Player Discussion Henrik Lundqvist Pt. III

[nevesis]

Glad Hank is ok, LETS GO RANGERS!

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[Vickers8]

Hank is a warrior, 55th playoff win, long live the King!

 

[nevesis]

Hank is a warrior, 55th playoff win, long live the King!

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Big deal!

Any goalie in the current NHL could be number 1 in all of those aspects, right?

Long live the King!

 

[Desdichado93]

Sports Illustrated have listed the 50 best dressed athletes in the world, Hank is ranked as #5.

http://www.si.com/specials/fashionable50/#henrik_lundqvist

 

[Dagoon44]

when is the last break away he stopped in a big game ? just asking 8.5 is a lot of money seeing more teams once again winning in the playoffs with no name goalies

 

[silverfish]

when is the last break away he stopped in a big game ? just asking 8.5 is a lot of money seeing more teams once again winning in the playoffs with no name goalies

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

when is the last break away he stopped in a big game ? just asking 8.5 is a lot of money seeing more teams once again winning in the playoffs with no name goalies

Game 2 on Rust..........

 

[Kaapodonna]

when is the last break away he stopped in a big game ? just asking 8.5 is a lot of money seeing more teams once again winning in the playoffs with no name goalies

I LOVE Hank as much as any one, but his cap it is hard to swallow. Especially if he keeps trending downward in the coming years. He is still one of the best, but there are definitely parts of his game that are starting to slip. I wish he was immune to age .

 

[silverfish]

Hank's 5v5 WAR this season was 3.

Take three wins away from the Rangers, and they don't make the playoffs.

According to hockey-reference, league average goaltending this year was a .915sv% http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

Lundqvist finished this season at .920. Let's do some extrapolating...

Lundqvist faced 1944 shots this season allowing 156 goals for that .920 sv%. A replacement level goalie (ie. league average) operating at a .915sv% would have allowed 165 goals. 9 more. Very basic and unproven WAR calculations suggest that 6 goals created or taken away is a win. So, Hank's WAR this season was 1.5. Take away three points in the standings, and the Rangers are WC1, and faceoff with the Panthers tonight.

However... if rather than taking into account all game time (PP, PK, 3v3 OT) and just look at 5v5 play [where majority of the game is played and majority of the analysis takes place], league average goaltending was a .925 sv%.

Lundqvist recorded a career best .937 sv% at 5v5 play this season facing 1532 shots and allowing 97 goals. A league average 5v5 goalie with that workload would have allowed 115 goals, 18 more. Lundqvist's WAR at 5v5 was 3. Take 3 wins away from the Rangers, and they don't make the playoffs.

Now, the reason for this post is because I saw a lot of talking in the GDT last night about how it is folly to build a team around the goalie... Part of me agrees and disagrees with this sentiment. It's easy to say, well, if the Rangers didn't have Lundqvist, they'd have better than just league average goaltending... but is that true? You have to figure that there are 15 teams in the league without league average goaltending... how are they all fairing? Hell, there are some teams in the league with league average goaltending that aren't fairing too well, either.

Of course there is the opportunity cost. The $4m you save on goalies could be used elsewhere in the ranks, improving the offense or the defense... but, this Rangers team, for all their faults, finished 7th in the league in goal scoring, and STILL if you replace Lundqvist with league average goaltending, they don't make the playoffs.

So, think about it. How much better can the offense get? How much worse can the goaltending get? Seems to me, there's a much bigger hole going down than there is opportunity going up.

 

[haveandare]

Game 2 on Rust..........

I was going to say, it was one game ago. Geez.

 

[JohnC]

when is the last break away he stopped in a big game ? just asking 8.5 is a lot of money seeing more teams once again winning in the playoffs with no name goalies

About 2.5 minutes after they scored the go ahead goal

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

when is the last break away he stopped in a big game ? just asking 8.5 is a lot of money seeing more teams once again winning in the playoffs with no name goalies

How bad is your memory? It literally happened in the previous game when he stopped Rust on a breakaway just after we made it 2-1.

About 2.5 minutes after they scored the go ahead goal

There you go.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Lest we forget all of the great saves Hank's made in tight on guys like Kessel, Hornquist, etc.

 

[Inferno]

Lest we forget all of the great saves Hank's made in tight on guys like Kessel, Hornquist, etc.

people only remember the goals, never the saves. Henrik is the only reason this team is in the playoffs.

 

[Grifter3511]

I was going to say, it was one game ago. Geez.

Yeah, but what has he done for us lately?

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Shouldn't have re-signed here.

For reference, refer to tonight's game as well as the myopia above.

 

[Irishguy42]

I'd almost want to start Raanta for Game 5. I don't think Hank is mentally in it anymore this season.

I also don't want to have another "Sad Lundqvist after Elimination" picture to add to the collection...

 

[nevesis]

I'd almost want to start Raanta for Game 5. I don't think Hank is mentally in it anymore this season.

yeah, thats not going to happen.

 

[Rangers2319]

You know what pisses me off here is fact that people are blaming hanks salary on crippling the team, you sound insane.

Go look at other goalies....

http://www.generalfanager.com/leagueleaders?position=G&shoots=Both&team=all

hank gets 2.5mil more than 10 other teams in the league which includes 7 mil rask (won a cup) a 6mil crawford (won a few cups) and 6 mil holtby. A lot of goalies are in the 6mil range, hell look at dallas they have 2 5mil goalies totaling over 10mil.

An extra 2.5mil isnt getting you much more especially since over time the cap is expected to rise.

I mean what the heck you waste 1.4mil on tanner ****in glass, 4.5 mil on boyle (who will be gone) and another 11 mil on 2 dmen who are past their prime, and 7.8 mil on a penalty killer

Tell me again how hanks salary is crippling the team?

It comes down to the fact that we need a coach who can properly use the players at his disposal and bringing in players that can actually play

 

[Irishguy42]

yeah, thats not going to happen.

Yeah, I figured it was very unlikely. Hank would rather die then be benched. Ever.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

You know what pisses me off here is fact that people are blaming hanks salary on crippling the team, you sound insane.

Go look at other goalies....

http://www.generalfanager.com/leagueleaders?position=G&shoots=Both&team=all

hank gets 2.5mil more than 10 other teams in the league which includes 7 mil rask (won a cup) a 6mil crawford (won a few cups) and 6 mil holtby. A lot of goalies are in the 6mil range, hell look at dallas they have 2 5mil goalies totaling over 10mil.

An extra 2.5mil isnt getting you much more especially since over time the cap is expected to rise.

I mean what the heck you waste 1.4mil on tanner ****in glass, 4.5 mil on boyle (who will be gone) and another 11 mil on 2 dmen who are past their prime, and 7.8 mil on a penalty killer

Tell me again how hanks salary is crippling the team?

It comes down to the fact that we need a coach who can properly use the players at his disposal and bringing in players that can actually play

2.5M in savings plus spending other money more wisely on players would be a big deal.

I don't see any reason to pay a goalie more than 6M AAV.

 

[Kaapodonna]

2.5M in savings plus spending other money more wisely on players would be a big deal.

I don't see any reason to pay a goalie more than 6M AAV.

I was coming to post the exact same thing, but you beat me to it. An extra 2.5 million is HUGE in a cap world.

Edit, as I said before. I LOVE Hank, but I thought the contract was absurd for a goalie.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Just think. If we didn't have Boyle or Glass and had Hank or some other good goalie for 2.5M less, we'd have 8.5M to spend. Add in Nash, and bit over 16M.

 

[TheTakedown]

You know what pisses me off here is fact that people are blaming hanks salary on crippling the team, you sound insane.

Go look at other goalies....

http://www.generalfanager.com/leagueleaders?position=G&shoots=Both&team=all

hank gets 2.5mil more than 10 other teams in the league which includes 7 mil rask (won a cup) a 6mil crawford (won a few cups) and 6 mil holtby. A lot of goalies are in the 6mil range, hell look at dallas they have 2 5mil goalies totaling over 10mil.

An extra 2.5mil isnt getting you much more especially since over time the cap is expected to rise.

I mean what the heck you waste 1.4mil on tanner ****in glass, 4.5 mil on boyle (who will be gone) and another 11 mil on 2 dmen who are past their prime, and 7.8 mil on a penalty killer

Tell me again how hanks salary is crippling the team?

It comes down to the fact that we need a coach who can properly use the players at his disposal and bringing in players that can actually play

Great post. At least Hank works up to his pay rate. Look at those cap hits in bold...

Tanner Glass: $1.45M, 4th line grinder that should be paid $.7M
Dan Boyle: $4.5M, 3rd pairing defenseman that should be paid $2M AT MOST
Dan Girardi: $5.5M, 3rd pairing defenseman that should be paid $2M
Marc Staal: $5.7M, low end 2nd pairing defenseman that should be paid $4M
Rick Nash: $7.8M, declining goal scorer who is worth about $3.5M
Total Cap Space: $24.95M in cap space on ****** players. When you look at what these guys SHOULD be making, it comes out to $12.2M... That is less than HALF of what these idiots are currently paid.

But yes, let's quibble about the $1.5-2.5M we could have saved by getting Quick, Crawford, or Rask.

Oh, and by the way, Quick has a cap circumventing contract--His 10 year $58M contract would normally have not a $7M cap hit, but a $7.25M cap hit--a mere $1.25M less than Lundqvist. but wait, I forgot we could get an INSANE player for that