Crease
Chief Justice of the HFNYR Court
- Jul 12, 2004
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- 27,709
In your eyes, has he done enough in the NHL Playoffs up until this point to be considered a "money" player yet?
I don’t feel I have to prove I can play in the playoffs, absolutely not. My last seven years in Sweden, I won four championships, two professional, two in junior. Then the [2006] Olympics. I think I’ve played well in the playoffs. To win in the playoffs, it’s about getting the group to be at its best at the right time. This is not tennis or golf. It is a team sport where together we have to push ourselves. Of course I need to play well, and I think I have done that in the playoffs. Yeah, I’ll leave it at that.
His regular season and playoff stats are nearly identical. Hes probably been the best goalie in the NHL over the last decade. You do that math.
Richter is considered great because "he" won a cup, which is a bunch of BS. Name a series that he absolutely stole for the Rangers.
Lundqvist has been done-in by teams that can't win a cup. This garbage that he needs to be a superhuman force and drag his team to a championship is ludicrous and not based in reality.
His regular season and playoff stats are nearly identical. Hes probably been the best goalie in the NHL over the last decade. You do that math.
Richter is considered great because "he" won a cup, which is a bunch of BS. Name a series that he absolutely stole for the Rangers.
Lundqvist has been done-in by teams that can't win a cup. This garbage that he needs to be a superhuman force and drag his team to a championship is ludicrous and not based in reality.
His regular season and playoff stats are nearly identical. Hes probably been the best goalie in the NHL over the last decade. You do that math.
Richter is considered great because "he" won a cup, which is a bunch of BS. Name a series that he absolutely stole for the Rangers.
Lundqvist is right about Lundqvist
Well, as nice as Messier's hat trick was in his 'We will win tonight' guarantee game six in New Jersey, down three games to two, Richter was sensational in keeping the Rangers in that game in the first place. The Devils absolutely stormed the Rangers for long portions of the first two periods, and Richter was off the charts incredible holding them off.
Without Mike Richter in that game, we are sitting on 74 years of futility right now.
Well, as nice as Messier's hat trick was in his 'We will win tonight' guarantee game six in New Jersey, down three games to two, Richter was sensational in keeping the Rangers in that game in the first place. The Devils absolutely stormed the Rangers for long portions of the first two periods, and Richter was off the charts incredible holding them off.
Without Mike Richter in that game, we are sitting on 74 years of futility right now.
I certainly don't think he should be measured by the number of Cups he wins. In a 30 team league that's simply an unfair barometer. But "money" players elevate their game in the playoffs and neither the eye test nor stats suggest he does that consistently.
Like it or not, players' legacies are cemented in the playoffs. The argument isn't "Lundqvist isn't a big-game goalie because he hasn't won a Cup." That's lazy. The argument is "Lundqvist might not be considered a big game goalie because his regular season performances are by and large better than his post season performances." The reason Roy is considered the greatest goalie of all time despite Hasek's superhuman peak is because of his playoff performances.
This thread asks what Lundqvist's playoff legacy is at this point in his career and I get a lot of "It's a team game", "Not his fault the team doesn't score in front of him", and "Don't be spoiled." Sorry but that doesn't address the question.
They're really not though. Unless you are putting in a rather arbitrary qualifier than Lundqvist is expected to raise his game in the playoffs.
Isn't elevating your game in the playoffs the very definition of a "money" player?
He was garbage in 06 (not unexpected in his first playoffs), and was so-so in 09 (Rangers were just overmatched vs Caps, so not surprising his stats were just okay).
Was very good in 07 and 13, and great in 12. Other years he was solid.
Very difficult for a goalie to carry a team all by himself, so if you're looking simply at W/L records he's been a bit underwhelming given his talent, but I think he's earned his paycheck in just about every playoff year since his first one.