New York Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist will be missed when he is gone
Some fans have started to turn on New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. That is a mistake, and you will miss him when he is gone.
Henrik Lundqvist has won a great many games for the New York Rangers over the years. 447 to be exact. Sixth on the all-time wins list tells us all of the relevant facts about “the King”.
That being said, Lundqvist is 36 years old and on the back-end of his career. His record is 16-14 and he entered last night’s game against the Kings with a 3.02 GAA. His save percentage entering last night’s action was .907%. He’s not the Lundqvist of ten years ago.
However, this is causing some fans to overreact. Some of the Rangers faithful are looking ahead to life without Lundqvist. Now I agree, that is going to come sooner rather than later. But, someone actually shared on social media the feeling that they can’t wait until his off the team.
That, my friends, is silly. Frustration with Henrik Lundqvist is frustration that is missplaced.
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First of all, 16 wins isn’t exactly a horrible win total. It’s good enough for a share of the ninth best total in the NHL.
Definitely, let’s wait with bated breath until the Rangers get rid of their top ten goalie.
On this pace Henrik will likely end up with around 25-30 victories. That, my friends, is a successful season for a goalie at any age.
Some fans are talking about this guy like he can’t win a hockey game and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
He gives up some soft goals. There is no arguing that. But what goalie doesn’t? The guy is 36 years old.
To get the guy the Stanley Cup he so richly deserves, the team needs to be built correctly around him, and they just aren’t yet.
When you have a team that is young like the Rangers, they are going to make mistakes, and they are often going to happen in front of the net. That is going to lead to scoring chances that nobody, including Henrik Lundqvist, is going to be able to stop.
Take a look at this for example. This season, the Rangers are in fourth for the most giveaways in the league with 657.
This is not Hank’s fault, ladies and gentlemen. It’s the players around him.
It’s also not his fault that Chris Kreider leads the team with 24 goals followed by Mika Zibanejad with 21 and nobody else has more than 11 goals. Last I checked it’s hard to win hockey games without being able to score goals, even with Lundqvist in net.
For the Rangers to become good again, they need to find their scoring sniper. It will continue to be rough until they either find or develop another scorer.
Next. Spooner swap working well for the Rangers. dark
The Rangers are rebuilding. That is going to expose some weaknesses on the current roster. Don’t take that out on Henrik Lundqvist. Everyone will be sorry once he’s gone.