New York Rangers: David Quinn makes the right call at goaltender

Even with a future Hall of Famer in Henrik Lundqvist at head coach David Quinn’s disposal, he’s making the right decision using the backup Alexandar Georgiev frequently down the stretch.

It’s not easy for a head coach to juggle the personalities of a locker room and even brilliant tacticians can fail at the human side of management. An insane competitor like Henrik Lundqvist cannot be taking a reduced workload without wanting to scratch his forearm. However, New York Rangers head coach David Quinn is making the right decision between the pipes down the stretch.

At several points during Lundqvist’s brilliant career, New York has brought along a competent young backup. But, with someone so firmly entrenched in the starting job like the Swede, there was never going to truly be a goalie controversy. As the old saying about football goes, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. The same is true when it comes to hockey.

Both Cam Talbot and Antti Raanta were serviceable backups to Lundqvist and played well enough that other organizations were willing to give them a chance as starters. Things are slightly different when it comes to 23-year-old Alexandar Georgiev in the sense that the organization never intended for him to play where he has to this point.

Going into the 2017-2018 season, the team signed veteran backup Ondrej Pavelec to play behind Lundqvist. As a veteran team that was expected to compete for a playoff spot, the Rangers couldn’t afford to splurge on a pricey backup or extend Raanta that Summer.

When Pavelec was injured midway through the season, the Rangers were forced to turn to a 22-year-old from Bulgaria with minimal developmental experience that was signed to an amateur free agent contract from the Swedish league. In minimal work last year, Georgiev proved to be a solid backup behind a terrible team.

This brings us to this season, in which again, New York is rebuilding and figuring things out as an organization.

Father time

At soon to be 37-years-old, Lundqvist is in a mortal struggle against father time. Hockey players age on different tracks depending on their style of play. There are examples of goaltenders that play well into their late 30s and even early 40s in recent NHL history. Martin Brodeur, Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo all managed to help their team wins while being considered “old,” for hockey.

Even behind a bad Rangers team, Lundqvist is playing every game like his life depends on it. The clanging of goalie sticks on the post after a blown coverage in the defensive zone is a common site to those who’ve followed the Swede through his career. There are times where Lundqvist genuinely might explode in frustration at his teammates for bad mistakes.

There is going to be a point in the not so distant future in which an heir to the throne could supplant Lundqvist as the starter. It’s unlikely to be Georgiev, a talent that the team signed as a free agent and did not require draft capital. With Igor Shestyorkin likely to make the jump to North America this summer, Georgiev may find himself as the odd man out.

However, in the interim, it’s important that Lundqvist is protected from his own competitiveness. If it were up to the veteran, he’d play all 82 games of the regular season and never take time off. But, at his age, recovery is imperative. Having a competent backup is a luxury as an elite goaltender, think of it as a golfer having a great caddy.

In addition, while the organization is never going to come out and admit that the team would prefer to pick in the top five of the draft as opposed to ninth or tenth, that must also be at least part of the decision making process. With four games coming up against other lottery teams, the Rangers are in direct control of where they will pick come June.

Even in a lottery system, the more a team loses, the better the chances of picking higher are a quality incentive in the hopes of landing a generational talent.

This is no doubt tough for both Quinn and Lundqvist. No coach ever wants to have to tell their best player that they won’t play. But, for the greater good, it’s invaluable.