When Jonathan Quick went down with a lower body injury in the season opening game of the 2016 season, that should have been an early sign of what was to come. Obviously the team didn’t quite perform the way they had hoped, dropping out of the playoff picture much earlier than anticipated. That’s not to say Peter Budaj didn’t hold his own, because he did quite well as a fill-in for the all star goaltender. In fact, Budaj nearly had the same save percentage that Quick did in the year prior.
But at the end of the day, losing your star goalie for more than three months is devastating to a team’s morale.