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Henrik Lundqvist: The elimination of the Rangers must decide what will happen to the icon

“This hurts,” said Rangers coach David Quinn. “I am disappointed with the way we played. We only played well two out of nine-thirds, which we certainly can’t be proud of. “

His selection last Wednesday lost to Caroline 1: 4, who dominated the entire qualifying series 3: 0 for matches. While the Hurricanes are waiting for their opponents in the 1st round of the Stanley Cup in Toronto, the Rangers are the first team to pack home from Canadian hotel bubbles.

Nečas scored in Carolina’s advance, Calgary took Winnipeg

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In a shortened series, they arrived on a lax defense. The elite center Mika Zibanejad and Artémi Panarin, who is nominated for the Hart Trophy for the most useful player in the entire NHL, did not shine in the attack. The Rangers were not lit by Filip Chytil or any of the young men’s army.

Be sure not to look for the cause of the exclusion in the goal area.

But after the infamous end of the playoffs, it is expected that this is where the biggest change will not occur. “The era of Henrik Lundqvist may be over,” reads the headline in the New York Post’s web commentary. “Lundqvist’s era ends with the elimination of the Rangers,” writes the well-known server The Hockey News.

He amused to warm up

The Swedish goalkeeper has been catching up for the Rangers for fifteen years. Dominik Hašek and no other goalkeeper from Europe managed more matches in the NHL and did not claim more wins. Lundqvist won the Vezin trophy for the best goalkeeper of the competition, earned the nickname King Henrik.

But the Rangers have been going through a difficult generational change last season, which will probably be felt by a masked giant.

It would make sense.

Lundqvist will be 39 next season. His place was already successfully pushed in the interrupted year by younger Russian competitors Alexandr Georgiev and Igor Shestorkin, who caught Wednesday’s third game against Carolina.

Coach Quinn pointed to the Swedish matador for the first two swords. An entertaining video from Lundqvist’s warm-ups, which were exactly the same, circled the hockey world. But it was as if it meant that Lundqvist would attract more attention with his name than with what he would show in the match.

3. august 2020 at 20:04, post archived: 5. august 2020 at 13:11


After two elimination duels, the success of the hits was slightly over ninety percent, he collected seven goals. “He caught well,” Newsday said. “But not good enough for the Rangers to win.”

A perfectionist on and off the ice

Lundqvista’s boundless desire for success has long made him a unique goalkeeper. “He’s a very competitive type who can tear down a cabin,” Chytil explained about him last year. Lundqvist owns gold from the Olympics and the World Cup. He also has a Swedish degree. Only the Stanley Cup still escapes him and he won’t win it again this year in strange coronavirus sets without spectators.

Lundqvist’s former goalkeeper colleague Ondřej Pavelec again described what a perfectionist he is outside of the ice. “She is very passionate about fashion. Everything was perfectly coordinated and you did not see the same clothes on it for two days in a row, “said Pavelec. “He took four suits for a four-day trip.”

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Now a handsome Swedish man in a Toronto hotel could carefully put his suits in his suitcases and head home. “He deserved more from us,” said Rangers striker Chris Kreider. “He wanted to win more than anyone I met.”

While King Henrik used to be used to leaving the goal kingdoms with fanfare and praise, he has been getting used to new orders in recent seasons. In the statistics he fell to the average, which is hard to bite. He also found it difficult for the Rangers to stop joining the Stanley Cup. Now they played for it mainly thanks to coronavirus, which created an extended playoff for 24 teams.

And in August, three duels in four days were enough, and there was hope.

The last moments before Lundqvist’s elimination were being filmed by cameras. Stringed in his goalkeeper’s gear, he sat silently behind the plexiglass, staring sadly at the ice. It is as if the Canadian director of the broadcast suspected that this could be one of the last chances to see a Swede in a Rangers jersey.

Will sentiment or trend win?

His younger competitors could already boast better statistics in the interrupted season. Both Sixkinin and Georgiev have shown that they can properly replace the aging Lundqvist. In addition, youth is in the NHL. Greenhorns get more opportunities than when Lundqvist was looking around in the league.

On the other hand, the handsome star with his always precisely cut hairstyle in Manhattan still has a valid contract for next season. But even that can actually be a burden.

Both Sixorkin and Georgiev are (and still will be) several times cheaper, while Rangers pays $ 8.5 million a year for Lundqvist’s services. For a veteran with a deteriorating balance, this is too high a figure. Needless to say, it’s a luxury for the NHL to keep three top goalkeepers in the squad.

However, the question remains whether there will be another interested party in the NHL who would buy Lundqvist and find enough space under the salary cap.

If not, what’s next? Will Lundqvist end a fascinating career? Or maybe he will go to the twin Joel, who as a captain commands the Swedish champions from Frölunda? Or will the Rangers find a place in the cabin for the famous goalkeeper next season as well?

The next days and weeks will tell.

It is clear that Lundqvist caught a respectable 887 duels in the basic part, which places him in eighth place in the historical tables of the NHL. However, King Henrik, as the only one of the elite ten goalkeeper, recorded all the starts in a single club. For the Rangers, he also caught the 129th game in the playoffs in a row. When he retires, he will surely hang his jersey with his number 30 under the roof of Madison Square Garden.

Lundqvist’s sequel to Manhattan today would be pure hockey romance. But the Rangers have to figure out if this is too much sentiment.


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