It's Henrik Lundvist Night! And with Zucc in town! I think the Blue Carpet begins at 5:30, the ceremony itself begins at 6:30 and the game against the Wild begins at 8:00.
I'm old enough to have seen all of their careers. Ranger fans my age have been so lucky to have the three of them to root for. Gilles Villemure and John Vanbiesbrouck get honorable mention on my list too.
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
I hope this reads in the spirit I mean it. I'm not "happy" that Henrik had a serious medical issue. But I'm really happy he never played for another team. He deserves this honor as much as anyone who ever played for the Rangers.
I don't want to jinx anything but the heir apparent to the great Ranger goalies legacies may already be in place.
RE: Eddie Giacomin, Mike Richter, Henrik Lundqvist
I'm old enough to have seen all of their careers. Ranger fans my age have been so lucky to have the three of them to root for. Gilles Villemure and John Vanbiesbrouck get honorable mention on my list too.
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
I hope this reads in the spirit I mean it. I'm not "happy" that Henrik had a serious medical issue. But I'm really happy he never played for another team. He deserves this honor as much as anyone who ever played for the Rangers.
I don't want to jinx anything but the heir apparent to the great Ranger goalies legacies may already be in place.
I actually think Mike Richter and Jon VanB were better goalies and yes I go back to Ed-die, Ed-die and that shitty trade.
RE: RE: Eddie Giacomin, Mike Richter, Henrik Lundqvist
I'm old enough to have seen all of their careers. Ranger fans my age have been so lucky to have the three of them to root for. Gilles Villemure and John Vanbiesbrouck get honorable mention on my list too.
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
I hope this reads in the spirit I mean it. I'm not "happy" that Henrik had a serious medical issue. But I'm really happy he never played for another team. He deserves this honor as much as anyone who ever played for the Rangers.
I don't want to jinx anything but the heir apparent to the great Ranger goalies legacies may already be in place.
I actually think Mike Richter and Jon VanB were better goalies and yes I go back to Ed-die, Ed-die and that shitty trade.
This guy could have won the Hart Trophy multiple times, as I do not believe during his prime there was anyone on their teams that was more important to their team than Henrik was. He dragged some good but not great teams deep into the playoffs, and just never had a team in front of him that could consistently produce in the playoffs. As a Rangers fan, him not winning a Cup will always bother me, but this does not diminish how good he was as a Ranger, nor does it detract from a Hall of Fame career. I'm glad his buddy Zuccarello is in town for the ceremony tonight.
Richter was streaky, but when he was hot, I'd take him over almost anyone else. I don't know that I've ever seen better goaltending than the 1996 World Cup or the 1997 Devils series.
not for a single game, not for a single season, not for their careers and I don't mean to demean JVB in anyway but IMO he wasn't close to Henrik's level.
As far as Mike Richter goes I think he's way underrated outside of NY. I think he should be in the Hockey HOF and he saved the Rangers ass in 1994. He's a NY sports legend.
I think some of the Torts teams were good enough to win a cup
It's not as if we're talking about some hump here.
I'm sure a lot of people will dislike this take, or even consider it blasphemous, but I think Shesterkin's play this year is every bit as good as Lundqvist at his best. Maybe even better.
Henrik's teammates didn't raise their level like he did in the playoffs. Their top goal scorers never produced when it counted most.
They had some rotten injury luck too. Gaborik played through a torn rotator cuff in the 2012 playoffs. 2015, you had Zucc out with a skull fracture in the first round and McDonagh playing on a broken foot in the Tampa series.
Nice article from The Athletic with the various backups talking
about Henrik. For those who don't subscribe, a few amusing tidbits.
Quote:
Raanta: My first road trip, you know, I’m a young guy, maybe I have two suits — Hank had this big suitcase with four, five suits, and it’s I think a two-game trip. One suit for the morning skate, one for the game, maybe a different one after for the plane.
Valiquette: We’re in Bern (Switzerland) in 2008. We’re there playing Avangard Omsk of the KHL in an exhibition before we go to Prague to play Tampa to start the season. Reebok wanted us to wear these tracksuits on and off the bus. Hank’s dead set against it. He comes off the bus in his tracksuit, and he’s pissed. “Vally, I need to feel my suit. That’s the only way I can prepare. I don’t feel like I’m prepared for the game in this.” We go out and Hank has a bad game. I think we came back from a couple down and beat Omsk. We go to Prague. We get off the bus for the game, everyone’s wearing their Reebok tracksuits, and here comes Hank in a three-piece suit. And he wins both games, gives up one goal in each.
Biron: Hank never wanted to catch a puck if it was coming toward his head. He’d head them off to the corner or the netting. Everyone can probably remember seeing him do that. So one year, before the Garden was renovated — the benches were a little longer, so I’m sitting all the way down at the end — he heads a puck away. And Torts (John Tortorella) comes down to my end and just starts screaming at me. “I’m sick and tired of him doing that crap, Marty! If he does it again, it’s on you! Get him to fucking knock it off!” I look over at the other guys on the bench and they’re just dying, trying not to laugh. What am I supposed to do? Tell the best goalie in the world to stop making saves? So I decided to eat it. I told Torts I would say something and I never told Hank a word. He kept making those saves with his head, and I guess Torts gave up being mad about it.
I was in the airport in Austin, TX waiting to fly home from my bachelor party. My buddy and my wife's cousin sit down at one of the gates just to relax and kill time before one of their flights. Where we had sat down between two gates and one of the flights was to JFK. After about a minute I realize that Lundqvist is sitting across from me with his wife. He has head phones in and he's on his phone. Internally I start to go insane. I had snapped an incognito photo and I'm sending it to my dad and my uncle. My buddy thinks I'm about to go over and jump in his lap. I ended up not saying a word or anything to him. He was sitting there with his wife, I didn't want to be "that guy." I couldn't have been more than 3 feet from him. THe flight to JFK boarded and he waited until everyone boarded and him and his wife got on last. I do wish I would have went over and at least said something to him.
RE: Eddie Giacomin, Mike Richter, Henrik Lundqvist
I'm old enough to have seen all of their careers. Ranger fans my age have been so lucky to have the three of them to root for. Gilles Villemure and John Vanbiesbrouck get honorable mention on my list too.
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
Gotcha beat, arnie, as I was at the Old Garden for one game with the maskless Gumper. Not in the class of the others, but a stalwart nonetheless.
Richter was streaky, but when he was hot, I'd take him over almost anyone else. I don't know that I've ever seen better goaltending than the 1996 World Cup or the 1997 Devils series.
Tend to agree with you, Greg, so cat quick and compact. In a way similar to Igor in his quickness, but Richter was stronger, a bit thicker, and maybe quicker (said in another thread that to my eyes Igor's glove hand is a tad slower coming up on glove side than last year).
And nice job from a woman who shouted, “fuck me, Hank!” With his whole family there. Very classy…
Yeah, I was really annoyed at all the shouting from the crowd during Henrik's speech. The guy's pouring his heart out on one of the most meaningful nights of his life, and he's constantly getting interrupted by nonsense from idiots in the crowd.
It’s a group worth investing in, but these injuries are highlighting the fact that the bottom third of the roster as presently constructed isn’t really “deep playoff run” material
And nice job from a woman who shouted, “fuck me, Hank!” With his whole family there. Very classy…
Zucc did at some point - they showed it at 2nd intermission. Rangers have been disappointing the last two nights … I’m hoping it’s because of the injuries and not something deeper.
He definitely pushed Talbots pad into the net with his stick. Tough call - in general I think they waive off too many goals in the nhl. Should be egregious to overturn these things imo. Shitty game - second straight night blowing a 2-0 lead
Nyquist kicks the puck into the net and that doesn't get waved off, so who knows? It's utterly arbitrary, but it seems like the Rangers wind up on the losing side of those decisions more often than not.
He definitely pushed Talbots pad into the net with his stick. Tough call - in general I think they waive off too many goals in the nhl. Should be egregious to overturn these things imo. Shitty game - second straight night blowing a 2-0 lead
A SLIGHT push. It went back because Talbot lunged forward.
That on Hanks night...the Rangers could have won a Stanley Cup if Goalie Interference was such a thing...and now they lost a game because of Goalie Interference...
It’s a group worth investing in, but these injuries are highlighting the fact that the bottom third of the roster as presently constructed isn’t really “deep playoff run” material
hoya, had a similar thought last night as they fell short again: 'as presently constructed' this team isn't going to win a Cup with Igor either. Agree with your point re bottom third (I winced when McKegg stickhandling about to cross the blue line when he realized he'd had his pocket picked), but I think it goes farther than that, the middle third's production and +/- are not anything to write home about either, and a lot of that revolves around the 'kids', who are not having enough of an impact--GG turning them into grinders is simply not enough.
Greg is right, of course, when he says that injuries contributed to the failure of Hank to win a Cup, but every team incurs injuries to key players and teams have to find a way to fight through them, with their depth. I think Rangers are above .500 playing the top half of the NHL (below .500 in games Georgiev starts), but they too often struggle against the better teams and have to rely on their goalie to stay close, déja vu.
I still don't get why the goal was waved off. I didn't hear the explanation.
I've been to a few games and the crowd has sucked other than last night. Agree with all the comments about people being dicks.
This team is a paper tiger. Too flawed.
Greg is right about the injuries. They got ravaged in 2015. McDonagh with the foot, Girardi had some knee injury, Zucc. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
I'd add, I think 16-17 is an underrated missed opportunity year. The Senators took the Pens to seven in the conference finals. The Rangers may have beat them.
isn't the bottom 3rd of the roster IMO, it's the middle 3rd for the Rangers. and to isolate one player - specifically Strome.
Goodrow has more goals than Strome. Trouba has one less goal than Strome. 25% of Strome's points are on the PP and he's not great on the dots.
Hate to boil things down to one player, because I don't mean to seem like I am pointing a finger at him - he's a good player, but he's not a 2C. Chytil is awful at faceoffs, I wouldn't even allow him to take a defensive zone faceoff so he hasn't shown he can push Strome out of that spot.
NYR upgrade 2C and add a top 4 D, and maybe a top 9 wing who can play all situations and go to battle. Maybe a backup goalie if Georgiev doesn't show consistently good play.
But I wouldn’t go all in like that at the deadline. Carolina for one showed - I know it’s only one game - but they’re a lot better. Get in the playoffs and get the kids some experience.
And certainly Wouldn’t waste assets on a top 4 D when we’ll have that internally so soon anyway.
I see a goalie playing like Igor, a PP like the Rangers have the grit they added even without Blais, and I think they should go for it. I'm not saying throw caution to the wind and trade away the future, but I would be buyers at the deadline (smartly).
CAR is likely winning the Metro, if I had to put money on NYR vs PIT it's NYR (with today's roster and no deadline additions).
chances at cups are fleeting, I see no reason why NYR can't win and in a 7 game series goalie can be a difference - the main difference in some cases, Frederick Andersen has never proven he can be that difference (from a positive standpoint).
No fan of the Rangers here, but Henrik was an outstanding goalie and seems like a good guy. Congrats to him on a well deserved night!
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
I hope this reads in the spirit I mean it. I'm not "happy" that Henrik had a serious medical issue. But I'm really happy he never played for another team. He deserves this honor as much as anyone who ever played for the Rangers.
I don't want to jinx anything but the heir apparent to the great Ranger goalies legacies may already be in place.
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
I hope this reads in the spirit I mean it. I'm not "happy" that Henrik had a serious medical issue. But I'm really happy he never played for another team. He deserves this honor as much as anyone who ever played for the Rangers.
I don't want to jinx anything but the heir apparent to the great Ranger goalies legacies may already be in place.
I actually think Mike Richter and Jon VanB were better goalies and yes I go back to Ed-die, Ed-die and that shitty trade.
Quote:
I'm old enough to have seen all of their careers. Ranger fans my age have been so lucky to have the three of them to root for. Gilles Villemure and John Vanbiesbrouck get honorable mention on my list too.
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
I hope this reads in the spirit I mean it. I'm not "happy" that Henrik had a serious medical issue. But I'm really happy he never played for another team. He deserves this honor as much as anyone who ever played for the Rangers.
I don't want to jinx anything but the heir apparent to the great Ranger goalies legacies may already be in place.
I actually think Mike Richter and Jon VanB were better goalies and yes I go back to Ed-die, Ed-die and that shitty trade.
Such a boomer take.
As far as Mike Richter goes I think he's way underrated outside of NY. I think he should be in the Hockey HOF and he saved the Rangers ass in 1994. He's a NY sports legend.
I'm sure a lot of people will dislike this take, or even consider it blasphemous, but I think Shesterkin's play this year is every bit as good as Lundqvist at his best. Maybe even better.
@HLundqvist
·
3h
It’s really happening
@NYRangers
· 12h
The day is here.
#30Forever
They had some rotten injury luck too. Gaborik played through a torn rotator cuff in the 2012 playoffs. 2015, you had Zucc out with a skull fracture in the first round and McDonagh playing on a broken foot in the Tampa series.
Valiquette: We’re in Bern (Switzerland) in 2008. We’re there playing Avangard Omsk of the KHL in an exhibition before we go to Prague to play Tampa to start the season. Reebok wanted us to wear these tracksuits on and off the bus. Hank’s dead set against it. He comes off the bus in his tracksuit, and he’s pissed. “Vally, I need to feel my suit. That’s the only way I can prepare. I don’t feel like I’m prepared for the game in this.” We go out and Hank has a bad game. I think we came back from a couple down and beat Omsk. We go to Prague. We get off the bus for the game, everyone’s wearing their Reebok tracksuits, and here comes Hank in a three-piece suit. And he wins both games, gives up one goal in each.
Biron: Hank never wanted to catch a puck if it was coming toward his head. He’d head them off to the corner or the netting. Everyone can probably remember seeing him do that. So one year, before the Garden was renovated — the benches were a little longer, so I’m sitting all the way down at the end — he heads a puck away. And Torts (John Tortorella) comes down to my end and just starts screaming at me. “I’m sick and tired of him doing that crap, Marty! If he does it again, it’s on you! Get him to fucking knock it off!” I look over at the other guys on the bench and they’re just dying, trying not to laugh. What am I supposed to do? Tell the best goalie in the world to stop making saves? So I decided to eat it. I told Torts I would say something and I never told Hank a word. He kept making those saves with his head, and I guess Torts gave up being mad about it.
link - ( New Window )
The goalie chants started with Ed-die and all of three of those goalies had a special connection to and for Ranger fans.
And nice job from a woman who shouted, “fuck me, Hank!” With his whole family there. Very classy…
And nice job from a woman who shouted, “fuck me, Hank!” With his whole family there. Very classy…
Yeah, I was really annoyed at all the shouting from the crowd during Henrik's speech. The guy's pouring his heart out on one of the most meaningful nights of his life, and he's constantly getting interrupted by nonsense from idiots in the crowd.
lol wtf
It’s a group worth investing in, but these injuries are highlighting the fact that the bottom third of the roster as presently constructed isn’t really “deep playoff run” material
And nice job from a woman who shouted, “fuck me, Hank!” With his whole family there. Very classy…
Zucc did at some point - they showed it at 2nd intermission. Rangers have been disappointing the last two nights … I’m hoping it’s because of the injuries and not something deeper.
A SLIGHT push. It went back because Talbot lunged forward.
It’s a group worth investing in, but these injuries are highlighting the fact that the bottom third of the roster as presently constructed isn’t really “deep playoff run” material
Greg is right, of course, when he says that injuries contributed to the failure of Hank to win a Cup, but every team incurs injuries to key players and teams have to find a way to fight through them, with their depth. I think Rangers are above .500 playing the top half of the NHL (below .500 in games Georgiev starts), but they too often struggle against the better teams and have to rely on their goalie to stay close, déja vu.
I've been to a few games and the crowd has sucked other than last night. Agree with all the comments about people being dicks.
This team is a paper tiger. Too flawed.
Greg is right about the injuries. They got ravaged in 2015. McDonagh with the foot, Girardi had some knee injury, Zucc. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
I'd add, I think 16-17 is an underrated missed opportunity year. The Senators took the Pens to seven in the conference finals. The Rangers may have beat them.
Goodrow has more goals than Strome. Trouba has one less goal than Strome. 25% of Strome's points are on the PP and he's not great on the dots.
Hate to boil things down to one player, because I don't mean to seem like I am pointing a finger at him - he's a good player, but he's not a 2C. Chytil is awful at faceoffs, I wouldn't even allow him to take a defensive zone faceoff so he hasn't shown he can push Strome out of that spot.
NYR upgrade 2C and add a top 4 D, and maybe a top 9 wing who can play all situations and go to battle. Maybe a backup goalie if Georgiev doesn't show consistently good play.
And certainly Wouldn’t waste assets on a top 4 D when we’ll have that internally so soon anyway.
CAR is likely winning the Metro, if I had to put money on NYR vs PIT it's NYR (with today's roster and no deadline additions).
chances at cups are fleeting, I see no reason why NYR can't win and in a 7 game series goalie can be a difference - the main difference in some cases, Frederick Andersen has never proven he can be that difference (from a positive standpoint).
If this were LinkedIn I’d give Brettsky a like for his post.
I saw a trade proposal that was probably fan fiction, but it was MacKinnon and Makar for McDavid and Broberg.
Who says no? I think COL, but do they? That's $15M for Makar and MacKinnon next year, then MacKinnon gets paid.
Never happen, but a fun offer to consider and I don't see anyone coming that close to that talent.