GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Henrik Lundqvist said he wanted to be a Ranger for life, and now he will have that chance. The Rangers announced Wednesday that Lundqvist had signed a seven-year contract extension, ending speculation that he might depart when his contract expired at the end of the N.H.L. season.
“I know there’s been some speculation,” Lundqvist said at a news conference at the Rangers’ practice rink. “But from the heart, it was never an option to leave this club.”
The new deal, for $59.5 million, with an $8.5 million annual salary-cap hit, makes Lundqvist the highest-paid Ranger and the highest-paid goalie in the N.H.L. It represents a significant raise from his old contract, which had a $6.875 million cap hit per year. Lundqvist turns 32 in March, meaning he will be 39 if he stays through the term of the contract, which is one year shorter than the maximum allowed by the new collective bargaining agreement.
The importance of re-signing Lundqvist was underscored by the presence of the team owner James L. Dolan at the news conference. Dolan, who rarely attends functions pertaining to hockey matters but who is a lifelong Rangers fan, called Lundqvist “a model of what you want in a player” and said he was pleased that Lundqvist would wear Rangers blue for the rest of his career.
Lundqvist, known for his sense of style — on this occasion, he was impeccably dressed in a well-tailored suit — smiled as he stood alongside General Manager Glen Sather.
“He’s a great guy, he’s a great competitor, he’s great in the magazines, and we’re excited to have him here,” Sather said. “So it’s up to you, Henrik — now just carry us on your shoulders.”
Sather’s assessment was an accurate measure of how vital Lundqvist has been to the Rangers since coming from Sweden in 2005.
In some of his eight seasons, he almost single-handedly willed the Rangers into the playoffs. He has been named the team’s most valuable player seven times. Lundqvist, the N.H.L.’s most consistently excellent goalie, has won a Vezina Trophy and was a finalist for the award four other times, and he has finished among the top 10 in save percentage six times. He also won an Olympic gold medal with Sweden at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, and will be his country’s No. 1 goalie at the Games in February in Sochi, Russia.
But the Stanley Cup has eluded him.
“I really want to win a Cup here in New York,” Lundqvist said. “It’s my biggest goal and my biggest dream.”
The re-signing came after a minor controversy this week. Coach Alain Vigneault started the backup Cam Talbot in a second straight game in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. It was the first time a healthy Lundqvist had sat out two straight games since the 2010-11 season.
But on Wednesday, Vigneault seemed to have put that experiment in the past.
“What do they say — happy wife, happy life?” Vigneault said. “Happy goalie, happy team.”
Asked if he had decided who would play goal in the Rangers’ game at Buffalo on Thursday, Vigneault said it was “pretty obvious I’m going with Hank.”
After a shaky start this season, Lundqvist has registered a .930 save percentage in his last 13 appearances. But he has continued to allow the occasional soft goal and expressed dissatisfaction with his performance. He said again Wednesday that the contract talks were not a factor in his play this season.
“During the summer, I probably thought about it every day, and going into training camp it was definitely there,” Lundqvist said. “When it didn’t happen, for a couple days it was on my mind. But then I let it go.”
Sather said he was talking with the representatives for the seven pending unrestricted free agents still on the roster: the captain Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman, Brian Boyle, Taylor Pyatt, Dominic Moore and Benoit Pouliot.
“In my mind, Henrik was the one that had to be signed first,” Sather said.
Lundqvist’s new contract eats up significant salary-cap space and could make it difficult to re-sign Callahan, who makes $4.275 million in his expiring contract, and Girardi, a top defenseman, who makes $3.325 million. A $4.9 billion Canadian television contract signed last week with Rogers Communications is expected to provide more cap space in coming seasons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/sports/rangers-sign-lundqvist-to-seven-year-extension.html
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