The King of MSG officially announced his retirement today in a very heartfelt and personal message. Immediately, the Rangers came out and said they are hanging his number in the rafters of Madison Square Garden next seaspm.
Hank was a legendary goalie and made it as far as the Stanley Cup finals, but fell short to the wagon that was the early 2010’s LA Kings.
While his performance may have been overshadowed by some awful Rangers teams and his final year in NY was filled with goalie drama which left him fighting for a spot with Georgiev and Shesterkin, nobody can deny that Henrik was truly the face of the Rangers and King of NY for 15 years.
Looking through his stats, Hank came in to the league during an era where there was no goalie tandem or 1A/1B split. The 2011-12 Vezina winning goalie started in 50+ games in 12 of his 15 season with the Rangers. On top of that, two seasons were also cut short because of the NHL lockout and Covid pandemic.
Besides winning the Vezina in 2012, Henrik played in 887 games, accounted for 459 wins, and has career stats of GAA of 2.43 and SV% of .918.
Furthermore, he was just the 12th goalie in NHL history to hit 400 wins and he won at least 30 games in his first 11 full NHL seasons. I would classify Hank as a future Hall of Famer.
Personally, I think the Rangers did him dirty the 2019-2020 season forcing him to be backup to Shesterkin and not giving the legend a playoff start in the bubble until the series was out of hand. But what the hell do I know, I am just some washed up beer league guy who sits behind a keyboard.
Hank’s retirement has sparked another debate, who are some of the best goalies to never win a Stanley Cup. My list includes:
- Henrik Lundqvist (obviously) – the closest he ever came was the SCF against the Kings back in 2014.
- Roberto Luongo – he is definitely going to be a Hall of Fame player; however, the best chance for Bobby Lou to hoist the Cup was against the Bruins where he lost in game 7 of the finals in 2011.
- Miikka Kiprusoff – another player who made it to the Cup Finals, but lost in Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning during their first Stanley Cup victory in 2004.
- Ron Hextall – This one truly surprised me as I thought he had won a Cup or more since he is probably one of the most well-known goalies of all time – although he is more known for his antics and temper than anything. Hextall made the SCF twice, in 1987 and 1997; however, he lost both of those series. He was one of a few players to win the Conn Smythe on while playing for the losing team
- Ryan Miller – Miller never made it to the finals; however, you cannot forget the 2006 goaltending battle between Miller and Cam Ward in the Eastern Conference Finals while playing for Buffalo. Miller led the Sabres to the Eastern Conference finals in 2006 and again in 2007, but never advanced further than that. More importantly, can you remember when Buffalo was a good team?
- Pekka Rinne – while it is debatable if Rinne was ever an elite goalie or just a very good goalie, you cannot discredit the work he did during his career in Nashville. Rinne’s stellar play led Nashville all the way to the Cup finals, but fell short to Syd and company on their 2nd of back-to-back Cups.
- Carey Price – until this past season, Carey Price was one of the best, if not the best, goalies in the NHL. He made it all the way to the Cup finals and got beat out by a cheating Tampa Bay team. With his career nearing the end and Montreal’s season success last season seeming to be more of a fluke than something, the hopes of Price to win a Cup before he retires is looking slim.
I know the internet has mentioned guys like Kolzig, Vanbiesbrouck, and Burke; however, I was young when they played and do not really remember much. I included Hextall because I was more flabbergasted that a legend of his caliber never won hockey’s ultimate prize.
Who would you include on your list?
On behalf of the Ferda Sports team, we wish Hank all of the best in whatever comes next for him. He is a true man rocket and a great ambassador for the game of hockey. Tonight, I shall crack a cold one for you King Henrik!
