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Jonathan Quick may mimic his last name on the ice, but the Los Angeles No.1 was a lot slower to take credit for the sharp retro look he will debut in the Kings’ season opener as the Canucks celebrate their 40th anniversary in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Quick passed the credit along to equipment manager Darren Granger for coming up with the idea of wearing throwback brown Vaughn pads and a Rogie Vachon-inspired helmet for the four games the Kings will sport the yellow-and-purple retro look this season.

“It was all Darren’s idea because we’re wearing the jerseys so I thought `why not,’ might as well go all out,” Quick said after the morning skate. “It’s different, I’ll tell you that, but it fits with the jerseys.”

The Vaughn equipment, complete with the waffle-board blocker, is similar to gear worn by Carey Price during the Canadiens 100th anniversary celebrations. Quick got the set during the summer and broke it in even before his new regular set, but said it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d had less time to get it ready.

“I’ve been wearing the same pad for about eight years,” Quick said of his Vaughn Velocity V4 pads, which feature a couple of customizations – a shorter inner channel that stops at the boot on the inside, and one break (at the knee) rather than two. “I’m pretty comfortable with them. Typically if I get a pair Wednesday, I can wear them in a game Friday. It’s a quick turnaround, doesn’t take too long to break them in. I wear them pretty soft anyways.”

The tribute mask was inspired by an early 1970s-era Rogie Vachon mask on display at the Kings’ practice facility. The original plan was to have the retro look painted over top of the mask design Quick normally wears, but painter Steve Nash of Eye Candy Air came up with the idea of making it look like an old mask, with the hair flowing out the back and the ears visible on the sides.

“It’s supposed to be Rogie’s do and the ears there,” said Quick, whose backplate on the Sportmask features a small “Q” with his wife and infant daughter’s initials inside. “That’s the lid he was wearing back in the day.”

Check out Jonathan Bernier’s Retro setup









