Steady.
That’s the word that keeps coming to mind with Henrik Lundqvist, the NHL goaltender who announced his retirement on Friday.
From the moment the King stepped on to the ice in 2005-06, some five years after the New York Rangers took him with a seventh-rounder in the 2000 NHL draft, Lundqvist was as steady as they came in net for his entire career.
He topped 30 wins every year of his 15-season career in all but three seasons, and I’m not counting the lockout-shortened 2012-13 year in which he led the league in victories with 24. He led the league in shutouts twice. He won one Vezina Trophy in 2011-12. His .918 save percentage is currently 10th all time.
Whenever he was in net, you didn’t worry about him. It was more about what the Rangers could do in the other facets of the game. Sometimes, it was too much on Lundqvist, and there he was, stopping pucks left and right.
— Henrik Lundqvist (@hlundqvist35) August 20, 2021
But we all know some of the talk will focus on the lack of a Stanley Cup when others on the all-time wins list — he’s sixth, with names like Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Marc-Andre Fleury and Ed Belfour ahead of him — have their names etched.
Ignore that. From a pure skill perspective and that consistency I keep coming back to, he’s among the all-time great names at goalie, perhaps not in the top tier with Roy, Brodeur and Dominik Hasek. But let’s not underrate him just because of the lack of a ring. Consistency in a goaltender is a near-impossible thing.
In a sport where goalies' stats tend to fluctuate annually and almost randomly at times, Henrik Lundqvist was astoundingly consistent. From 2009 to 2016, his season save percentage never dipped below .920.
— Mike Hume (@MikeHumePost) August 20, 2021
Happy retirement to Henrik Lundqvist. Over the last thirteen seasons he saved +178.2 goals more than an average goalie would have. [rink adjusted] pic.twitter.com/TQHr4YHWYC
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) August 20, 2021
And let’s not forget the gold medal for Sweden in Turin back in 2006, with Lundqvist just masterful during the whole tournament.
It’s just awful the way his career ended, with a heart condition preventing him from ever suiting up with the Washington Capitals (side note: As a Rangers fan for life, that would have been hard for me to see).
The hope is the Rangers immediately retire his iconic No. 30 to the Madison Square Garden rafters on opening night later this year and play a highlight reel that will include save after save after save.
Because that — and his charming personality, both with fans and reporters, one that never seemed to waiver even in tougher times in New York — is what we’ll remember.
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