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What the HELL is going on with Henrik Lundqvist?

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It doesn't really matter what we think, or who is willing to admit what. The question is, can or will he turn it around?

Is it a pads issue? I doubt it. Last time they cut pads he improved.
Is it a confidence issue? Henrik never seemed someone lacking in confidence.
Is it a defense issue? I believe this is a big part of it.

What we can be sure of is that it was not

A. His contract situation, that was a bunch of bunk.
B. Lack of feeling pressured, Talbot has earned back-to-backs and it hasn't seen a measured difference in his play.
 
Fitzy said:
It doesn't really matter what we think, or who is willing to admit what. The question is, can or will he turn it around?

Is it a pads issue? I doubt it. Last time they cut pads he improved.
Is it a confidence issue? Henrik never seemed someone lacking in confidence.
Is it a defense issue? I believe this is a big part of it.

What we can be sure of is that it was not

A. His contract situation, that was a bunch of bunk.
B. Lack of feeling pressured, Talbot has earned back-to-backs and it hasn't seen a measured difference in his play.
Click to expand...

If it was a defense issue, we'd see Talbot being terrible most likely. I think it's a purely confidence issue. Mainly because Hank is even fighting easy shots.
 
Mint said:
Agreed.

Were Leetch or Richter critiqued in a similar way during their final playing days as a Ranger?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Leetch was disparaged as a player and as a captain for quite a while before the unholy trade.

Richter was less disparaged but his retirement was more sudden, due to concussion. The decline in his play was obvious, as well.

BTW, for all those who love Lundqvist and also want to tank - what's going to happen to Lundqvist's stats and his legacy if he has to play behind an AHL defense for three to five years?
 
CharlieCharleschuk said:
Absolutely. Leetch was disparaged as a player and as a captain for quite a while before the unholy trade.

Richter was less disparaged but his retirement was more sudden, due to concussion. The decline in his play was obvious, as well.

BTW, for all those who love Lundqvist and also want to tank - what's going to happen to Lundqvist's stats and his legacy if he has to play behind an AHL defense for three to five years?
Click to expand...

Team >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Individual legacy
 
Jonathan. said:
If it was a defense issue, we'd see Talbot being terrible most likely. I think it's a purely confidence issue. Mainly because Hank is even fighting easy shots.
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Well, many here have postulated that the defense has needed/will need time to adjust to the new system. It has been said by some that defensemen don't know how to pass well because Tortorella's system of chipping the puck up the boards had drummed the ability to make crisp quick passes out of them.

If that could be true for defenders, then why not for the goalkeeper? Lundqvist may be going through an adjustment period. He is used to having five players laying on the ice in front of him to block shots. Maybe this has, over the years, biased his style of play. Maybe we have to give him some time to adjust to the new system. This development may have been surprising to Lundqvist, leading to an impact on his confidence in all areas of the game.

Talbot, on the other hand doesn't have this handicap so he looks better in the current system and situation.

This is why I've been saying that the contract extension was premature. We don't know if Lundqvist will get it. I'm 90% sure he will, but there's been little evidence of it until now. Based on his massive contract, he better get it or our team will be pretty severely handicapped in the coming years.
 
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CharlieCharleschuk said:
Well, many here have postulated that the defense has needed/will need time to adjust to the new system. It has been said by some that defensemen don't know how to pass well because Tortorella's system of chipping the puck up the boards had drummed the ability to make crisp quick passes out of them.

If that could be true for defenders, then why not for the goalkeeper? Lundqvist may be going through an adjustment period. He is used to having five players lying on the ice in front of him to block shots. Maybe this has, over the years, biased his style of play. Maybe we have to give him some time to adjust to the new system. This development may have been surprising to Lundqvist, leading to an impact on his confidence in all areas of the game.

Talbot, on the other hand doesn't have this handicap so he looks better in the current system and situation.

This is why I've been saying that the contract extension was premature. We don't know if Lundqvist will get it. I'm 90% sure he will, but there's been little evidence of it until now. Based on his massive contract, he better get it or our team will be pretty severely handicapped in the coming years.
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Yeah, but that's just silly. The goalie shouldn't be adjusting to much of anything. Hank's game hasn't changed with the system change. He plays just as deep as he always has and he has retained all of his habits from past years. His confidence is completely shot, though. As I said, he's even fighting it on easy shots.

Again, if this was a defensive issue, Talbot would be ******** the bed game in, game out.

If Hank needs guys blocking shots in front of him to play at a Vezina level, then he isn't the guy I thought he was.
 
One thing I wonder...

Does AV's previous dealings with Luongo and Schneider have any effect on the current situation? That was hell for him.

He had a huge contract and G that was worthy of playing above him. I wonder if his insistence in playing Lundqvist is to advert that situation again?

I dunno...just thinking aloud.
 
I hate when people can't look at something and call it what it is.

Hank just has not been good this year. The Rangers need points right now and Talbot has done nothing but win games since he has played. Talbot right now is outplaying Hank, so play him. When Hank rolls off three or four great games in a row, fine! I can't stand him giving up 3+ goals a game and everyone blaming everyone except Hank.

The guy is really fighting the puck and Talbot has been on fire. Let him play.
 
Jonathan. said:
Yeah, but that's just silly. The goalie shouldn't be adjusting to much of anything. Hank's game hasn't changed with the system change. He plays just as deep as he always has and he has retained all of his habits from past years. His confidence is completely shot, though. As I said, he's even fighting it on easy shots.

Again, if this was a defensive issue, Talbot would be ******** the bed game in, game out.

If Hank needs guys blocking shots in front of him to play at a Vezina level, then he isn't the guy I thought he was.
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No, I don't think you understand, especially on the difference between Talbot and Lundqvist's performance. The point you missed is that the habits of Lundqvist's past years may be hard to break. These are the same habits that are making our defense in general look much worse than it has recently. Lundqvist, like our veteran defenders, has established patterns over the past years.

If Talbot never had a chance to develop those habits he's going to be starting from a better place.

I totally agree that in addition to underlying issues, he's also completely lost his confidence and is fighting everything that looks routine out there.
 
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66 out of 83 GA were from the face-off dots in. That sounds about right.

44 of 83 GA were from 10' or LESS. That's pretty indicative of the team in front of him.

http://somekindofninja.com/nhl/inde...and+Away&strength=Even&time=All&search=Search

He hasn't been his best. But he's certainly not "terrible" or "horrible" or whatever dumb words are being thrown about here. Fleury, in last year's playoffs was "horrible".
 
They are going to throw the season away as they wait for Henrik to find himself. Talbot is 9-3, has the best save percentage in the league and right now is just flat out better. Not fair to the other 22 guys on the team or the fans to keep playing Lundqvist just because he has been the #1 for 7 years. The Yankees said good-bye to Don Mattingly in favor of Tino Martinez when the time came, and then said good bye to Tino for Texeira. Not saying it is time to say good-bye to Lundqvist, but right now he flat out sucks. Talbot has to be the #1 for the time being with Lundqvist getting every 3rd or 4th start until he picks up his game. If Bobrovsky was as bad as Lundqvist last night, they win 8-3. He even looked awful in the shootout, which was supposed to be where he shines.
 
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