Henrik Lundqvist’s nickname is “The King”, a tribute to the elite skills of the New York Rangers goaltender.
Now he is being paid a king’s ransom. The Rangers and their No 1 star agreed to a seven-year contract last week worth US$59.5 million (Dh218.5m), making him the top-paid goalie in the league.
“I want to be a Ranger for life,” Lundqvist said, while praising the organisation, the city and fans. “To picture myself anywhere else, it was just wrong.”
What the Rangers were picturing was Lundqvist, 31, skating around Madison Square Garden holding the Stanley Cup, sometime in the not-too-distant future.
No one doubts the Swede’s value, based on past performance. The new deal simply moves the focus forward. The Rangers are gambling that Lundqvist can stay sharp long enough to be the centrepiece of a championship run.
His individual successes are in the books. He won the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender two years ago and has been a finalist (top three) five times.
He won a gold medal with the Swedish national team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
His career numbers of 2.26 goals per game and a 92.0 save percentage are impressive enough that he is routinely referred to as the best goaltender in the league.
Lundqvist also helped the Rangers to the Eastern Conference finals in 2012. But overall, his play-off performances have not lived up to his lofty standards.
His post-season numbers are eerily similar to the regular season – a 2.28 GAA and 92 per cent saves. But in the play-offs, defences historically tighten up, and the best goalies turn up their games a notch.
His own stats are the best measuring stick. His regular season numbers have produced a 285-182-58 record. Those nearly identical post-season averages are good for a 30-37 mark.
“That’s the one glaring loss is he doesn’t have a Cup,” the ESPN analyst Barry Melrose said after Lundqvist’s new contract became public, adding that the Rangers are not positioned to challenge the league’s best right now.
“Frankly, I don’t see a Cup for the Rangers on the horizon any time soon, with the [Pittsburgh] Penguins and [Boston] Bruins, and all those teams in the West.”
On the other hand, league history says a hot goalie is a post-season treasure, and with Lundqvist, the potential is always there.
The night after he signed his deal, Lundqvist and New York beat Buffalo 3-1, with the goalie stopping 27 shots. The victory, however, moved the Rangers just one game above .500, barely good enough, at the moment, for the eighth and final play-off spot in the East.
sports@thenational.ae
