New York Rangers Legendary Goaltender Brutally Disrespected As Quarter Century Team Is Named
Photo credit: NHL.com
The NHL Network has done it yet again, as they've disrespected legendary New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. This time, Hank was left off of the NHL Network's Quarter Century Team, but Jonathan Quick did? Not to make a fuss over Quick, who's a Stanley Cup champion, but it feels like bias once again
So the NHL Network has made some questionable decisions lately. Placing Adam Fox at 16th on the 20 best defenseman in the league, and now they've taken to disrespecting Henrik Lundqvist.
The disrespect is real.
While King Hank was missing, another Rangers goalie who's won a Stanley Cup is on it, Jonathan Quick. As it seems, a majority of the goalies on the list are Champions, and of course, there's a bias there.
Since Henrik Lundqvist wasn't fortunate enough to win a Stanley Cup during his time in New York, they value his contributions less.
As one fan excruciatingly put it, the ragebait is all over these lists.
In the advanced stats era, 2007 to present, Lundqvist has the most goalie GAR (goals above replacement) with 375.6 and most wins above replacement at 68.9 per Evolving-Hockey.
Lundqvist leads all NHL goalies at 277.94 GSA x, and second only to him? Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck.
When looking at traditional numbers, Lundqvist went 459-310-96 in his career with a 2.43 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. He is sixth all-time in wins, and remains the winningest European born goaltender. In the playoffs he went 61-67 and posted a 2.30 goals against average and a .921 save percentage in 12 playoff campaigns.
Lundqvist only has one Vezina Trophy, which is laughable, and was also a Hart Trophy candidate in 2011-12.
His trophy case includes three Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, two Jennings Trophies for lowest goals against average, and zero Vezina Trophies.
It's likely they're using a modern list of NHL goalies, which might explain why Lundqvist was left off, and Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonathan Quick were on it.
And unlike Lundqvist, Quick has never been acknowledged as one of the best goalies to suit up in the NHL.
It's another travesty of justice, as the NHL favors Cup championships against actual play.
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