates may not be back next season:

“I believe there’s 10 or 12 contracts that are up this year. I’m not positive, but it’s somewhere around that, either this year or next year. But, you don’t really put too much thought into that as you’re playing. We resigned Reggie (Robyn Regehr) a couple weeks ago. So, he’ll be back. A few other guys are without contracts. But, you don’t put too much thought into it. I’m sure over the next couple of days I’ll think about it a little more. You’ll talk with guys and see where everybody’s at. But that discussion hasn’t really come up. I know we have a great group of guys and you hope to keep as many as possible. Next year is going to be a little different, with the salary cap (going down). But, we have a great team. You saw what we were able to accomplish last year and making a little bit of a run this year. The pieces are there. So, there’s hope we’ll keep as many of the guys as we can.”

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Additional notes and quotes from the 2013 Western Conference Final can be found at the links below.

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Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com