The Fallen King: What's Next for Henrik Lundqvist

The month of August has given us a lot of things: absurdly hot weather, a potential federal ban of Tik Tok, more coronavirus cases, and of course, the NHL playoffs. Despite it being a weird format with a play-in group stage and a round-robin for reseeding the teams that already clinched before the pause of play in March. Yes, August is the hockey month. If you've seen how the qualifiers are going, you'd notice a weird trend: none of the top teams are making it into the next round. So far we have upsets of the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, and the New York Rangers. Edmonton and Pittsburgh's elimination raises eyebrows because they have the two best players in the world with Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. Nobody really cares about the Panthers because nobody cared about them during the regular season, but they at least tasted more playoff experience. All eyes were on the New York Rangers, a team on the cusp of emerging as a dark horse candidate for the Stanley Cup. They felt a tropical storm wash them out as the Carolina Hurricanes swept them in 3 games. Much like the Atlantic Ocean, the Hurricanes are unforgiving and taught the Rangers some valuable lessons. Heading into the offseason, the Rangers face some questions about personnel and roster management. The big one: what happens to Henrik Lundqvist now?

Lundqvist has been the backbone for the Rangers for the last 16 seasons. Most of their success in the 2000s and 2010s is accredited to him. This is not the same Rangers team; this is a much younger team that's built around offensive prowess and solid defending. During the regular season, Lundqvist showed serious signs of decline, prompting head coach David Quinn to make the correct decision in playing backup Alexander Georgiev and rookie Igor Shesterkin in favor of the 38-year old Lundqvist. In the playoffs, Lundqvist got the starts but two pretty dismal performances by Lundqvist (and the Rangers defense) led to him getting replaced by Shesterkin, his "heir to the throne." Even with a younger and now arguably better goalie in net, the Rangers still fell flat to a red-hot Canes team. With this elimination, the Rangers are now entering the next phase of their rebuild. It's no longer Lundqvist who they will build around; Shesterkin is definitely the starting goalie next year, and the Rangers will bolster their forward core with more scoring threats to take some of the load off Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. Lundqvist still has a year remaining on his contract, but there is a very small chance he will even be riding the bench as the backup goalie whenever the 2020-21 NHL starts. Since Jeff Gorton took over as general manager of the Rangers, he has carefully maneuvered the team to return to contention without completing overhauling the roster or absorbing any ridiculous contracts. He's also been pretty decent at drafting. Now, he has to make a decision about whether it's time to offload Lundqvist entirely or let him ride out the end of his contract.

To the chagrin of Rangers fans everywhere, it is time to say goodbye to King Henrik. He's always going to be remembered as the elite goaltender he was...but he's also going to be remembered for not bringing the Stanley Cup back to Madison Square Garden. Keep in mind, the Rangers had their shots to win the Cup on multiple occasions (let's not talk about 2014) and each time the Rangers have failed to win it. None of the blame was placed on Lundqvist because he's the King of New York. How can you blame him? The question now is, why can't you blame Lundqvist? You can't just bash the rest of the team, saying they weren't good enough or that Henrik had no help. Yes, he was a big reason for their run to the Cup in 2014, but you know who else was? Martin St. Louis, the elite defense the Rangers had, Carl Hagelin as well. In 2015, the Rangers relied on the stellar play from Chris Kreider and Ryan McDonagh to get them past the Capitals in the second round. May I also remind people that Cam Talbot had to serve as the starting goaltender for a long stretch of games and he only lost 6 of them before Lundqvist returned from injury? I try not to take the piss to Lundqvist, but as a Rangers fan, I can't defend him anymore. It's clear his Hall-of-Fame-caliber career was overshadowed by his postseason shortcomings, so I ask why do we not chastise Hank for his misgivings in the playoffs? Simple: because he's the King. That's it, that's the reason...

As much as I adore Lundqvist as a player and a person, it's time to face the ugly truth: his career is pretty much over. These Cup Qualifiers were his last shot at winning a Cup, but he had to watch his team get swept from the bench. The organization is clearly prepared to move on, whether they buy out his contract, find a trade partner, or Hank retires and leaves his throne for Czar Shesterkin to claim. There really is no telling with the quiet presence of Lundqvist. He's no longer an elite starter, so finding a team that would let a 38-year old goalie be the nightly starter is going to be tough. There is one situation I pray the Rangers don't consider: the expansion draft. Currently, Lundqvist has a no-movement clause in his contract but Gorton may find a way for the King to waive it, which would make him eligible for Seattle's expansion draft. Albeit a very unlikely scenario, this is the one the fanbase wants the Rangers to avoid at all costs. The mere thought of Hank in another team's colors would make most Ranger fans throw up. It's a mystery about what the future holds for an aged netminder like Hank; the only constant here is that he is going to a Rangers legend and his jersey is undoubtedly heading to the rafters in MSG the second he retires.