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Total, absolute Henrik Lundqvist panic for Rangers
Henrik Lundqvist sat in his dressing room stall, hat down over his eyes, doing something he’s become all too accustomed to doing this season for the New York Rangers: Answering questions about his terrible numbers and his broken confidence, and biting through his lip not to deflect too much of the blame to the team in front of him.
“It’s embarrassing. Frustrating and disappointing at the same time,” he said after a loss to the Dallas Stars after allowing a comical seven goals. He’s allowed 20 in his last 113 shots, one of the most putrid stretches of the 34-year-old’s career.
“When you’re looking for confidence and a good feeling, you’re hoping for a game where there’s a lot of structure. Shots are more to the outside. But that’s not the case right now,” he said. “A lot of chances right in front, and I just need to get going. It’s hard. You try to do all the right things, but it’s not paying off right now.”
When Lundqvist overcame his annual “push from the backup goalie,” many expected him to go on a run. It never happened. He’s 18-12-1 with a 2.89 GAA and a depressing .902 save percentage in 32 appearances. He hasn’t finished below a .920 since 2009.
So it’s full-on panic time for the Rangers and their observers. From Larry Brooks:
This is a crisis of confidence for the goaltender, who no longer looks at ease in making even the most routine save. And this is a crisis for the Rangers, who seem to be suffering a concurrent collective nervous breakdown of their own in front of the team’s signature athlete.
… It is time to stop comparing this Lundqvist season to any that have come before. It is not like 2013-14. There has never been anything like it. And there hasn’t been anything like it in New York for more than 11 years.
I’m no psychologist, but having spoken to Lundqvist in recent years, I can feel his intense hunger to win a Stanley Cup, and you know he understands that the window for both him and this team won’t stay open forever. Is he wanting it too much? Is he letting one bad performance seep into the next, thinking about the future? It’s still too early to be counting out The King or the Rangers, regardless of Lundqvist’s mindset and his wobbly play.
And Adam Herman from Blueshirt Banter:
A call to action regarding Lundqvist himself would seem absurdly reactionary and, even if not, unworkable at the moment. Lundqvist has had a bad few months, but so has virtually every other athlete in the history of sports. It was just last season that a rotten first-half made people question if Sidney Crosby’s decline had started. Same thing with Tom Brady in New England the last couple of seasons. Henrik Lundqvist will be 35 in March, which is right around the age goaltenders typically begin a steep decline. It’s very possible that this is the start of his decline and that great goaltending is not in his future. But anyone claiming an ability to diagnose this as such from just a few months of subpar play is a liar. It’s simply too soon to know.
Here’s what we do know: Lundqvist is having a horrendous season by his own standards, and that has exposed a basic, underlying truth about the Rangers. And that truth is that Lundqvist has been propping up this defense like Andrew McCarthy in “Weekend At Bernie’s” for the better part of his career.
Lundqvist has a high-danger save percentage of .833, but the more damning number is minus-7.75 Goals Saved Above Average (via Corsica), which measures “goals allowed below the expectation based on shot danger faced.” The stat only tracks to 2007-08, but know this: Lundqvist has never finished in the negative in this stat, nor has he finished below a plus-12. In other words, he’s exceeded his expected effectiveness given the defense in front of him.
Until now.
Kevin DeLury had a strong take on this before the Dallas game:
After years of being bailed out by Lundqvist, you can understand why the defense has gotten a little too fat and happy in front of him.
Which is exactly the reason the Blueshirts need a paradigm shift. No longer can they expect Lundqvist to sustain a porous defense. No longer can they presume Hank will be there to pick up the pieces. And no longer can they assume “The King” will wave his magic goal stick and make all right with the world.
While I don’t think we’ll ever see a circa 2012 Lundqvist, I do believe he can still bring the Rangers a Stanley Cup if they’re able to sure up the defense to a competent level in front of him. Lundqvist has always been there for the Rangers and their pedestrian defense, it’s officially time for them to return the favor.
And that’s the headline, really. Lundqvist’s numbers are a canary in a coal mine being filled with the noxious fumes of a porous defensive team and a system that, frankly, isn’t all that concerned with overcompensating for his struggles. Again, from Lundqvist: “You’re hoping for a game where there’s a lot of structure. Shots are more to the outside. But that’s not the case right now.”
At the risk of heaping even more praise on John Tortorella this season: Does anyone believe he wouldn’t be playing a 1-4 forecheck right now, building protective walls around Lundqvist like he’s King Théoden at Helm’s Deep? That he wouldn’t make it Job No. 1 to reduce the high-danger chances Hank is struggling with, to build him back up, knowing he’s the essential component for anything the Rangers do for the rest of the season?
I feel for Lundqvist. For the last decade, he’s been asked to polish turds, be the last line of defense and win seven-game playoff series with about a goal of support per game. Now he’s asking, indirectly, for the team in front of him to give him a structured path back to self-confidence and they end up crushing it even further.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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