The New York Rangers are staring down the barrel of a potential rebuild, but their one constant is here for the long haul. Henrik Lundqvist told Larry Brooks of the New York Post today that though he hopes to compete for the Stanley Cup every year, he has no intention of going anywhere even if they do start selling off assets.
I want to play for one organization. This one. I love it here. I want to be here and battle through the ups and downs, the good and the bad. It’s important to me.
Lundqvist has three years remaining on a contract that carries an $8.5MM cap hit and a full no-movement clause, and despite struggles in his last two games still carries a .919 save percentage this season. That mark is just barely under his career number, in what has been a likely Hall of Fame career already.
- Henrik Zetterberg, another legendary Swedish-born player who has played for just a single organization, is perhaps already in the midst of a sort of rebuild. The Detroit Red Wings are struggling to fight for a playoff spot and are rumored to be looking at deals for players like Mike Green and Petr Mrazek, but won’t be asking Zetterberg to waive his trade protection anytime soon. Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that the current Red Wings front office will not try to deal Zetterberg even if a contender comes knocking.
- Ty Ronning, son of long time NHL forward Cliff Ronning, is finding a ton of success as he finishes his junior career with the Vancouver Giants. The 20-year old forward has 44 goals in 50 games, and could find himself under a professional contract before long. Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 in Vancouver reports that Ronning has had “positive talks” with the Rangers, who drafted him 201st overall in 2016. The undersized sniper played 12 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack last spring, scoring five points in the process.
I could live with Henrik sticking around through his contract. At the very least, Henrik has earned the right to ask for a trade to a contender if he wants to chase a ring. And if he wants to stick around the next three, and probably rough, years ahead then I think he has earned that as well. Off the top of my head I don’t think the Rangers have a real succession plan at goaltender so at the very least he should be able to give them a year or two to start finding one.
The Rangers have two phenomenal goaltending prospects in Adam Huska and Igor Shesterkin. I wouldn’t worry too much about their future in net. If anything Henrik is going to be a huge part of the mentoring to one of (if not both) of those guys.