Why because he won a Vezina? Richter won a cup here. I'm sure Lundqvist would trade his Vezina for that. Richter is the greatest American goalie ever and the best Rangers goalie in history in my opinion. I've seen both play and from his '94 performance alone, he deserves that title. Lundqvist has yet to have that caliber of a performance in the playoffs, despite his impressive regular season numbers.
I'm closer to believing as well that Richter by a hair over Hank as far as greatest Ranger goalie ever.
I gotta disagree with you tho here when you what I bolded about Hank. If you as you say have watched both Richter and Lundqvist, it's actually hard to believe you would have said that. You do realize Hank carried this team on his back in the playoffs most years.
Hank's regular season goals against average for his career is 2.43 with a save % of .918% with over 460 wins....superb #'s no doubt.
Guess what? His playoff #'s blow away his regular season #'s which is why I'm wondering why you would even say what you said. Here's some #'s for you.
From his age 28 season to his age 34 season, here are Hank's goals against averages and save %'s in order:
2010-11....... 2.26 and .917% in 5 playoff games
2011-12........1.82 and .931% in 20 playoff games
2012-13.......2.14 and .934% in 12 playoff games
2013-14.......2.14 and .927% in 25 playoff games
2014-15.......2.11 and .928% in 19 playoff games
2016-17.......2.27 and .927% in 12 playoff games
Do numbers like these not live up to your "standards" of great goaltending in the playoffs?
For Lundy's career he has a 2.28 GAA and a .922 save % in 128 playoff games with 10 shutouts!!. That his won/loss record is just 61-65 is not Lundy's fault as he came up big in pretty much every playoff game he played in at least from my recollection.
He was the reason the Rangers made these long playoff runs where they made 3 ECF's and a Cup final.
I do believe it's pretty safe to say Hank has more than lived up to his reputation as a big game goaltender both in the regular season as well as the playoffs.