He’s one of the best goalies in the National Hockey League. He’s an Olympic champion, a winner of the Vezina Trophy and he currently holds three NHL records and five records as a goaltender for the New York Rangers. But despite all of Henrik Lundqvist’s proven achievements, he has yet to achieve ultimate NHL glory; he has yet to win the Stanley Cup.
The Stanley Cup is one of hardest trophies to win in sports; it can be quite elusive. Even some of the best players like Mats Sundin, Marcel Dionne, and Ron Hextall have never won. The last two goaltenders to backstop the Rangers to a Stanley Cup championship were Dave Kerr and Mike Richter. Kerr won in 1940 and Richter won 54 years later in 1994.
Recently, Lundqvist has been so close to victory he could almost taste the champagne. This time last year Lundqvist and the Rangers had just begun to battle the Los Angeles Kings in the 2014 Stanley Cup final. Exactly 20 years after the Rangers had magically broken the dreaded curse of 1940, defeating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games, it seemed like Lundqvist and the Rangers were destined to bring the cup back to Manhattan and etch their names into NHL history.
This nostalgic feeling was very short-lived, however. After the Rangers blew a 2-0 lead and lost game one in overtime, the Kings never looked back, taking a commanding 3-0 series lead and ousting the Rangers in just five games to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years.
Lundqvist was understandably devastated.
“I knew going into this series that it would end in tears,” Lundqvist said to the New York Post after losing the cup in overtime. “Tears of joy or tears of heartbreak.”
Nevertheless, Lundqvist and the Rangers picked themselves up, dusted off the defeat and went on to have another successful regular season in 2014-15, winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the most points and guaranteeing home-ice advantage throughout the 2015 playoffs.
Starting in just 46 regular season games this season, Lundqvist collected 30 wins and five shutouts while maintaining a 2.25 goals against average and a pretty decent .922 save percentage. Lundqvist’s numbers have been consistent throughout his career. And he continued his solid, reliable goaltending in the 2015 playoffs, putting up almost identical numbers to last year’s finals-birth performance. This year Lundqvist’s stellar goaltending still wasn’t enough, as the upstart Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated the Rangers in game seven of the Eastern Conference finals.
It was yet another disappointing exit for Lundqvist and the Rangers.
“I think everybody understands how hard it is,” Lundqvist said to sports columnist Neil Best after the game seven loss. “So I think it’s important that you appreciate every moment you get in this position and you learn from it.”
But Lundqvist may never be in that position again. There’s no guarantee the Rangers will make it this far next year. Who knows if Lundqvist will ever see the finals again?
Lundqvist’s lack of a championship is drawing comparisons to Patrick Ewing, another New York superstar who failed to bring home the bacon. One day this comparison may hold some truth, but not today. Instead, Lundqvist should be compared to Ron Hextall, another fine NHL goalie who came close but just couldn’t get it done for the Philadelphia Flyers. As a rookie in 1987, Hextall came within one win of the Stanley Cup, losing in game seven to Wayne Gretzky and the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers. That same year, he won the Vezina and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.
Sure, Hextall will always be remembered as one of the best goalies of his generation. And the same goes for Lundqvist. But for Lundqvist to truly be a legend in this league and to be revered like Hall of Famers Patrick Roy and Grant Fuhr, he’s going to have to win. And he’s going to have to win very soon, before it’s too late. Henrik Lundqvist is not king until he has a Stanley Cup ring.
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