It’s hard to understand the greater context of events in the moment. Far too often, people are taken for granted until they’re gone. In the sports world, it’s not too often a player is so great for so long that that becomes the standard. When the story of Henrik Lundqvist is told during his Hall of Fame induction, it’ll sink in just how irreplaceable a player the goaltender was.

The New York Rangers have existed since 1926 and at this point in Lundqvist’s career, it’s pretty safe to say he’s the best player to ever put on the blue sweater with a diagonal Rangers across the chest. There are so many moments that stand out across what seems like a lifetime’s worth of memories.

For the first 14 years of Lundqvist’s career, as the net minder went, the team went. At his apex, the Swede was the best goaltender on the planet for a multi-year stretch.

Simply put, if the “Space Jam,” aliens wanted to play hockey for the fate of humanity, 2014 Lundqvist would’ve been defending Earth’s crease. From 2012–2017 the Rangers were 13–4 in elimination games and Lundqvist had a goals against average of 1.74 in those contests.

To say Lundqvist was a rock for the organization is putting his value lightly. Over the course of his career, the goaltender was so good, the team’s front office tried to cut corners around him to build a contender.

From the start of the first true contender window during the 2011–2012 season, New York attempted to ride Lundqvist to a Stanley Cup. Starting in the 2010–2011 season, the Rangers never finished lower than fifth in goals against. While that ultimately led to the team’s defensemen like Marc Staal and Dan Girardi getting nice paydays, it was Lundqvist who proved his worth.

During the Rangers’ window to win a cup from 2011–2015, Lundqvist never saved fewer than 19 goals above a replacement level goaltender during the regular season. It’s worth noting that the years before the window was open, Lundqvist flirted with 30 goals saved above a replacement level goaltender because of just how weak the team in front of him was. The team was worse then, which meant he had to make saves against a greater number of high-quality scoring chances.

So, with a better team, Lundqvist was able to elevate the Rangers from mid-tier contender to genuine heavyweight. New York won the most playoff games this decade of any team to not win the Stanley Cup.

For as long as humanly possible, Lundqvist staved off the effects of father time and kept the Rangers relevant longer than they should’ve been. Meaning that although the team made the playoffs in both 2016 and 2017, those teams were not true contenders.

With too many flaws to compete against, those teams came down to Lundqvist standing on his head behind a porous defense that gave up north of 50 scoring chances against per game.

In 2017, both the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens caved the Rangers in to the tune of almost 60 percent possession during the playoffs. This means that Lundqvist was facing almost 60 percent of the shots in the game at even strength.

(Courtesy Evolvingwild.com)

Now, in the final phase of Lundqvist’s career, he’s being phased out or even blatantly mismanaged.

While head coach David Quinn chases a playoff spot right now, he’s effectively frozen Lundqvist out of starts in goal. Even with Igor Shesterkin on the shelf with a fractured rib, Lundqvist got one start in a shooting gallery of a game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The narratives surrounding Lundqvist have always worked against him. For much of his prime, he was always expected to be perfect because he’d shown the ability to make a play when the Rangers needed him to and always tracked the puck through chaos.

In game seven against the Pittsburgh Penguins on the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, Lundqvist faced 58 percent of the scoring chances at even strength and dragged the Rangers to the conference finals through an act of sheer will.

Although the Rangers never did win the Stanley Cup, in all of those journeys, it always felt like they had a chance because of number 30 between the pipes.

That’s what’s being lost to time because of the team around him now. For three straight seasons, Lundqvist was put behind a team actively rebuilding and limiting his chances for success. Yes, a great goaltender can steal a game here or there for their team. No goaltender could’ve dragged the Rangers of the past two-plus seasons to the playoffs. Now, with Shesterkin as the heir apparent, the organization appears ready to kick its most iconic player to the curb.

In the last 40 years of Rangers hockey, just one draft pick, Brian Leetch, has made the Hall of Fame.

Unlike Leetch who was a top ten pick, Lundqvist came from relative obscurity as a seventh round selection. However, what both have in common is being unceremoniously forced out at the end of their respective careers.

Leetch was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs at age 35 and managed to have two more solid seasons, including one with the Boston Bruins before retiring.

As for Lundqvist, it’s unclear what this upcoming off-season will bring. With a full no-movement clause and one year remaining on his deal, a trade is unlikely. Yet, equally unlikely is the team opting to roll with a three-headed Frankenstein monster in net for a full 82 game season. Assuming New York signs restricted free agent Alex Georgiev this summer, that again leaves Lundqvist as one of three goaltenders.

The real shame of it is, Lundqvist never got to play behind the Rangers during its best stretch of hockey this season. The Swede played twice the entire month of February and once was as an injury replacement while Shesterkin underwent concussion testing.

It was during this span that New York trickled over into the positive of both scoring chances for at even strength and expected goals for. Shesterkin and Georgiev had the benefit of playing behind a group of skaters that was putting more pressure on the other team than the two had to face themselves.

Lundqvist was not afforded the privilege of playing with a team that gave him a chance to win without being a brick wall this season. Quinn opting to phase out Lundqvist for a Georgiev/Shesterkin tandem because the duo gave the team the best chance to win is a self fulfilling fallacy.

Quinn not giving Lundqvist any action for almost a month and then turning to him in one of the most pivotal games of his coaching tenure needing a win was always going to end poorly.

Goaltenders, Lundqvist in particular, need repetition to get into a groove. Throughout his Hall of Fame career, Lundqvist was always at his best when he could get into a nice five or six game stretch and really get into the swing of the game.

But, coming in cold this past Sunday against a good Flyers team that can drive possession and score at will with four lines was a disaster. Throw in the fact the Rangers were playing without Chris Kreider up front and it’s no shock New York got worked for the first 50 minutes of play.

Even now at 39-years-old, Lundqvist is an above replacement level goaltender. It’s impossible to know what the front office’s plan in net going forward is, especially in regards to Georgiev.

Lundqvist might be the backup next year or he could be bought out this summer. That likely comes down to what New York ends up doing with Georgiev. If the RFA is traded after agreeing to a contract, Lundqvist rides shotgun with Shesterkin for 2020–2021. But, if Georgiev is retained, Lundqvist is almost certainly going to be bought out.

With the Hall of Fame resume Lundqvist’s put together, he’s still somehow under-appreciated. The blood, sweat and tears haven’t earned him the chance to be in the mix.

In the first half of the season, Lundqvist’s numbers were better than Georgiev’s, but Quinn sidelined him anyway. Now, it seems as if the Swede won’t be back in the mix until the Rangers are firmly out of the playoff hunt.

Even if Shesterkin goes onto have a great career, he’s got the best player in the history of the franchise to live up to. Being Lundqvist’s replacement is a tall order and it’s going to be outright impossible.

Replacing a living legend makes the margin for error significantly smaller and maybe, maybe, then someone else will understand the burden that Lundqvist has carried until the very end of his storied Rangers career.