A total of twenty-one goaltenders were selected before Henrik Lundqvist at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. The NY Rangers selected Lundqvist 205th overall in the 7th round that year. He was the second netminder the Rangers selected that year (they grabbed Brandon Snee out of Union College a round earlier). Despite this, over the past 5 years, Lundqvist has been the best player out of all the professional athletes in New York City.
“King Henry,” as he is affectionately known around the hockey world, signed a massive deal two years ago earning him $10 million dollars through the 2019-20 season. Since coming to Broadway, Lundqvist has appeared in 685 regular season games across 11 seasons. In that time, the Rangers have missed the post-season just once and reached the Stanley Cup finals back in 2013-14. His career regular and postseason save percentage is .921, his goals against percentage is 2.28. Up until the 2015-16 playoffs, Lundqvist had been capable of stealing games; he carried the Rangers when they made their Cup run.
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All that changed a month ago, when Lundqvist turned in the worst playoff numbers of his career and the Rangers were eliminated after five games. His GAA was a 4.39 and he was pulled in game 4 versus Pittsburgh after giving up four goals on 18 shots. This was the fifth time Lundqvist had been pulled during a playoff game.
During the 2015-16 regular season, Lundqvist turned in a .920 SV%, 2.48 GAA and 35 wins, including 4 shutouts. His GAA continues to rise, but his save percentage has remained consistent these past few years. He still has a lot of life left in the old pads, but if the Rangers want to win they will have to limit his minutes going forward. Lundqvist needs to start resting during the long regular season so he can be counted on once again to steal games in May and June. The situation is tricky for the Rangers: Do you hold on to an aging player who isn’t as great as he once was? If the “Blueshirts” are in the middle of the pack next year by the trading deadline, they could ship Lundqvist to a contender and get a plethora of young talent in return.
Former New York Knicks great, Patrick Ewing, is considered one of the greatest New York athletes of all-time to never win a championship. If you are a Rangers fan, you hope “The King” doesn’t follow in Ewing’s footsteps; at 34 -years-old, he deserves better.
I’ll be tweeting from the NHL Combine and the NHL Draft live in Buffalo, NY, so be sure to follow along on Twitter @wolf3328.
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