Sitting to Maloney's right was Martin Madden, the head of amateur scouting. On Maloney's left was Christer Rockstrom, the team's head European scout. Maloney glanced over at Rockstrom's notebook, and noticed a bunch of names crossed out except for one at the top:
Henrik Lundqvist's.
"Christer," Maloney whispered. "Is that your top goaltender in Europe that hasn't been selected?"
"Yes," Rockstrom responded. "But Martin saw him and didn't like him, so don't bring his name up."
Maloney was incredulous.
"It was so illogical -- Christer has a great track record, why wouldn't we take this Lundqvist guy?" Maloney said.
So Maloney brought his concerns to Madden. "In Martin's defense -- and why I think Henrik fell in that draft -- Henrik wasn't very good in the last tournament that all the scouts see," Maloney said. "But Martin basically said, 'Fine, we'll take him.' Christer looked at me and was like, 'I can't believe it. Don -- why are you trying to get me in trouble with my boss?'"
And so goes the story of how the New York Rangers snagged one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history with the 205th overall pick -- after 21 other goaltenders had been selected.