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Henrik Lundqvist goes to an uncertain future as an NHL goalkeeper. He tells hockeysverige.se about his tough season, the thoughts for the future and how he looks at a possible return to Frölunda one beautiful day.
- I have to wait and see where the New York Rangers stand, says Lundqvist.
Much indicates that the NHL season 2019/20 season will end in the summer. The last word has not been said there and now it is also starting to raise voices about the risks of players with underlying illnesses. What everything lands in remains to be seen. Many players await and follow the development of a restart of the NHL a little "day by day".
- This situation is so unique and everything is really strange. I'm very short-term here and take it week by week, Henrik Lundqvist tells hockeysverige.se and continues:
- I've been training, trying to keep myself physically fit and technically working with pieces on the ice. If they then push the button and say that we should drive, I can more mentally focus on it, but right now it is more to work with the body, the technology on the ice and keep going. Then we'll see what it becomes.
- It has been a very different time for us, but then I think it has been for most people. I am not trying to ponder as much, but have taken this time to have as good a time as possible with the family back home in Sweden, obtaining energy, energy and positivity.
- I had a pretty heavy time for a few months on the spring edge so the focus now is to exercise and feel good.
How do you think the status of the players will be if the league starts in the summer after a fairly long break?
- It has already been discussed that the first week will be important, that you do not then take-driving. It is important that you get "softened into it" with regard to groin and so on. Often when you run a camp and start skating a lot, it's clear that it will be a bit of a shock to everyone's bodies.
- Then we have different conditions. We train well here in Sweden and many of us are on ice. Not everyone has been able to go there in the United States. Now they will start to open up the training facilities so you will be able to start training there again so I think the guys will be well prepared when it is day time.
Have you trained pre-season during the break or have you run like during a regular season?
- I would say that it feels like something mid-season and mid-season. I keep going, work out on ice, work with pieces of technology…
- At the same time we have no real start date, so I see this break as an opportunity to work a little more with technology and find a good feeling on the ice. Then I would say the body feels very good right now.
There are different times in the world. Henrik Lundqvist's Manhattan and New York have been hit hard by covid-19. If the NHL starts this summer, he and his family have decided that his wife and children will stay home in Sweden.
- If there is a game this summer I will go back myself. The family will remain in Sweden. Obviously it will be very different to be there and away from the family.
- We have just ended conversations with doctors and the team because there are many pieces that will match tests and everything like that when we come over, but also about the procedures we will have when we go to the rink to keep everything in check.
- It won't be this usual to slip in for a morning workout, but there are things we have to do before we set out in the dressing room or on the ice, which is something we just have to make sure every day. There will be some new conditions, but this is also what is needed in such a situation.
When the family will move to New York again is unclear.
- The summer holidays will soon start for the children so they stay in Sweden. So it has always been during my 15 years over there. The focus is still there.
- Then we still do not know when we will play or how long we play. The idea is that they will come over sometime in August no matter what our season looks like.
Just as Henrik Lundqvist said earlier in the interview, he has had a pretty tough season, especially in the spring when he got sparse with playing time.
- I think I had a period in November, December which felt very good. Then we were in a situation the first half of the season where we had a very young team and tried to find our game. The structure got better and better.
- Then I think we as a team actually started to play better and better in the second half of the season. It was in the same vein that I started playing less and less.
- I feel that I did what I could control, train hard and tried to have a good attitude. Then happened the stuff that was beyond my control. Obviously it was not like this I had painted that the season was going to be, but so it was.
The stuff outside Lundqvist's control was that the Russian goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin, by many seen as the Swedish throne heir, was called up from the AHL and gained more playing time and confidence. Meanwhile, Rangers second Russian Alexandar Georgiev got a lot of chances - at "Henkes" expense. From February until the season was paused in March, Lundqvist only made three games from the start.
- For me, it's just a war on. I don't know how they look at the playoffs, whether it will be a playoffs, whether to stand or not. What I can control in this situation is training and preparing myself.
How has the dialogue about your role in the team been during the season?
- During the first half there was really no dialogue but I drove on. Clearly it was a change as we were three goalkeepers. Then there was some dialogue about what this would look like.
- I started to understand how the situation was going to be and I began to prepare mentally for it because it was not something I had experienced earlier in my career. Managing the situation as well as I could, it was a challenge.
He has only positive things to say about his Russian colleagues.
- They have worked well and are good guys. Since then I have had the most discussion with Benoît (Allaire), the goalkeeper coach. At the same time, we have been on ice together and pushed each other and worked well.
You have contracts with the New York Rangers even in the coming season, how are your thoughts moving forward?
- I'm just thinking this summer. After this season, there will be a discussion with Rangers about how they look to the future. Longer than that, I cannot plan at the same time as I realize that the conditions are a little different now.
- That's where I am today. Then I get to think about it when I know how Rangers think.
Are you thinking about a club change or haven't the thoughts gone so far yet?
- The focus is here and now on the playoffs. In the end, it is then they who decide. I have to wait and see where they stand.
Your brother Joel Lundqvist gets to sign a new contract with Frölunda all the time, waiting for you to come home so you both get to play together. He never seems to stop, when will you come home and play in SHL again?
- (Laughter) I don't know. There are many pieces I weigh in and that should feel right for it to happen. I have always said that I never close any doors to Frölunda.
- With that said, I still have more to give away so we can see how everything is going to take place this summer, but also next season. I take it year by year. In this case, I take three, four months at a time. Then there may be new conditions. Then I'll have that discussion then.
So will it be for Joel to sign another contract soon?
- He certainly will. He is happy with life and with Frölunda. He thinks it is fun with hockey and that is how it begins, so with the joy of the sport, concludes Henrik Lundqvist.
https://hockeysverige.se/2020/06/04/henrik-lundqvist-stanger-aldrig-nagra-dorrar-till-frolunda
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