EWB Best Season: (7) 2012-13 Henrik Lundqvist vs. (26) 2011 Eli Manning

Next up in the Empire Writes Back best season of the 2010’s tournament is the 7th seeded 2012-12 season of Henrik Lundqvist against the 26th seeded 2011 season of Eli Manning.

The Empire Writes Back best season of the 2010’s tournament continues on, as (7) 2012-13 Henrik Lundqvist faces off against (26) 2011 Eli Manning.

First, we’ll start with Eli Manning’s 2011 season for the New York Giants.

Manning had a career year for the Giants that year, passing for 4933 yards and 29 touchdowns while completing 61% of his passes in 16 games for the team that year. He also had a league-leading 5 4th quarter comebacks and 6 game winning drives, to go along with a QBR (Quarterback Rating) of 64.

Manning led the Giants to a 9-7 record to top the NFC East. Despite the somewhat unimpressive record for a playoff team, he led them right to the Super Bowl where he would take down the New England Patriots once again and claim his second championship and Super Bowl MVP trophy.

He was also named to the pro bowl for his efforts in the regular season, the 2nd time in his career he had such an accomplishment. Manning had a season Giants fans will remember for a long time, so it’s not hard to see why he made this list.

However, Henrik Lundqvist also had a crazy good season for the New York Rangers in 2012-13.

In the lockout shortened season, Lundqvist had a GAA of 2.05 and a save percentage of .926, while winning a league leading 24 of his 43 starts. He also had 2 shutouts and led the league in goalie win shares with 9.3, which would be really good for a normal season but is even impressive in a shortened one.

The Rangers would go on to make the playoffs, largely because of Lundqvist’s efforts, but ultimately lose to the Boston Bruins in the conference semi-finals. Lundqvist made his second consecutive end of season all-star team and finished second in that year’s Vezina Trophy voting to Sergei Bobrovsky

This matchup will probably be a close one on the polls, in my opinion, and it is in my head as well. At the end of the day though, I have to go with Lundqvist’s 2012-13 season for the Rangers.

Manning did have an impressive year in 2011, including winning a Super Bowl. With that being said, Lundqvist was much more dominant than an Manning was a finalist for a major award, and that’s what does it for me here.

Do you agree that it should be Lundqvist? Or do you think Manning should be moving on to the next round? Either way, be sure to vote on our Twitter, @empirewritesbck, to determine who you think should win this matchup.

You should also be on the lookout for future matchup’s in this series, as they are released every morning for the duration of the tournament.

In the mean time, the NFL has been going crazy due to the start of the new league year and we’ve got all the coverage for your New York sports team and their moves here on Empire Writes Back. Be sure to check out what we have to say about everything going on!