Puck
Daddy's look at the top 25 players by position concluded with a look at the
goaltenders around the NHL and Sam McCaig ranked the Rangers Henrik Lundqvist
#3 behind only Tim Thomas and Pekka Rinne.
3. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers: Give Captain Shutout a goal, and he gives you a victory.
The order that McCraig has here is exactly how the Vezina
order should have been for the 2010-11 season and there is no arguing with that
being the order heading into next year.
Rinne had a year that most any other year would have easily won him the
Vezina and there is no reason to expect him to come down from that level next
season. There is nothing else to be said
about the year Tim Thomas had and coming off that year, you cannot place him
anywhere but at the head of the list.
The goaltending position is the one in the NHL in which
there is the most variation from year to year in how players seem to
perform. The New York Rangers and their
fans have been spoiled because in his six seasons in the league Henrik
Lundqvist has consistently been near the top of the list at his position. Lundqvist has yet to be deemed the best
goaltender in a given season, but it is hard to argue that over his six years
he has not been the best overall because of his consistent performance year in
and year out.
The Rangers have slowly built up the talent around Lundqvist
and this is the year where between the defense in front of him, offense to help
get him more wins and the rest Martin Biron can give him that Lundqvist can
take home the Vezina and be fresh enough to carry the team in the playoffs.
