New York Rangers: Are there seven goalies better than Lundqvist right now?
NHL Network and NHL.com recently made a list of the top 10 goaltenders in the NHL going into the 2017-2018 season. New York Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was somehow listed at number eight behind some inferior netminders.
Henrik Lundqvist had the worst season of his NHL career in 2016-2017. He only managed to put up a 2.75 goals against average, coupled with a mediocre save percentage of .910. It was a tough season on him physically and mentally as people were suggesting that he was declining at a dramatic rate.
The producers and researchers at NHL Network got together and made a list of the top 10 goalies going into next season and decided to drop the 35-year-old to number eight in the league, a two spot drop off from where they had him ranked going into last season.
On the surface, if you solely look at the numbers from last year – the lazy way of evaluating talent for a list like this – then yes, it makes sense to penalize Lundqvist for his down year.
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But when you take into account things like rosters, systems, and injuries, among other factors, those who think he’s worse than some of the names above him are crazy.
The first thing you need to know about Lundqvist from last year was that for 75 percent of the season, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, and Nick Holden were all featured in the Rangers’ top two defensive pairings. I would love to see what a Jonathan Quick – who was number five on the list – would do with a defense like that in front of him every night.
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When the team went out and acquired Brendan Smith at the trade deadline, Lundqvist started to play much better. Come playoff time – where he has been money his entire career – he was on fire. Lundqvist went 6-6 with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage.
With that in mind, some of the names above him on this list concern me. Devan Dubnyk? Really? I give him the edge over Pekka Rinne and maybe Martin Jones but this guy has yet to put together a complete season of dominance.
He was sensational to start last season but had a 2.82 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage after the All Star break. It’s worth noting that he had a similar drop off in 15-16 too. Those numbers look a whole lot like the ones he put up in Edmonton when he was a fringe NHL goalie. When he puts together a full season of consistency come talk to me about Dubnyk being on the top 10 list.
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I would also rank Lundqvist ahead of guys like Cam Talbot and Jonathan Quick. Talbot has proven to be extremely durable and more than solid over his young career, but had a lot more to work with in front of him last year. Once again, Henrik Lundqvist had Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Nick Holden, and at times Kevin Klein, in his team’s top four.
Jonathan Quick was out for all but 17 games last season. Although he has had better defenders around him and plays in a defense-first system, he and Lundqvist have had comparable numbers over the past few years. And if you want to throw playoffs into the equation, they are about equal there too. Lundqvist beats Quick in save percentage by .001 and Quick beats Lundqvist in goals against average by 0.01. The difference is Lundqvist has played in 47 more postseason contests.
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At the end of the day, the rankings don’t mean too much. Lundqvist is primed for a huge bounce back season as his defense is completely revamped. A top-four of Ryan McDonagh, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brady Skjei and Brendan Smith is formidable and his numbers will skyrocket because of it.