QUICK WINS 400TH ... AND WE LEARN ALL KINDS OF ESOTERIC THINGS ABOUT HIM

 Of all things:

After becoming the first American goaltender to 

win 400 NHL games (4-2 over the Vegas Golden 

Knights Sunday), the New York Rangers’

 JONATHAN QUICK responded to questions 

with his best DEAN SMITH impression. “I’ve 

been lucky,” Quick said, “to have played with a lot 

of good players.” … If only someone would ask 

coach PETER LAVIOLETTE how close the 39 

year old three-time Stanley Cup winner came to 

being cut a year ago after signing with the Rangers 

as a free agent? … Easily forgotten was how bad 

Quick was during the preseason schedule (0-3, 

5.08, .807) … especially after rebounding with a 

16-8-2, 2.62, .911 record as IGOR 

SHESTERKIN’s backup … and NY claimed the 

President’s Trophy which goes to the team with the 

best regular-season record (55-23-4).

Quick is from Milford, Conn., and still lives near-

by … Raise your hand if you knew he belonged to 

the NHL team in Columbus, Ohio, for one day? ... 

after spending 16 years with Los Angeles Kings … 

who traded him to the Blue Jackets… who 

immediately shipped him to Vegas which 

desperately needed a No. 2 goalie in 2022-23 -- 

what proved to be a Cup-winning campaign 

(although he did not appear in the playoffs) … 

Quick is playing for a guaranteed $1.3 million 

(including $500,000 signing bonus) this year after 

joining the Rangers for $932,000 a year ago. 

------- The San Francisco Chronicle has decided to 

refer to the baseball team formerly based in 

Oakland soon to call Las Vegas home as … the 

Sacramento Athletics … which makes sense 

because the team currently plays there … except it 

only wants to be known as Athletics or A’s.

-------  For a mere $50,000, JIM NANTZ is the 

proud new owner of a 2012 GM Yukon with more 

than 200,000 miles … That was the soon-to-retire 

CBS sportscaster’s bid in an auction with proceeds 

going to cancer research … Oh, right … the SUV 

belonged to two-time Masters’ champion

 SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (and still has the 2022 

Masters sticker affixed to the windshield).

-------  One thing we learned yesterday … is that

 CHIP KELLY did not make $6 million in his one 

season as national champion Ohio State’s offensive 

coordinator… because? That’s what it took for

 PETE CARROLL to bring The Mercenary to the 

Las Vegas Raiders in the same capacity.

Until next time ...