Henrik Lundqvist is the Greatest Ranger in History

No one has been more consistent for longer and near single-handedly carried his teams to yearly playoffs/Cup contention year in and year out but for, perhaps, the last two seasons.

Five-time All-Star

Five-time Vezina Trophy nominee; one-time winner

Two-time Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner

Nine-time New York Rangers' MVP winner (seven-straight from '07-13)

Two-time King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominee

Olympic gold medalist

Convince me otherwise.

No one has been more consistent for longer and near single-handedly carried his teams to yearly playoffs/Cup contention year in and year out but for, perhaps, the last two seasons.

 

Five-time All-Star

Five-time Vezina Trophy nominee; one-time winner

Two-time Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner

Nine-time New York Rangers' MVP winner (seven-straight from '07-13)

Two-time King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominee

Olympic gold medalist

 

Convince me otherwise.

He probably has the strongest case of any Ranger.

Even if he’s not, he’s on the short list

In before the ?richter won a cup? argument... (which I will never understand)

No doubt in my mind he?s the greatest ranger of all time. It will be extremely unsettling to see him not be the face of the franchise going forward. Part of me is hoping he doesn?t sign anywhere and goes back to Sweden. Then comes back as an assistant goalie coach or something

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It's pretty damn close for sure. It's still neck and neck with Brian Leetch for me.

Leetch never willed bad teams to the post season. He was on all seven of those "Dark Ages" teams.

Hank did. Go look at the Conference Final rosters Hank has had. Look at his Stanley Cup Final roster. He's made chicken salad out of chicken shit in basically every single season he's played but for the last two years.

Leetch never willed bad teams to the post season. He was on all seven of those "Dark Ages" teams.

 

Hank did. Go look at the Conference Final rosters Hank has had. Look at his Stanley Cup Final roster. He's made chicken salad out of chicken shit in basically every single season he's played but for the last two years.

For sure. Listen, if someone said they thought Lundqvist was better than Leetch, I certainly wouldn't argue. lol Near the end of Renney's tenure into Tortorella's, those were some pretty mediocre teams, especially on offense. They absolutely had no business getting into the postseason. Henrik was one of the best players in the NHL post lockout, bar none.

No one has been more consistent for longer and near single-handedly carried his teams to yearly playoffs/Cup contention year in and year out but for, perhaps, the last two seasons.

 

Five-time All-Star

Five-time Vezina Trophy nominee; one-time winner

Two-time Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner

Nine-time New York Rangers' MVP winner (seven-straight from '07-13)

Two-time King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominee

Olympic gold medalist

 

Convince me otherwise.

No need to even try, Phil! :worship:

In before the “richter won a cup” argument... (which I will never understand)

 

No doubt in my mind he’s the greatest ranger of all time. It will be extremely unsettling to see him not be the face of the franchise going forward. Part of me is hoping he doesn’t sign anywhere and goes back to Sweden. Then comes back as an assistant goalie coach or something

 

 

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Richter's career numbers are closer to Chris Osgood...Lundqvist is a god in comparison. And I watched both of these guys since they came into the league.

What I will say is Richter is as good as anyone in the world when he was hot...But Lundqvist was just better, got hotter, and stayed hot longer.

Richter's career numbers are closer to Chris Osgood...Lundqvist is a god in comparison. And I watched both of these guys since they came into the league.

 

What I will say is Richter is as good as anyone in the world when he was hot...But Lundqvist was just better, got hotter, and stayed hot longer.

Richter was great I?m not discounting that. I just hate that cup argument. A team wins a cup. It doesn?t define how good a player is.

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In before the “richter won a cup” argument... (which I will never understand)

 

No doubt in my mind he’s the greatest ranger of all time. It will be extremely unsettling to see him not be the face of the franchise going forward. Part of me is hoping he doesn’t sign anywhere and goes back to Sweden. Then comes back as an assistant goalie coach or something

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

Richter's career numbers are closer to Chris Osgood...Lundqvist is a god in comparison. And I watched both of these guys since they came into the league.

 

What I will say is Richter is as good as anyone in the world when he was hot...But Lundqvist was just better, got hotter, and stayed hot longer.

Richter at the top of his game was elite. An absolute game stealer. It’s a testament to the athlete he was

But Richter didn’t have Hank’s consistency or sustained level of elite play.

Richter had 3 seasons of really elite play and 3 more where he was very good over an 8-9 year period.

Hank was basically elite for 10+ seasons consecutively

Richter’s signature moments though are bigger and better than Hank’s

Link:

Leetch never willed bad teams to the post season. He was on all seven of those "Dark Ages" teams.

 

Hank did. Go look at the Conference Final rosters Hank has had. Look at his Stanley Cup Final roster. He's made chicken salad out of chicken shit in basically every single season he's played but for the last two years.

To be fair though, it's much, much harder to be the X-Factor that carries a team when you're a defenseman. I'd argue the nature of the position of goaltending lends itself to a GOAT argument. When you compare resumes, however, and discount the idea of carrying a team, I think it's Leetch for me by a pretty wide margin. Make no mistake, the Cup thing matters. Like, A LOT. It will forever be the blemish on Henrik's otherwise sterling career. It's not the be-all end-all of the debate, but it skews it heavily for me.

RangersIn7's point about Richter's signature moments kind of makes the point aptly. Where was the Pavel Bure penalty shot stop? The robbing the Devils of a goal mere seconds before "MATTEAU MATTEAU!!!" Henrik made some big saves in the playoffs, but he also made some big whiffs. That game winning goal against Tampa in Game 7 of the ECFs in 2015 was atrocious. It was a softy from center ice. Granted, the team sucked that whole game and laid a massive egg on home ice. But Ben Bishop didn't make those mistakes. In fact, I would argue that in every playoff series we lost, it was heavily due in part to Henrik being outplayed by the other team's goalie. The Rangers turned scrubs into world-beaters (and we still do), but I can't remember a time we needed that huge save from Henrik in the playoffs and actually got it.

Maybe there is actually no factual basis for this claim, and my opinion is more than likely tarnished from the past few years of the shell of Henrik in net, but for me, he was never a "big game" goalie. When it mattered most, he couldn't get it done.

I think Lundqvist was a really big factor in the Rangers coming back from 3-1 down TWICE in the same postseason. I think he deserves a lot of kudos for that. He was a big, big reason they beat Washington and Pittsburgh in those playoffs.

To what end though? Every one of those playoff runs ended in ignominy. I still blame Dan Girardi and the refs for 2014, but where was Hank when we needed him to keep up the one goal lead with 5 minutes left? How many times over his career do we remember the other team pulling their goalie and actually tying the game as a result, even as we could never do the same? I certainly felt sick to my stomach every time we had a one goal lead with 2 minutes on the clock. I just knew the game would get tied. I never had faith we'd get the stop we needed.

And yes, I know it's a team effort. A timely clearing of the puck makes all the difference in the world and likely wins the game. But I NEVER felt, even at his peak, that Henrik deserved the lable he had of being a clutch performer.

To what end though? Every one of those playoff runs ended in ignominy. I still blame Dan Girardi and the refs for 2014, but where was Hank when we needed him to keep up the one goal lead with 5 minutes left? How many times over his career do we remember the other team pulling their goalie and actually tying the game as a result, even as we could never do the same? I certainly felt sick to my stomach every time we had a one goal lead with 2 minutes on the clock. I just knew the game would get tied. I never had faith we'd get the stop we needed.

 

And yes, I know it's a team effort. A timely clearing of the puck makes all the difference in the world and likely wins the game. But I NEVER felt, even at his peak, that Henrik deserved the lable he had of being a clutch performer.

I get what you're saying, for sure. I'm not saying he's one of the best clutch goalies of all time, I just think he deserves a lot of credit for those series wins. Those were not easy triumphs. Like you said, I think the defense was more the culprit in 2014 than Henrik himself, though. Girardi was specifically bad as you mentioned. Is Lundqvist invulnerable from blame? Absolutely not. From a performance standpoint, the Lightning series was definitely the worse moment for him.

To what end though? Every one of those playoff runs ended in ignominy. I still blame Dan Girardi and the refs for 2014, but where was Hank when we needed him to keep up the one goal lead with 5 minutes left? How many times over his career do we remember the other team pulling their goalie and actually tying the game as a result, even as we could never do the same? I certainly felt sick to my stomach every time we had a one goal lead with 2 minutes on the clock. I just knew the game would get tied. I never had faith we'd get the stop we needed.

 

And yes, I know it's a team effort. A timely clearing of the puck makes all the difference in the world and likely wins the game. But I NEVER felt, even at his peak, that Henrik deserved the lable he had of being a clutch performer.

That's a hard, hard argument to win against the greatest game 7 goalie of all time. He is LUDICROUSLY good under the gun.

The problem here is that he was constantly, endlessly, almost as if fate conspired against him - in a position of having to play those game 7s.

To what end though? Every one of those playoff runs ended in ignominy. I still blame Dan Girardi and the refs for 2014, but where was Hank when we needed him to keep up the one goal lead with 5 minutes left? How many times over his career do we remember the other team pulling their goalie and actually tying the game as a result, even as we could never do the same? I certainly felt sick to my stomach every time we had a one goal lead with 2 minutes on the clock. I just knew the game would get tied. I never had faith we'd get the stop we needed.

 

And yes, I know it's a team effort. A timely clearing of the puck makes all the difference in the world and likely wins the game. But I NEVER felt, even at his peak, that Henrik deserved the lable he had of being a clutch performer.

I think you need to look no further than his record in Game 7's. Dude was nails when it mattered.

The game 6 1-0 shut out in the ECF was also a clutch moment for him. No way the Rangers wanted to let that series go to 7 in Montreal.

No one has been more consistent for longer and near single-handedly carried his teams to yearly playoffs/Cup contention year in and year out but for, perhaps, the last two seasons.

 

Five-time All-Star

Five-time Vezina Trophy nominee; one-time winner

Two-time Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner

Nine-time New York Rangers' MVP winner (seven-straight from '07-13)

Two-time King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominee

Olympic gold medalist

 

Convince me otherwise.

I'll go resume to resume with this guy

Brian Leetch

Nine-time All Star

Two-Time All NHL 1st Team

Three-Time All NHL 2nd Team

Calder Memorial Trophy

Two-Time James Norris Memorial Trophy Winner (Finished top 10 in voting ten times [finished 11th 4 more times])

Conn Smythe Trophy Winner

Six-time Rangers MVP

Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award Winner

Yeah, his Game 7 stats are insane. Prior to his arrival, they were just 3-5 in their history in Game 7's. After? Now 9-6! Plus I think he only allowed more than one goal twice in his eight game seven appearances.

Yeah and let's be real. His Game 7 ECF in 2015 vs. Tampa wasn't great - that first goal sucked. But the Rangers just could not score. Even if that one stinker doesn't go in, they're not winning lol

Yeah and let's be real. His Game 7 ECF in 2015 vs. Tampa wasn't great - that first goal sucked. But the Rangers just could not score. Even if that one stinker doesn't go in, they're not winning lol

Correct. I know Bishop always gave the Rangers fits, but the offense also shit the bed that game too. It was just a really bad Game 7. lol

Correct. I know Bishop always gave the Rangers fits, but the offense also shit the bed that game too. It was just a really bad Game 7. lol

Just like almost every other AV coached Game 7

Yeah and let's be real. His Game 7 ECF in 2015 vs. Tampa wasn't great - that first goal sucked. But the Rangers just could not score. Even if that one stinker doesn't go in, they're not winning lol

Meh, I don't buy that argument. If the Rangers were the benficiaries of the stinker goal, Lightning fans would have said the same regarding not scoring. Fact of the matter is neither team was showing signs of scoring a legitimate goal, and the stars just happened to align for the Lightning through no doing of their own.

Meh, I don't buy that argument. If the Rangers were the benficiaries of the stinker goal, Lightning fans would have said the same regarding not scoring. Fact of the matter is neither team was showing signs of scoring a legitimate goal, and the stars just happened to align for the Lightning through no doing of their own.

Well, when one team scores 0 goals, it's hard to make the case that things would have been quite different lol