No, no, not LeBron James. I’m talking about the real King, the Swedish King, the King of New York City and Madison Square Garden, and ironically, the King that LeBron could have been. This King is the monarch of Manhattan, the Crown of the crease, and he’s more loyal, more grounded, and more authentic than that king down in Miami. He’s the King that everyone likes, (save those from LI/NJ/Philly/Pittsburgh, and even they respect him) the George Washington, the John Kennedy. “When New York needed a leader, they said ‘Henrik Lundqvist can.’” Something like that. The other is the king that no one likes and everyone ridicules, (save those from Miami) the George Bush, but I won’t let anymore talk of him spoil this celebration.
King Henrik has been crouched in his throne for a while now, a throne that has come to signify his standing as the most valuable player in New York, the most adored player in Sweden, and the finest goalie in all the land. Between these distinctions and his sleek hair, chic suits, and debonair makeup, “Hank”, as he is lovingly called in The Garden, truly is fit for the throne. So it was appropriate that the NHL finally crowned the King on Wednesday, awarding him the Vezina Trophy for this year’s version of the league’s best goalie.
It seems this is a title that Lundqvist has unofficially held since Martin Brodeur’s last sparkling season in 2007-08. Wednesday night in Las Vegas, it was made official, but this was all akin to handing Coach K an award for The Best College Basketball Coach. We already knew it. In the interim, there have been other stars that have shone more brightly, namely Ryan Miller in 2009, but none have shone more consistently, more faithfully, more valiantly than Lundqvist. Since his rookie season in 2005-06, Hank has been the North Star for the Rangers, the guy that they could look up to every night - knowing he would be there - and follow to glory. When he grew out his beard for the playoffs this spring, standing courageously tall for the Blueshirts in net, the expression “Jesus Saves” was never more apt, never so manifest.
Though greeted with awe and wonder, Lundqvist’s performance this postseason was something Rangers fans have grown proudly accustomed to. At the risk of sounding spoiled, it is something we have come to expect, not least because Hank expects it of himself. This impossibly high standard that he holds himself to, this pristine impeccability that he fully believes he is capable of, drives him to be better every time he plays. It is most evident after the rare puck slips by him. He’ll briefly hold his position, then slouch his shoulders and jerk his head forward in an expression of frustration that says “I should have had that,” even if the shot couldn’t have been stopped by SEAL Team 6. The King doesn’t accept impossible as an excuse.
Hockey folk often say this is his best trait as a goalie, this warrior-like way, and Lundqvist isn’t one to disagree. He’ll be the first to tell you that despite all the plaudits for his padwork and all the glamour about his glove, it is actually his iron-willed compete-level that serves him best. “I really battled tonight” is the way he describes it, and about the closest he comes to boastfulness. He is one of those special athletes who wants the challenge, who relishes it, who craves it. He’d rather see 45 basement hockey-like shots than 17 low percentage ones. He delights in such a deluge.
The Rangers oblige Hank in this wish far too often though for their own good, partly for the same reason that 18,000 in MSG pinch themselves and rub their eyes when he is proved human. They expect him to make the saves. He’s the best insurance policy money can buy (6 years, $41.25 million).
But the team’s heavy reliance on him has left something to be desired in the stat columns. In his first five full seasons in the NHL, Lundqvist played less than 70 games just once, when he played in 68 in the 2010-11 campaign, while his celebrated counterparts were averaging something closer to 60. He saw 1,800+ shots each year, twice weathering over 2,000, the most rubber faced by any netminder in this span. This all translated into numbers (GAA, Save %) that were staggering in the context of his season, but less impressive relative to the rest of the league. There was no doubt Hank was the most valuable goaltender at this time, but the Vezina is awarded to the best goaltender. And best, which is itself a qualitative, subjective measurement, is substantiated by statistics, which left Lundqvist out.
This year though, Rangers coach John Tortorella vowed to play his goalie less, so as to keep him fresher over the course of the grueling NHL season. True to his word, Tortorella called upon Lundqvist just 62 times this year and The King responded with his most royal season yet. He compiled a record of 39-18-5, amassed eight shutouts, and won spectacular game after spectacular game. Excluding the peewee-like seasons of Cory Schneider and Brian Elliot, his .930 save percentage ranked first in the league and his 1.97 goals against average ranked second. He starred in the Winter Classic, in front of the NHL’s largest viewing audience, styling the grace, the panache, and the athleticism that his position demands. He scripted a 14-5 record against division opponents, suffering consecutive losses just three times all year. It was the kind of season we all knew was coming from the Swedish netminder, even if it wasn’t so different from one’s past.
But awards are about numbers. They rely on the quantitative, for better or worse, placing higher stock in hard statistics than seasoned judgment. This year, the former was finally congruous with the ladder, and the pick for the Vezina Trophy was never easier.
It would be The King. The real one.
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