A netminder who spent years lined up across from Alex Ovechkin — and for a short while was nearly a teammate of his — figures the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leader still has loads of quality hockey in front of him.
Henrik Lundqvist, the storied Rangers netminder out of New York who came within a whisker of joining Washington's Capitals, offered his read on Ovechkin's road ahead while sitting on TNT's intermission desk Sunday, midway through what could prove to be a final clash between Ovechkin's Caps and the Penguins of Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby.
Anchor Liam McHugh wondered aloud whether anything pointed to the Russian being unable to keep skating for a trio of seasons beyond this one in the NHL.
Lundqvist replied without hesitation that he saw no such reason. As he explained it, the toughest aspect of any lengthy professional career, hockey among them, is sustaining consistency, and while that takes enormous dedication, it ultimately springs from a heartfelt love of the game. Without that underlying passion, he noted, it becomes nearly impossible to grind out the kind of effort both of these players have sustained over the years.
He added that it's hardly an accident that Crosby and Ovechkin are still performing at such a high level given their age. To him, it traces directly back to their devotion to and love of hockey, something on display in their preparation as much as in the way they actually compete out there. Lundqvist said he relishes watching it.
Ovechkin, presently grinding through what is the closing year on his Washington pact, has stated time and again over the course of the year that his affection for hockey and the men beside him remains as strong as it has ever been. The 40-year-old, now a week removed from his announcement, revealed he intends to hold off until summer arrives before settling on whether to hang up his skates, still undecided about suiting up for an additional year.
Lundqvist debuted in the league during 2005-06 — the identical rookie year shared by both Ovechkin and Crosby — and finished fourth in the Calder voting for top freshman, trailing the two stars and Dion Phaneuf, a defenseman with Calgary's Flames. He gave the Rangers 15 seasons of service, a good number of them sharing a division with the pair, before inking a one-season deal in Washington during October of 2020. Tragically, he wound up needing open-heart surgery soon afterward, and the medical complications that followed eventually pushed him into retirement before he could ever suit up in a Washington sweater.
It's hardly a shock, given how regularly Lundqvist matched up with the two future Hall of Famers — both among the finest players the sport has produced — that the duo did plenty of damage to him across his years tending goal for New York. Once the pair lined up beside Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin for a Sunday pregame snapshot, the TNT broadcast crew made a point of needling Lundqvist over how frequently that trio of forwards beat him.
McHugh noted that the picture displayed moments earlier also served as a trivia answer — at least where three among the four pictured skaters were concerned — naming whoever scored most frequently on the goaltender. According to him, Sid and Ovi sat tied atop that leaderboard, with Malkin trailing right behind.
Throughout their careers, the two captains each potted 24 goals against the netminder to share the top spot, while Malkin sits just under them at 20 versus the man known as The King.
Lundqvist reacted with mock dread, joking that it was great seeing everyone again and admitting he'd been thinking what a terrific photo it was and that he'd love a copy — until that statistic surfaced. After hearing it, he quipped, he no longer wanted the picture and planned to set it on fire.