Thursday, October 29, 2020
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Henrik Lundqvist: "Rangers wanted to move on - but I was not done"
The dream was to end his NHL career where it all began - in the New York Rangers.
Instead, Henrik Lundqvist was forced out and now the 38-year-old tells SVT Sport exclusively about the process.
- When Rangers said they wanted to move on, I felt "but I want to play more", I want to win, he says.
Barely two weeks ago, the Swedish goalkeeper star was bought out of his contract with the club he represented for 15 seasons, the New York Rangers.
Now the moving load goes to division rival Washington Capitals where he will compete for the first spade with Russian 23-year-old Ilya Samsonov.
- They have a young goalkeeper in Samsonov who was very good in his first season. Part of my role will be to support and help him, but it really does not matter if he is old or young, as goalkeepers you have to work with each other. But I go there because I want to play and I want to win.
That is the goal, says Lundqvist in an exclusive interview with SVT Sports Marie Lehmann.
- I am incredibly grateful for everything they have given me in 15 years in New York, but I like hockey and felt that I was not done.
When they said they wanted to move on, I felt "but I want to play more". I want to fight, I want to try to win.
Then you have to try to see yourself in another team's jersey, he continues.
Lundqvist - often called "King Henrik" in New York - has for many years been clear that he wanted to end his career in Rangers where he became an audience favorite and club icon.
That will not be the case.
When asked how he managed to let go of that dream and move on, he answers:
- It took a few months this spring, I can say. It was incredibly tough, I will not stick it under a chair. It was a period where I got to work on my thoughts. It is reminiscent of losing a family member or close friend, it becomes a mourning job. That was actually it for me, a mourning job, says Lundqvist and continues:
- There are different steps you go through but in the end I ended up in a phase of gratitude and just felt "thank you for everything". Then I could also relax and look ahead. But it took time.
https://www.svt.se/sport/ishockey/henrik-lundqvist-4
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Friday, October 9, 2020
Henrik Lundqvist Signs with the Washington Capitals
Henrik Lundqvist signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Washington Capitals on Friday.
The 38-year-old goalie was an unrestricted free agent after he had the final season of his contract bought out by the New York Rangers on Sept. 30. He was 10-12-3 with a 3.16 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage and one shutout in 30 games (26 starts) last season.
"For a few weeks now, I've been doing my homework on all different scenarios and options for me, and I have to say, the Capitals, they checked every box," Lundqvist said. "When it comes to a team that understands winning, a great coaching staff and an opportunity to play some games were the main factors for me.
"But there's so many things that goes into this decision for me, starting with a chance to win. I think at this point in my career, that's the most important thing. I want to have a chance to win. I know few guys on the team. I've played against a lot of the guys for so many years. I have the most respect for them. I'm just very excited and grateful actually to join them. I've been skating for a few weeks now, and I'm just really excited to take on this new challenge."
Lundqvist fills what was a need for a veteran to back up 23-year-old Ilya Samsonov. The No. 22 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Samsonov pushed Braden Holtby for playing time as a rookie last season by going 16-6-2 with a 2.55 GAA, a .913 save percentage and one shutout in 26 games (22 starts).
"I see it as we've got a good young goalie and we've got a great experienced goalie," Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. "Our goal as a team and as an organization is to win games this year and compete for a championship. I would expect him to come in and compete as hard as he can and the coaches will make the decision based on how guys are playing and us winning games and what's been best for our team."
Selected by the Rangers in the seventh round (No. 205) of the 2000 NHL Draft, Lundqvist went 459-310-96 with a 2.43 GAA, a .918 save percentage and 64 shutouts in 887 games over 15 seasons with New York. He is sixth in NHL history in wins, seventh in saves (23,509), eighth in games, ninth in starts (871), ninth in time on ice (51,816:19) and 16th in shutouts.
Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy voted as the best goalie in the NHL in 2011-12 and has been a finalist for the award four other times (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2012-13).
"I had a good phone call with [captain Alex Ovechkin] already," Lundqvist said. "... His record speaks for itself, but it's going to be fun to be on the same side, I'm not going to lie. Just to be around guys like that, you learn a lot and you appreciate what they've done, and hopefully we can create something special here moving forward."
With the emergence of 24-year-old goalies Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev, Lundqvist started four of New York's final 29 games last season, finishing with the fewest games (30), starts (26) and wins of his NHL career. Lundqvist started and lost the first two games against the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers when Shesterkin was unfit to play, but Shesterkin returned for Game 3 with Lundqvist as his backup in what was his last game with New York.
Lundqvist is 61-67 with a 2.30 GAA, a .921 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 130 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, when they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.
"In the springtime, it was a pretty tough time for me," Lundqvist said. "I kind of saw where this was going a little bit, so I had time to reflect and think about a lot of different things. I reached a level of so much gratitude towards the Rangers. Honestly, I feel like gratitude is the best feeling you can ever have. I appreciate everything they've done for me over the 15 years I've been there. They were ready to make a few moves and take the next step in their rebuild and moving on. I had my time to deal with that mentally because this was a big thing. I'm not going to lie, it was a really big thing for me to say goodbye because it was such a long relationship. So when this happened last week, I was in a really good place because I had time to work on that.
"It also made it easier for me to really take in all the love and support I felt during last week, and I was kind of blown away with all the support I felt. And I also felt ready for the next step because I realized how much I love the game, how much I love to compete, and then looking at the different options I had and looking at Washington and how excited I got thinking about going to Washington. Obviously it's been a pretty emotional week, but it's exciting times ahead here. That's where we're at."
https://www.nhl.com/news/henrik-lundqvist-signing-update-news-status/c-319288122?tid=281072352