Rangers to buy out Henrik Lundqvist, possibly Wednesday, per Darren Dreger (LUNDQVIST)

LUNDQVIST

Rangers to buy out Henrik Lundqvist, possibly Wednesday, per Darren Dreger

By Jan Levine

Sep 30, 2020 • 5:06 pm

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Darren Dreger on TSN Insider said Tuesday that the Rangers plan to buyout Henrik Lundqvist possibly as early as Wednesday. Here is the link to the full video with the Lundqvist story the first part of the segment and in the tweet below. Granted, no confirmation of this news yet, but Dreger is pretty well connected as we know, though the Rangers have been very tightlipped on everything, so take this bit of information with a grain of salt.

Buying out Lundqvist would save $3 million on the cap this season, the majority of that total going to re-sign Alexandar Georgiev with a little left over, while next year the cap hit is $1.5 million. New York was rumored to be exploring buying out Marc Staal before agreeing to deal him to Detroit, saving $5.7 million on the cap this season at the cost of a 2021 second round pick. With $4.5 million of dead cap space if Hank is bought out, the Blueshirts will have just under $13 million of the $81 million cap tied up on players no longer on the team (Girardi - $1.11 mil, Spooner - $300k, Shattenkirk - $6.08 million and Lundqvist - $5.5 million), which is not ideal cap management.

If this is end for the King in New York, it's an ignominious way to go out. I would rather see him retire than be in another jersey. But Lundqvist still wants to play and could have a handful of suitors, though it's unclear if he would be brought in as a starter or back up. But if he does decide to retire, as Larry Brooks notes below might be an option, then why not wait until the second buyout period, since we all expect an arb case or two, rather than making that decision now?

If as a starter, you would think it might be with a team not vying for a Cup based on his play the last few seasons. Though his advanced metrics have been strong and we could see a team like Carolina or Colorado viewing him as the final piece of the puzzle. Could Calgary be an option as well? If he does land as a starter, look for Hank to play 50-55 games at most, even though we know he likes the work.

As Brooks noted in his column below, the numbers are staggering. He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer and have his #30 raised to rafters. Yes, that is a tear you see rolling down my cheek.

Fifteen seasons, 11 trips to the postseason the first 12 years, 11 playoff series victories, a trip to the Cup final in 2014 folded into three trips to the Eastern Conference finals within four years during the halcyon days of the last decade, franchise records with 459 victories, 64 shutouts, 61 postseason victories, the 2011-12 Vezina Trophy and a first-All-Star team berth that same Black-and-Blueshirt season.

Enjoy some of the best of Lundqvist's saves thread:

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