Capitals' Henrik Lundqvist Announces Release from Hospital After Heart Surgery

Washington Capitals goalie Henrik Lundqvist announced Friday that he was released from the hospital Thursday after undergoing heart surgery.

Lundqvist, 38, signed a one-year contract with the Caps during the offseason after spending the first 15 years of his NHL career as a member of the New York Rangers.

The Swedish star was ruled out for the entire 2020-21 NHL season, however, after being diagnosed with a heart condition that required surgery. Lundqvist announced last week that he underwent a five-hour surgery that went "really well."

Lundqvist is one of the greatest goaltenders of his era, as he owns a 459-310-96 record with a 2.43 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and 64 shutouts in 887 career regular-season games.

King Henrik ranks eighth all-time in goalie games played, sixth in wins, 23rd in GAA and 12th in save percentage in NHL history.

Given his dominance for a long stretch of time, Lundqvist has no shortage of accolades to his credit, including five All-Star nods, winning the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goalie in 2012 and being named Rangers team MVP nine times.

Lundqvist also led the Blueshirts to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, although they fell short against the Los Angeles Kings.

With young goalies Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev emerging in New York, the Rangers made the difficult decision to part ways with Lundqvist during the offseason.

While retirement was a possibility, Lundqvist decided to sign with the Caps in order to be a backup and mentor to young goalie Ilya Samsonov.

Instead, Lundqvist was ruled out for the season, leaving Vitek Vanecek to serve as Samsonov's backup despite having no games of NHL experience to his credit.

It is unclear if Lundqvist will attempt to resume his NHL career next season, but updates on his health and progress continue to be positive after a scary diagnosis.