It was obvious that after the New York Rangers were knocked out of the post-season by the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon, the team, its head coach, and their fans were extremely disappointed.
Coming into the shortened season, the Rangers were considered to be Stanley Cup favorites by many pundits and fans alike. In the off-season, the team had added all-star Rick Nash and with him in the fold the Blueshirts were expected to get to the next level after reaching the Eastern Conference finals last season.
Unfortunately for the team and their fans, that did not happen this season. The club struggled offensively, could never get their power play going and made mental mistakes that unfortunately lead to their undoing in five games against the Bruins.
There is no one on this Rangers’ team that is more disappointed than their all world netminder, Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist, who picked-up his fifth Vezina Trophy nomination as the league’s top netminder, did everything he possibly could to keep his team in each and every game but unfortunately for Lundqvist, the team in front of him did not keep up their end of the bargain.
At the team’s season-ending breakup yesterday at their practice facility in Greenburgh, NY, Lundqvist, who usually very soft-spoken and does not like to cause controversy, was visibly and audibly disappointed in what had transpired for his team this season. Lundqvist explained to Daily News sports writer Filip Bondy that the team did not do what it needed to do to get to the next level this year.
“It’s a step back,” Lundqvist said. “We hoped for better this year. I don’t think it was good enough for us.”
These words from Lundqvist should not come as a surprise. Lundqvist takes every loss hard and takes them personally as he strives to be perfect in every single game.
The truth of the matter is that given the Rangers’ anemic offence this year, Lundqvist almost had to be perfect night in and night out this season. It was hard for the Blueshirts to come back in games this season and as a result Lundqvist had an enormous amount of pressure on him to keep the games close.
With Lundqvist’s contract due to be up after next season, one has to wonder what direction Lundqvist is going to take. Lundqvist has won at every level and despite having eight successful seasons in the NHL, he has yet to lift the Cup.
When asked about his contract and what he would do once it was up, Lundqvist was not exactly all gung ho about staying with the Blueshirts. In fact, Lundqvist used the past tense when it came to talking about his time with the Rangers in that same article.
“I’m gonna talk to my agent, and we’ll see,” Lundqvist said about potential contract talks. “You know, I had such a great time here in New York. From day one they treated me really well and have given me an opportunity to play a lot of hockey. It’s been a lot of fun. I have one more year on the contract. I’m just focused on — well, right now, I’m trying to get over this year — but we’ll see. I’ll talk to my agent and take it from there.”
Can one really blame Lundqvist for answering the question this way? Based on the way he has played and all he has done for the organization over the last eight seasons, one would have to respond with a resounding no.
