The New York Rangers are in the midst of their worst season since 2003-2004. It isn’t a coincidence that the team was good for so long along with the arrival of Henrik Lundqvist.
When the season started, the Rangers were expected to be in the same tier they’ve been in for years: good, not great. There was no reason to think that the work tank would be in the same sentence as the Rangers. The team was comprised of veteran talent and had Lundqvist as its backbone. Any team with one of the five best goalies on the planet can hang around in the playoff race.
Of course, things did not go to plan. The Kevin Shattenkirk’s torn meniscus and Chris Kreider’s blood clot derailed the season beyond recovery. This poor preformance put the front office in an impossible position, trade the veteran talent or try to ride it out for an eight seed.
However, something strange happened after the trade deadline. The Rangers found an identity, after sleep walking through January and February, the team went all in on giving up scoring chances to generate their own. This formula is directly the reason the team likely will not have a top five pick in the draft.
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The teams around them, the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders all went into cruise control. The Rangers on the other hand were picking up points because Lundqvist refused to just roll over and die.
Hank’s mindset
The word for Lundqvist as a player is obsessed. The goaltender has spent his entire career in search of being perfect every single night. The goals he gives up seem like affronts to his character and often make the goaltender visibly distraught. Lundqvist is the leader on this team and its obvious by the way he carries himself. The goaltender expects to win each and every night, take this season as a model.
The Rangers are objectively a terrible team in most measures. New York has the worst team Corsi For Percentage in the entire league. On an average night, the team only has 42.9% of the shots in the game. It is exremely difficult to win hockey games when you are being pinned in your own zone for minutes at a time.
This season, Lundqvist is 5-5-1, with a .947 save percentage and 2.36 goals against average when facing 40 or more shots this year. The Rangers goaltender became the first goalie in NHL history to win two consecutive games with 50 or more saves. Those games were against the bottom feeding Canucks and Calgary Flames. Not exactly the 1998 Detroit Red Wings putting a 50 spot up on the board.
The Future
“Next year has to be about winning and nothing else,” Lundqvist told reporters Tuesday morning. The goaltender will be 37 years old at the end of next season. Lundqvist has aged like a fine wine and not a race horse. The big indicator for success next season will be the roster in front of him. The team has some interesting parts but is definitely several pieces away from being contenders.
The one guarantee for next season is Lundqvist between the pipes for at least 20 wins. That is as dependable as death and taxes. The new guys are getting more and more acclimated with each and every game. The call ups of Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson have gone about as well as possible for the Rangers.
They’re not the answer for every single problem the Rangers have, but they’re a starting point. Combine this with a motivated Lundqvist, another year of development for Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider, Brady Skjei and free agent acquisitions, the Rangers might have a chance.
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No matter what though, the Rangers won’t tank on Lundqvist’s watch. The goaltender is too competitive of an individual to just accept a loss