Open heart surgery for Lundqvist

New York Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist’s announced he will need open heart surgery

The former New York Rangers goaltender shocked the hockey world when he revealed that he had a heart condition.  His announcement today that he needs open heart surgery was even more surprising.  The announcement about Lundqvist’s surgery came from the goaltender himself on Twitter.

Here is the text of what he said:

"“Last 3 weeks my focus has shifted from training camp and the upcoming season to my health and what I can and can’t do. Scheduled for an open heart surgery now – aortic valve replacement, aortic root and ascending aortic replacement, to be more exact.  We all have our mountains to climb, staying positive here and set on the road to recovery.”/HL"

While any kind of open heart surgery is serious, this procedure has been done for decades.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, here is what the surgery entails:

“In aortic valve and root replacement (composite aortic root replacement), your surgeon removes a section of your aorta and your aortic valve. The section of your aorta is replaced with an artificial tube (graft), and your aortic valve is replaced with a mechanical or biological valve. If you have a mechanical valve, you’ll need to take anticoagulant medications for life to prevent blood clots.”

11 days ago, the 38-year-old Lundqvist had revealed that he had a heart condition that would prevent him from playing for the Washington Capitals this season.   Last week, Caps GM Brian MacLellan said that the goalie had been managing the heart condition his whole career, but he said that ” A routine physical – an early physical – turned into ‘we need to explore further what’s going on with you’ situation and specialists determined that it was serious enough to stop playing.”

This raises the question of whether Lundqvist’s condition had deteriorated recently or if the Rangers’ medical staff missed what the Washington staff detected.

Lundqvist’s future

The normal recovery period from this kind of surgery is three months and it may involve the patient using blood thinners.   While all indications are that patients who undergo this surgery are able to resume normal activities, playing goal in the NHL is far from normal and it remains to be seen if Lundqvist will ever play competitively again.

He turns 39 in March and it likely that a return to the NHL won’t be possible, but it’s too early to say that definitively.  To replace him, the Capitals invited free agent goalie Craig Anderson to their training camp on a Professional Tryout.   Anderson, 39, played last season for the Ottawa Senators where he has been the number one goalie for nine years.

If Lundqvist has to retire, there is a plan for the him to return to the New York Rangers in a front office position.

Reaction

The news about the surgery made headlines all over the hockey world.  It’s still disconcerting to see him described as “Washington Capital’s goalie” when he has never played for that team and probably never will.

Derek Stepan reacted to the news when he was interviewed about his trade from Arizona to Ottawa.

There’s no doubt that there will be much more reaction from his former teammates and the rest of the hockey world.

Lundqvist did not reveal where he will be having the procedure or when it is scheduled.  That information should be coming soon.