New York Rangers fans never have to worry about a question that haunts many other NHL fanbases, and that's, "who's going to be our starting goalie?" It seems as though the Rangers have always had a starter. Not just a starting caliber goalie, but also one of the best in the league. They currently have that with Igor Shesterkin, who replaced Henrik Lundqvist, who held the starter's role for 15 years.
Before Lundqvist, there was Mike Richter, who was statistically one of the franchise's best goalies, with 301 wins and 17, 379 saves to his credit. But in 2003, the Rangers needed to find Richter's replacement, as he announced his retirement before the start of the 2003-04 season after suffering multiple concussions. Replacing Richter was going to be a difficult task for the Rangers.
In 2004, the Rangers decided that their best route was to draft his replacement in the first-round.
Rangers draft Al Montoya in 2004 to replace Mike Richter
The Rangers held the sixth-overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, which took them out of the running for the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, who both went first- and second-overall. Given their supposed need for a goalie, the Rangers decided to use their first round pick on Al Montoya out of the University of Michigan.
The selection wasn't exactly surprising, considering he played well for the Wolverines and for Team USA in international play. Not to mention, the Rangers watched the rival Pittsburgh Penguins draft their goalie of the future in Marc-Andre Fleury the year prior with the first-overall pick. Surely, the Rangers would strike gold with Montoya?
But for Montoya, timing really ruined any chance he had at getting a shot with the Rangers, as he didn't play a single game for the team.
Henrik Lundqvist's stellar play ensured Al Montoya never got a chance with Rangers
The first thing that worked against Montoya was that the NHL had a lockout that forced the league to miss the entirety of the 2004-05 season. That put a damper on any prospect that was hoping to make a leap into the league immediately (well, if you weren't Ovechkin or Malkin).
Montoya began the 2005-06 season with the Hartford Wolf Pack, where he put up a 23-9-1 record, a 2.61 goals allowed average, and a .907 save percentage. Those are pretty solid numbers for a goalie in their first year in an NHL system.
Meanwhile, on the Rangers, the team promoted Lundqvist to be their starter after taking over for an injured Kevin Weekes. Lundqvist proceeded to have an incredible rookie season, posting a 30-12-9 record, a .922 save percentage, and a 2.24 goals allowed average in 53 games (50 starts). From there, Lundqvist had the starting goaltending job locked in for the foreseeable future.
And just like that, Montoya was locked out of a chance to prove his worth as a first-round pick. Who would have guessed that Lundqvist, a seventh-round draft pick in 2000, would take such a tremendous leap forward and become one of the best goalies in the NHL in a decade? Sometimes, it just happens in sports. Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick and became one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. On top of that, Lundqvist was particularly healthy early on in his career, so that truly limited Montoya's potential to get a shot with the Rangers.
Montoya lasted just three years with the Rangers organization, where he didn't receive a single start or regular season appearance. He would then move onto a variety of different teams, such as the Phoenix Coyotes, Islanders, Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, and Edmonton Oilers. During that nine season span, Montoya logged 168 appearances and 136 starts. In his career, Montoya put up a 67-49-24 record, a 2.65 goals allowed average, and a .908 save percentage.
As for Lundqvist, he would break Rangers records for wins (459), shutouts (64), cumulative save percentage (.918), and saves (23,509). Additionally, Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy in 2012, helped the Rangers win the Eastern Conference Championship in 2014, and became a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Look, Lundqvist taking that step forward that the Rangers needed really helped them as a franchise. That was an important question they no longer had to worry about. They have that now after the transition from Lundqvist to Shesterkin. The Rangers thought using a first-round pick on Montoya to potentially be the successor to Richter was the right move to make. It wasn't, but luckily for them, a prospect in their organization was more than ready to do so.
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