After watching Alex Ovechkin reach the top of the mountain, it is obvious that Henrik Lundqvist is the next man up. The veteran in pursuit of the Stanley Cup is one of the most powerful storylines in hockey.
In the modern sports lexicon, it is all about championships. A player’s legacy is basically summed up into one of two camps. Those who won a championship and those who did not. If a player did not win a championship they cannot be seriously considered one of the greatest of all time. This argument seems dumb in the grand scheme of things because hockey is a team sport.
One player’s legacy being tied to a team achievement is simply where sports are. It is why Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder in pursuit of a championship. Yet, when everything breaks right and that player hunting a championship wins, the discussion changes. Ovechkin finally got over the hump this season and suddenly the narrative shifts. The idea that the Capitals’ captain changed anything about his game and that’s the reason Washington finally won is lunacy.
This brings the discussion to Lundqvist who has the best resume of anyone in the league to not win the cup. It comes down to the fact that the Rangers have never seriously fielded an elite team around the goaltender. New York’s best two teams, the 2014 and 2015 iterations got scraped off the pavement in big moments. Sure, the cup final in 2014 was close, but the Rangers only lasted five games.
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New York now faces the serious dilemma of failing the franchise’s signature player. The Rangers also do not have a real chance of competing for at least one more season.
The journey
This upcoming season will be Lundqvist’s 14th in the NHL. From the very beginning it was clear that the goaltender was going to be a special player. It is not a coincidence that the Rangers revival as an organization coincided with Lundqvist coming to the United States. Ever since Lundqvist took over as the Rangers starter in 2005, the team has been a contender for that very reason.
The simple logic of contention being that all a team needs to win the cup is a hot goaltender. Make no mistake about it, Lundqvist in the postseason is amongst the best of all time. Even though his win, loss record is skewed because of the team’s he’s played on, Lundqvist still has stellar numbers. Even though the team lost in the Eastern Conference finals in the 2012 postseason, the Swede was at his absolute best. Lundqvist posted a 1.82 goals against average, three shutouts and a .931 save percentage.
In the grand scheme of things Lundqvist has been a blessing to the organization. The team was sorely in need of a marquee player that could inspire hope in the franchise. Sure, goalie is not a glamorous job, but they often have the most impact on the final result of a game. More often than not, Lundqvist gives the Rangers a chance to win on any given night. That is the job of a goaltender on the most simple level.
The light at the end of the tunnel
The Rangers have Lundqvist under contract for just three more seasons. At the end of the goaltender’s contract, he will be 39 years old. At that point, it is expected that Lundqvist will hang up the skates and walk away to greener pastures. The Rangers are not going to put a great team on the ice next season. They probably will barely be a good team next season.
That’s the real hard part of this entire situation. Lundqvist’s time in the league is winding down and he might go down with the ship on the rebuild. In fact, the Rangers offered the Swede a way out at the deadline this past season. However, Lundqvist said he wanted to stay and see it through. With a coach, organization and fan base firmly in his corner, the goaltender will be faced with the greatest task of his entire career: guiding a team of young guys back to contention.
The Rangers are clearly a team starting over, aside from Lundqvist, only two other players, Marc Staal and Mats Zuccarello are over the age of 30. Only one other player, Jesper Fast, remains from the 2014 Stanley Cup Final team. The Rangers are a team with little hope of winning the Stanley Cup with their current batch of players.
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It is unlikely to happen, but the scene of Lundqvist raising the cup over his head as a winner sends chills up the spine. The Rangers