Henrik Lundqvist will continue his pursuit of the Stanley Cup with a team he spent much of his career trying to stop from winning it.
Lundqvist signed with the Washington Capitals on Friday, a $1.5 million, one-year contract for the 38-year-old goaltender who was bought out by the New York Rangers after 15 seasons. After years of tormenting Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals in the playoffs, Lundqvist will try to help them win it again at the tail end of his illustrious time in the NHL.
”Henrik is one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history, and we are pleased to have him join our organization,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. ”Henrik has the competitive drive and the ability to help our team compete for a championship. We feel he will be an excellent fit for our team and provide leadership to our organization and our young goaltenders. ”
The longtime face of the Rangers will split duties in net with 23-year-old goalie of the future Ilya Samsonov. Washington added Lundqvist to replace 2016 Vezina Trophy and 2018 Stanley Cup winner Braden Holtby, who left to sign an $8.6 million, two-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks.
”Braden has built a legacy both on and off the ice that will have a lasting impact on our organization and on our community,” MacLellan said. ”Winning the Vezina Trophy in 2016, the Jennings Trophy in 2017 and helping the team win the Stanley Cup with his stellar play in 2018 cements his position as one of the best goalies of his era. Off the ice, he led by example and consistently made a positive impact across several important initiatives.”
In other goaltending movement, Cam Talbot left the Calgary Flames to sign an $11 million, three-year contract with the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota traded former starter Devan Dubnyk to Minnesota earlier in the week.
Playoff hero Anton Khudobin could soon return tot he Dallas Stars, and Jacob Markstrom is reportedly close to joining Calgary. That leaves Thomas Greiss, Craig Anderson, Jimmy Howard and two-time Cup-winner Corey Crawford as the top goalies left on the market.
Lundqvist didn’t last long as a free agent. The veteran of 887 NHL regular-season and 130 playoff games over his career is still trying to win the Cup for the first time. He backstopped Sweden to an Olympic gold medal in 2006 and a silver in 2014 and won the Vezina as the league’s top goalie in 2012.
He took the Rangers to the Cup Final in 2014, a rare year he didn’t face the Capitals in the playoffs. After losing series to them in 2009 and 2011, Lundqvist eliminated the Capitals three times: 2012, 2013 and 2015.
While Washington won it all with Holtby in 2018, Lundqvist endured a Rangers rebuild that saw him rotated around in a three-goalie carousel with Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev. He hadn’t played in the playoffs since 2017 until two games in the qualifying round of the expanded, 24-team playoffs this past summer.
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AP Hockey Writers Larry Lage and John Wawrow contributed.
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For more AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
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