The next win that Henrik Lundqvist gets will put him in a class of his own. When the Rangers' goaltender gets his 30th win of the season, he will become the first goaltender in NHL history to record at least 30 wins in each of his first four seasons.
While this will be a remarkable achievement, Lundqvist's record will be influenced by the biggest change in the rules of the post-lockout NHL, the shootout. As a result of Lundqvist's success in the shootout, he has earned "extra" wins that goaltenders in the NHL before the lockout would not have had the chance to win.
If there were no shootouts in the NHL, Lundqvist wouldn't have recorded 30 wins in his rookie season, and he would only have 23 wins this year instead of 29.
Another factor that influenced this record were the lockouts in 1994-95 and 2004-05.
As a result of the first lockout, which shortened the '95 season to 48 games, cost goaltenders like Martin Brodeur a chance to get 30 wins in that season. And, as a result of the second lockout, Lundqvist was able to get recognition in the Swedish Elite League and start the next season in New York.
Even though you could put an asterisk next to what Lundqvist is about to achieve, the bottom line is that the record will be his, and with Lundqvist's success in his first four seasons, there is no reason to believe that the record will stop at four seasons.
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