For Henrik Lundqvist, it's hard to beat the first three years that he has had in his NHL career in the Big Apple.
Lundqvist has been nominated for the Vezina trophy each year, broken franchise records, ended a playoff drought, and has won an Olympic Gold Medal.
This year, Lundqvist will begin the first year of his six-year contract, which will pay him around $6.5 million annually. He will look to get the Rangers playing June hockey, while setting a pace to break every Rangers goaltending record in the book.
And now, with Jaromir Jagr and most likely Brendan Shanahan gone, the face of the franchise now belongs to the King of New York (along with Scott Gomez and Chris Drury). And maybe, with the other personnel changes the Rangers have made, the King will wear the crown as the best goalie in the NHL with a Vezina trophy after the upcoming season.
With Jagr, Shanahan, and Martin Straka out, and Nikolai Zherdev and Markus Naslund in, there may be a more up-tempo style of play that head coach Tom Renney has wanted to play since after the lockout.
Renney's style also involves a commitment to defense, with phrases such as "five men in the picture" featured prominently. However, in past seasons this style brought grief from the moody ex-captain of the Rangers, and many on the team followed his lead and resisted the system.
On the blue line, the Rangers' young draft picks are now in the NHL, as players like Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, along with veteran notables like Wade Redden and Dmitri Kalinin, look to provide responsible play in front of Lundqvist.
With the defense over the last three years being the main concern on Manhattan, and with Lundqvist putting up Vezina-worthy numbers regardless, it is scary to think what his stats will look like after this season.
So, will the fourth time be the charm?
11 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Kristin T 11 months ago
I love how he is the "king" when he has pretty much not done ANYTHING to deserve such a title. Yes, he wins games, yes he makes it to the playoffs, but he has been around for 3 years, its not long enough to deserve any special recognition.
Win a Vezina or a Cup, then call him the king. Until then, he is Brodeurs peasant :)
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Mike Rappaport 11 months ago
I don't know about peasant, the Rangers did beat the Devils in 5 games and Lundqvist did go 7-0-1 against Brodeur in the regular season. While he is clearly not at Brodeur's level (yet) it is a stretch to say that he is his peasant.
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Chris Hoeler 11 months ago
He got it from being in Sweden...he was King over there, especially during the lockout when Frolunda won the league championship with all the NHL players in it. Ranger fans didn't make that name up.
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Kristin T 11 months ago
the peasant thing, its called a joke.
sucks they tore the Devils apart but Marty still won the Vezina
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Scott S 11 months ago
Correct me if I''m wrong sir, but I thought the rangers problems weren't defense related, but rather offense related. I am a jackets fan and didn't get much of a chance to watch the Rangers but when I did they did well on the PK and bad on the PP. As I've said though I may be wrong.
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TJ Ferguson 11 months ago
the powerplay was crappy because everyone thought they had to pass to jagr. kalinin, rozy, and redden are going to be able to run the powerplay now, their way and shoot more, drury dawes naslund gomez dubinsky callahan prucha zherdev or whoever else plays forward on the power play will be their for tip ins rebounds screens and a higher power play success rate
pk doesn't really change, if anything it will probably be better
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Branden Leeman 11 months ago
OK no matter who New York has they always seem to find a way to blow it and after losing Jarger who scored all there goals who will score them now besides maybe Gomez and Drury. If your New York fans think that Naslund will score them well its not going to happen. Its simple things never work out in New York they get a million great players and lose
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Kristin T 11 months ago
on the contrary, i think its their young guns that are going to improve even more this year and put up some numbers (Dubinski especially), Girardi will be top D on their team, Staal...all the young guys. I think that they blew it by over paying Drury and Gomez and should have saved money for when the other guys i mentioned expect big contracts next year or the year after.
But i do agree with you on them always getting "super stars" and blowing it. They dont seem to realize its how the players play together, not as individuals. Jagr made it pretty clear last summer he wasnt too crazy about the Drury and Gomez signings, now he is gone.
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TJ Ferguson 11 months ago
losing jagr was probably the best offseason move the rangers made, now they are a team, a team whose face is drury gomez and lundqvist
when jagr was a ranger, and he was on the ice, he wanted the game to go through him, regardless of whether there were other options, the players would try to get him the puck.
now that jagr is gone, the team is no longer about one player, but many players, ice time can be distributed better, the play will be smoother and the end result will be more goals and more wins
the rangers are a better team without jaromir jagr
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Alan Bass 11 months ago
it very well could, and assuming brodeur doesn't do as well as last year, i think lundqvist will be able to
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John LoGiudice 11 months ago
I think Lundqvist could be the Broadway Blues key to the Promised land. he is a superb goalie. Are North American fans forgetting he led Sweden to Gold Medal glory? King of NY? At least in hockey, yes!
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