New York Rangers’ starting goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, has done everything in this league besides win a Stanley Cup. Will he ever get to hoist the Cup?
New York Rangers‘ starting goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, has won a gold medal, a Vezina Trophy, and has set countless Ranger and NHL records for goaltenders. The only thing missing in Lundqvist’s future Hall of Fame resume is a Stanley Cup championship.
Will Lundqvist ever get a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup over his head before it is time to call it a career?
I honestly do not know the answer, as none of us do, but the chances are getting slimmer by the season.
New York Rangers
Lundqvist is no spring chicken. By next season he will be 34 years old and will soon be past his prime. Chances are you will start to see a drop in Lundqvist’s overall numbers and with the Rangers squandering large opportunities over the last two seasons to win a Stanley Cup with a veteran win now team, Lundqvist and the Rangers may be heading towards a downswing, as age starts to play a factor on them.
Plus, with so many teams making the playoffs each season and with postseason success depending so much on matchups, even if Lundqvist’s and other veteran Rangers’ numbers don’t drop, who knows if luck will be on the Rangers’ side and they ever get another opportunity to play in the Stanley Cup Final again.
However, with all of that being said, not all hope is lost. Lundqvist is a workaholic and always keeps his body in the best shape possible so there is a chance he could still be playing at a high level into his late 30s. And, speaking of late 30s, Hall of Fame goaltender, Dominik Hasek, did not win his first Stanley Cup until he was 37 years old and just a few seasons ago, future Hall of Fame goaltender, Martin Brodeur, played in a Stanley Cup Final at age 39.
But the concern for me is not necessarily Lundqvist, but instead it’s the players in front of him.
Throughout Lundqvist’s entire career, the Rangers have never played consistent in front of him, whether it be offense or defense. So many times every season, Lundqvist is left out to dry and no one provides him with goal support. Just take Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning for example, as the Rangers were eliminated by dropping the series finale by a 2-0 final score.
So overall who is to blame?
Well, early on in his career, when Lundqvist was not making much money, there was literally no excuse as to why he could not get consistent goal support. The Rangers relied on Lundqvist even more than they do now and the talent level from the skaters on the team were average at best. This falls mostly on the shoulders of upper management.
Now though, the Rangers have actual talent in front of Lundqvist, both on defense and at forward, however, many of these players are only regular season performers who tend to shy away under the spotlight of the postseason. Rangers’ top goal scorer,
Rick Nash, is the one that gets blamed the most for the Rangers lack of goals in the playoffs and rightfully so. However, I refuse to blame just one player for not giving Lundqvist a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup at this stage of his career.
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In my opinion, the Rangers not winning the Stanley Cup this season and last season has to be blamed on the team as a whole and once again upper management. Now by team as a whole I am sure you think I am excluding Lundqvist, but actually I am not. I feel Lundqvist has to take some of the blame for the Rangers not winning the Stanley Cup over the last two seasons as well.
This is because after signing a new long term contract last season, Lundqvist now has a salary cap hit of $8.5 million, making him the highest paid goaltender in the league and the Rangers do not have much cap space because of it.
So Lundqvist can complain about not getting enough goal support, and while he does have a strong case, he also has to realize that he could have taken less money to stay with the Rangers and give them more cap flexibility to go out and bring in some more offense.
You can’t change the past though. You can only look toward the future, and while Lundqvist’s chances of winning a Stanley Cup in his career are decreasing with each and every season, there is still a chance it could happen one day.
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