Rick Nash, Henrik Lundqvist & Chris Kreider Jersey Card

A guy who had a good run. A Hall of Fame goaltender who for a brief period (3-5 years) was the best at his profession on the planet. A guy who has a habit of running into goalies:

That's Rick Nash, Henrik Lundqvist and Chris Kreider on an all-New York Rangers jersey card, although the Nash swatch looks like it's from his Columbus Blue Jackets days. It's #PT3-NLK from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Premier set, Premier Teammates sub-set, and is numbered 79/99.

Nash was the NHL's first-overall draft pick in 2002, and despite a slew of injuries that took him from team captain and Rocket Richard Trophy winner elite player to depth checker, he still has a good chance of finishing first in career points of his class even if he never plays another game: his 805 points are nearly 200 more than his closest pursuer, Alexander Steen, who himself has slowed down to a 35-to-40-point pace at this point. Duncan Keith is probably the only Hall Of Famer of that draft year.

Lundqvist "only" has one Vezina Trophy to his name, but his dominance and consistency is something I never witnessed from any other goalie in my lifetime - and I saw almost every game of Patrick Roy's career, most of Martin Brodeur's and possibly half of Dominik Hasek's. Like Roy, he elevated his game under pressure, but not to the point of winning a Stanley Cup by himself. He needed all the might of Team Sweden to win Olympic gold in 2006.

Kreider is an asshole. He has the size, grit and overall talent to be on the same level as Blake Wheeler or Brad Marchand, but instead seems to rest on his laurels when the situation would require him to step up. He rarely scores less than 20 goals but has never reached the 30-goal plateau; he rarely gets fewer than 40 points but has never reached 55. His first two playoff goals were game-winners, but it seems like that's where he stopped putting any effort in.

He's delivered a ton of dirty hits to opposing players (those on Scottie Upshall and Elias Petterson come to mind), but even dirtier, he specializes in dangerous contacts with #1 goaltenders, among them Jaroslav Halak, Marc-André Fleury, Craig Anderson, and Carey Price.

He's the type of player I wouldn't mind never hearing of again, like Marchand.

Henrik Lundqvist Jersey Card

(As per years past, this is a twin-post with my "regular" blog, where I predicted the New York Rangers would finish sixth in the Metropolitan Division in 2019-20).

9/11 seems like as good a day as any to mention the team playing in Manhattan and its best player of the past 15 years, star goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

"Hank" is one of only eight active NHL goalies with a Vezina Trophy on his resume, and one could certainly make a case for why he should have two. If there was an award for most consistent over the longest period of time, he'd definitely get it:

from HockeyDB

I mean, so many seasons under 2.50 goals-against average, so many seasons above a .920 save percentage, most of them hovering near or reaching the 70-game plateau, so it's almost not surprising he's the only goalie in NHL history with 11 30-win seasons in his first 12 seasons - a feat even workhorse and trap benefactor Martin Brodeur never achieved.

He's even better in the postseason:

from Hockey-Reference

There has been a decline, however, as the Rangers have gone through a rebuilding process - not just of his play and stamina, but of the team's entire defense corps, meaning he gets better quality chances against, so he has a tougher job, so it's a bit of a vicious circle.

Many consider him a butterfly goalie, but I don't: he plays too deep in his crease (pictures 1-2), his glove is a tad too high (3, in that regard, he really has inspired the styles of many goalies a generation younger than he is) and his stance is too wide  - butterfly goalies' feet should be at of near the shoulders, whereas King Henrik's skates are usually out past his gloves even when standing (4-5). He does have the flat pad that butterfly goalies have perfected (6).

1. Instead of challenging the shooter, he gives him ample room to aim and get his bet shot in.

2. Instead of cutting the angle by coming out, Lundqvist remains deep and relies on his reflexes.

3. High glove, the high end even above the crossbar.

4. Wide stance ready for either a shot of a pass across.

5. This wider stance means he's expecting a shot and is ready to go down.

6. The "butterfly" technique's main advantage is that the flat pad nullifies the bottom 20% of the net completely.

Instead, I like to call his style "the brick wall", where he is usually right in front of the goal line, relying on his laser-accurate reflexes to stop high pucks with his glove or blocker, and expecting the rest to hit him on the pads or chest (7-9):

7. Remaining along the line enables Lundqvist to slide across while remain perpendicular to the middle of the net, parallel to the position of the net.

8. While remaining deep even on breakaways, by moving along the goal line, he is less likely to get thrown completely out of position.

9. Giving the shooter ample room and staying square in front of the net enables Lundqvist to stop shots in a butterfly-like position to kick the pad out of danger.

The thing about reflexes is they fade over time, sometimes drastically.

Still, it's extremely difficult to dismiss Lundqvist's mental strength and ability to will himself into one final spectacular season, provided he gets enough rest and plays no more than twice a week during the regular season and can accept being in net for, say 12-14 of the 16 wins a Stanley Cup victory requires, letting the younger Alexandar Georgiev handle the rest (and even outplay him for weeks at a time).

Here's the King, wearing the Rangers' classic white (now-away) unifrom on card #GJ-HL from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Series 2 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set, sticking to his goal post as he should, watching the puck in the corner:

It features a matching white game-worn jersey swatch. What a beautiful card and picture!

Henrik Lundqvist Jersey Card

... And he's back.

After another one of his legendary slow starts, Henrik Lundqvist is back in form, finally over the .900 save percentage barrier, on the strength of a .941 showing and 1.62 GAA in his last three games, including a would-be lop-sided loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night that he kept in the 2-1 margin; the Oilers completed the score with an empty-netter. He made 30 saves on 32 shots, a lot of them spectacular, such as this one:
The Rangers will need him playing like King Henrik if they want to make another post-season run, especially after losing out most of their bottom-6 forwards and defenseman Anton Stralman to free agency. I still stand by my pre-season prediction that despite injuries, they will hold on to a guaranteed playoff spot, but it won't look easy all the time.

Here's a miniature card of Lundqvist's, from Upper Deck's 2009-10 Champ's set (#MT-HL of the Threads jersey sub-set), featuring a tiny blue game-worn jersey swatch matching the Rangers' classic blue uniform from the black-and-white picture:

It's small, but the swatch is pretty much regular-size.

Henrik Lundqvist Jersey Card

I wanted to keep this card in case Henrik Lundqvist was named the Conn Smythe winner on Friday (I predicted the Los Angeles Kings would beat the New York Rangers in 5 games), but his 40-save performance in the only game the Kings had dominated so far convinced me to revise my initial plans. Kudos, King Henrik.

An Olympic gold medalist (Sweden 2006), the Rangers' backstopper has now reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time of his career, at age 32; sure, New York is a powerhouse and a well-balanced team, but there are 4 serious contenders year in and year out in the East, so who knows when, or how, or in what capacity - or even if - he will get to the main stage again.

He has endured more than his fair share of doubts and criticism, particularly early in the season, but he went back to his old ways soon enough and took the Rangers from the bottom of the Eastern standings to the Cup Finals, despite the offense not performing up to par.

And so, after showing him with the Rangers' regular jersey with the 85th anniversary shoulder patch, and in the 2012 Winter Classic uniform, here he is wearing the team's white (away) jersey, from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Series 2 set (card #GJ-HL of the Game Jersey sub-set), featuring a fairly-decent-sized blue swatch:

With, of course, this season's certificate of authenticity, brought to you by UD CEO Richard P. McWilliam, who died a year and a half ago:

Henrik Lundqvist Swatch Card

I have a few Henrik Lundqvist swatch cards I'll get to until the end of the summer, but with the New York Rangers' overtime win last night bringing the series to 3-1 for the Manhattanites, it felt like a good time to go for one, so I went with this 2011-12 Titanium card (#77 of the Game-Worn Gear sub-set, featuring a nice, big blue swatch) by Panini, showing him in the Rangers' 2012 Winter Classic uniform:

King Henrik is inching closer to two long-standing goals: reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time of his career, and getting past those pesky Montréal Canadiens, who had had his number for pretty much his entire career.

He had always been a consistent performer, his playoff statistics usually on par with those of the regular season, but this time around, his 1.98 GAA and .931 save percentage lead the league, despite having registered no shutouts.

This current series could easily be tied at two, though, and perhaps even be 3-1 in favor of Montréal. However, the how doesn't matter as much as the did, and the Rangers - Lundqvist especially, but also Brad Richards and Martin St-Louis - certainly have.

I still believe in the Habs, though, because it's the Rangers, the team can can surrender a 4-0 lead in the third period at the Bell Centre.

Henrik Lundqvist Swatch Card

Why not take advantage of a week-long eternity between hockey games to talk about the best goalie in the world - the New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist. Of course, you have to take that fact with a bit of a grain of salt, if only because many of the aspects we use to weigh that are easily debunked.

Case in point: he's the only goalie in history to record 7 consecutive 30-win seasons to start his career. Then again, back in Terry Sawchuk's day, seasons got as long as 50 games, so King Henrik's 70 games played per year certainly factor in, as do the fact that there are no more tied games, with overtimes now having a 50% chance of a win, better for quality (read: playoff-bound) teams like the Rangers.

However, posting GAAs and save percentages consistently among the top-5 over a long stretch of time become more impressive, so Lundqvist's career 2.25 GAA and .920 save % is not only great, but almost mind-boggling. The fact that his career stats are exactly the same (2.28 and .920) in the playoffs, against necessarily better teams (the league's top-16 rather than the entire 30 teams) is even better and speaks even more of his consistency.

He holds Elitserein (Swedish league) records for both GAA and save percentage. He has accumulated the most shutouts in Madison Square Garden history (again, also a factor of playing so much), but his Olympics record for most shutout minutes (over the course of two sessions, 2006 and 2010) is impressive as well, standing at 172 minutes and 34 seconds - or just about three straight games.

He has an Olympic gold medal (2006), as well as World Championship silver (2003 and 2004).

A former goalie myself - and current youth hockey goaltending coach - I am often asked to rank the NHL's goalies, usually because people want me to rank the Montréal Canadiens' Carey Price. This season has been mayhem on my rankings, but in general, had we had a full season with everyone starting on time and having had the same training camp periods, it would have looked like this in September:

1. Henrik Lundqvist
2. Jonathan Quick
3. Pekka Rinne
4. Craig Anderson
5. Miikka Kiprusoff

Kipper was injured and had an off year, but has been the second most consistent of the last decade, so he can be forgiven. Tuukka Rask is definitely on the rise, and I have faith in Ben Bishop to crack the top-10 next year, while Roberto Luongo shouldn't be counted out yet.

And so, getting this white-swatch card from Panini's 2011-12 Pinnacle set (card #41 of the Game Night sub-set) was truly a blessing - my 'hits' aren't usually impressive, or are other people's favourites; this time, I had a guy I truly regarded as one of the best in his profession: