The Henrik Lundqvist Blog: Mats Zuccarello Says Henrik Lundqvist is the Perfect Man

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Mats Zuccarello Says Henrik Lundqvist is the Perfect Man

His 10-gallon hat holds 20 gallons.

Sasquatch takes pictures of him.

He has killed two stones with one bird.

He is the most interesting man in New York sports.

Matt Harvey may be more of a celebrity, and he sure creates must-see electricity when he pitches. Eli Manning has the rings.

But there is nobody who transcends his sport more than Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

"Yeah, I mean, he's got an image," teammate and close friend Mats Zuccarello said. "He always has cool clothes, his hair is always perfect. He's the perfect man. He can be goofy in the locker room, he can be one of the guys, he can be funny. He can laugh, he can get chirped, he can chirp someone. He's actually a really good guy.

"But, out there, he's a legend. He's dressing perfectly, he plays the guitar, he's the man everyone wishes they could be. He's the best goalie in the world, got the coolest clothes, the coolest hair. He always has a couple days of beard. So he's always cool. I think that makes him much more than just being a hockey player."

Another close friend, tennis legend and fellow amateur guitarist John McEnroe, sees it too.

"There's a lot of reasons why he's cool," McEnroe said. "He gets it. A lot of guys can't handle New York, especially people from other parts of the world. But it seems he's always been able to handle it really well, and when he needs to step up and be the man, he does that. Sometimes he can fly under the radar. He's a great guy to be around.

"He's just a great person, too. And he's almost as good a guitarist as me."

McEnroe used to holler, "Image is everything," in commercials. With Lundqvist, image might be important, but substance is everything.

"For me to do well on the ice, I need to be myself, and I like to do different things," Lundqvist said. "I spend a lot of time with my family, but I also like to do different things in the city. It's part of who I am. For me, it's about finding a balance in life. For me to perform really well on the ice, I need to find that balance."

Creative philanthropist

Lundqvist has many balls in the air all the time. The Lundqvist family — wife Therese and daughter Charlise — recently grew with the birth of second daughter Juli, and Lundqvist has mentioned the perspective he gains when he holds Juli in his arms.

Charity has always been an enormous part of Lundqvist's life. Most recently, Lundqvist, 33, created and expertly hosted the MSG Network TV series "The Mask," in which he and celebrities McEnroe, Mario Batali, Michael J. Fox, Jeff Gordon and Tiesto, along with the FDNY, designed goalie masks, custom made by friend and Swedish mask artist David Gunnarsson.

Lundqvist wore each mask in a game, and he's auctioning them off. They should raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He also raises money through his Crown Collection of clothing and gear, bearing his No. 30 crown logo.

The money goes to his and Therese's foundation, the Henrik Lundqvist Foundation, which supports multiple children's hospitals and programs in New York (i.e. the Food Bank), Sweden (Ronald McDonald Children's Houses) and the Dominican Republic (Together for Better). It also benefits the Garden of Dreams Foundation, for which he is official spokesman.

"It felt really good when me and my wife started Henrik Lundqvist Foundation about a year and a half ago," he said. "I feel like we can plan different events. It means a lot, especially when people feel that they want to give you the time. Put the money aside, but when people give you their time, I value that a lot. ... it inspires you to try to do the same.

"I'm pretty hands-on when it comes to things that, you know, if I put the name behind it. Obviously I have (help) ... but when it comes time to do the projects we do, and the organizations we're working with, the Presbyterian Children's Hospital, the Food Bank of New York, these are organizations where I'm going to help out and try to make a difference."

Sharp dresser, goalie

As he spoke, Lundqvist was perfectly dressed and coiffed, of course. After playoff games, when locker rooms get too crowded with media, sometimes Lundqvist is brought to a press conference podium. When that happens, reporters roll their eyes, because they know they will have to wait an extra 20-to-30, deadline-killing minutes while Lundqvist fixes his hair and dresses to the nines, right down to the pocket square.

The guy is known for his clothes and the way he wears them. He has, again, transcended sport with his appearances in magazines and on fashionista best-dressed lists. He has also appeared on TV shows that rarely feature hockey players, such as "Live with Kelly and Michael," or "Late Show with David Letterman" or "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," where Lundqvist played guitar to Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine."

"I had a few years where I dressed really bad," Lundqvist said with a laugh. "Especially as a youngster between 16 and 20. It was a time where I experienced a lot of different looks. But it also got me more interested in fashion. I'm not going to say I'm super into fashion. I like to dress well, and, obviously, New York City's a great place when it comes to different looks, and I get inspired by different styles. But I'm not a type of guy that reads fashion magazines or follows the latest trends. I don't do that. I use my stuff that I like. Some people might like it, some people probably don't like it, but that's how it goes."

Lundqvist has done a fair amount on the ice, too.

Lundqvist last week set the franchise record for playoff games played. He leads all Rangers goalies in career wins (339), shutouts (55) and save percentage (.921), and he's the only NHL goalie ever to win at least 30 games in nine of his first 10 seasons. He's won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goalie, as well as gold and silver Olympic medals for Sweden. He has won five consecutive Stanley Cup playoffs Game 7s.

"I think there's a lot of things going on in his head at all times," said teammate and friend Carl Hagelin, a fellow Swede. "He can't really sit still. He's one of those guys that has to have things going on, or he'll freak out. That's a good thing for him to kind of block out everything that's going on (at the rink). When he's not here, he's being a normal person that's doing a lot of fun things outside the rink."

The most interesting man in sports.