An Ice Hockey Wiki article.

Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
Nickname(s)	King Henrik Hankenstein[1]
Height Weight	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (89 kg)
NHL Team	New York Rangers
Nationality	SWE
Born	March 2 1982 (1982-03-02) (age 27), Åre, Sweden
NHL Draft	205th overall, 2000 New York Rangers
Pro Career	2000 – present

Henrik Lundqvist (born March 2, 1982, in Åre, Sweden) is a Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). After only two seasons, he is considered to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, and has twice been nominated for the Vezina Trophy, most recently finishing tied for third in the voting.^[2] He has an identical twin brother, Joel Lundqvist of the Dallas Stars.

Often called "Henke" or "Lunkan" (Swedish hypocorisms of his first and last name, respectively) by his Swedish fans, his dominating play during his rookie season resulted in the New York media and Rangers fans giving him the nicknames "King Henrik", and "Hank". During games fans are known to chant "Hen-rik".

Professional career

European career

After having a successful pre-season Lundqvist made his Elitserien debut in the season premier on September 21, 2000, in a 2–4 loss against Brynäs IF. Lundqvist bounced back and recorded his first win in the following away game against IF Björklöven, stopping 18 shots and only allowing a goal while being short handed. However, in his third straight start Lundqvist allowed two early first period goals in a game against Timrå IK and was pulled in favor of veteran keeper Håkan Algotsson. Lundqvist would only get to dress for another ten games this season, and only got one start, in a shoot out loss against Djurgårdens IF. Lundqvist lost his roster spot to Canadian veteran keeper Pat Jablonski who joined the team in October. Tommy Boustedt, who was the coach of the team at the time, later said that;

Lundqvist played nine games for IF Mölndal Hockey in the Swedish second tier, Allsvenskan, before joining Frölunda's junior team in the J20 SuperElit in December. After playing poorly in Allsvenskan, he had a tough start in the J20 SuperElit, and allowed six goals in an exhibition game against Canada. National junior team coaches Bo "Kulon" Lennartsson and Mikael Tisell were worried and decided to have a talk with Lundqvist, where they questioned his motivation. Lundqvist's turning point came at the turn of the year at the 2001 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Moscow, Russia. He led the Swedish national juniors team to a fourth place finish in the tournament. After an upset 3–2 win over Russia in the quarterfinals, Sweden lost 0–1 against Czech Republic in the semifinals, and in overtime (1–2) against Canada in the bronze medal game. He spent the rest of the seasons in the J20 SuperElit where he played 18 games, and was the minutes played leader for all goalies in the league during the regular season. In the playoffs he led Frölunda to their, and his, second straight Anton Cup win (Swedish Junior Ice Hockey Championship), after a 5–2 win over Leksands IF in the final at the Stockholm Globe Arena.

In December 2004, The Hockey News rated him the sixth best European prospect and the lone goaltender in their European top 10 list. Also in December, Lundqvist joined fellow Rangers prospect Al Montoya on McKeen's list of top goaltending prospects, where he was ranked seventh amongst that group. ^[3]

During the 2005 season, he broke four Swedish national records: lowest goals against average (1.05), best save percentage (.962), longest time without allowing a goal (172 min 29 sec) and most shutouts in a season (6). He was also named Best Goaltender, Best Swedish Player and was selected as the league's MVP by fellow players.

In 180 appearances with Frölunda he compiled a 1.96 goals against average and a .927 save percentage, leading them to four consecutive playoff appearances and winning two titles, in 2003 and 2005.

NHL career

Lundqvist wins the gold medal

On June 25, 2000, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Lundqvist was picked by the New York Rangers in round seven, 205th overall.^[4] Lundqvist was considered by many to be the best goaltending prospect to come out of Sweden.^[5]

At the beginning of his rookie season (2005-06), with starting goaltender Kevin Weekes injured, Lundqvist made his NHL debut with the Rangers on October 8, 2005, at New Jersey, stopping 24 of 27 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss. Within the next two weeks, Lundqvist posted his first career NHL win, also against the New Jersey Devils, on October 13, 2005, and his first career shutout on October 17, 2005 against the Florida Panthers, becoming the first rookie goaltender to record a shutout for the Rangers since John Vanbiesbrouck on January 2, 1985.

Lundqvist became the first Rangers rookie to post 20 wins in a season since Mike Richter recorded 21 in 1990-91. Finishing the season with 30 wins, he broke the Rangers rookie goaltending record of 29 wins, previously held by Jim Henry (1941-42) and Johnny Bower (1953-54).

Lundqvist appeared in three playoff games, posting an 0-3 record, along with a 4.40 goals against average and an .835 save percentage in a series loss to the Devils.

Lundqvist was among the league leaders in several categories: fifth in goals against average (2.24), fourth in save percentage (.922), tied for 11th in wins (30) and tied for 16th in shutouts with two. He was a finalist for the 2005-2006 Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL's best goaltender, but was not a finalist for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the rookie of the year, due to a high crop of first-year players.^[6] He was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team, along with fellow first-year players Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Brad Boyes, Dion Phaneuf, and Andrej Meszároš. He won the 2005-06 MetLife/Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, a New York Rangers team award.

On December 14, 2006, at the Dallas Stars, Lundqvist became the first NHL goaltender to face his twin brother (Joel Lundqvist). He and his brother are only the third set of twins to play each other in an NHL game. The game was won by the Rangers and Lundqvist.

In the Rangers 7-0 win in game three of the 2007 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals over the Atlanta Thrashers, Lundqvist became the first Rangers goalie since Mike Richter in 1997 to post a playoff shutout. The win was also the Rangers first home playoff win since Richter's shutout.

Lundqvist was a finalist (for the second consecutive year) for the Vezina Trophy. Because Lundqvist tied with Miikka Kiprusoff for third place in balloting, there were four finalists for an NHL individual trophy for the first time in league history. ^[2] During the off-season, Lundqvist re-signed to a one-year $4.25 million (USD) contract with the Rangers.

Lundqvist during Sweden vs Latvia in Ice Hockey World Championships 2005

International play

As starting goaltender for the Swedish national men's hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Lundqvist helped the team to a gold medal over their arch rival, Finland. In six Olympic starts, Lundqvist went 5-1, allowing 12 goals with a .907 save percentage.

Off the ice

In 2007 a video appeared on the website YouTube with a drunk man impersonating Lundqvist. Both the two major Swedish tabloids, Aftonbladet and Expressen wrote about the event, and Aftonbladet later released a statement from a man claiming to have been the impersonator in the YouTube clip.

In April 2006 he was named one of People's World's 100 Most Beautiful People.^[7]

In 2004 he was awarded Best Dressed in Sweden.^[8]

Lundqvist used to play guitar in a Swedish rock band called Box Play.^[9]

Awards

Swedish league play

• Named Swedish Junior Hockey Player of the Year in 2002.
• Awarded Honken Trophy (Swedish Goalie of the Year) in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
• Awarded Guldpucken (Swedish Player of the Year) in 2005.
• Awarded Guldhjälmen (Swedish Most Valuable Player) in 2005.
• Elitserien champion with Frölunda HC in 2003 and 2005.

International play

• Silver medal the 2003 and 2004 World Championships.
• Named Best Goalie at the 2004 World Championships.
• Named to the All-Star Team at the 2004 World Championship.
• Olympic Gold medal with Sweden in 2006.

NHL

• Nominated for the Vezina Trophy (Best NHL Goalie) in 2006 and 2007.
• Named to the NHL All-Rookie Team in 2006.
• Awarded the MetLife/Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award in 2006.
• Awarded the New York Rangers Team Award in 2006.

Records

• Elitserien record for GAA of season 2003 (1.45)
• Elitserien record for SVS% of season 2003 (94.81)
• Elitserien record for GAA of season 2005 (1.79)
• Elitserien record for SVS% of season 2005 (93.55)

• New York Rangers single season record for most wins by a rookie goaltender with 30 victories in the 2005-06 campaign.
• Second Rangers goaltender ever (after Eddie Giacomin) to record back-to-back 30-win seasons with 30 in the 2005-06 season and 37 in the 2006-07 season.

Career statistics

Regular season

Post-season

Notes

References

• Biography on NewYorkRangers.com
• Henrik Lundqvist's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Henrik Lundqvist at TSN.ca
• Rangers All-Time Roster: Henrik Lundqvist