Henrik Lundqvist (; born 2 March 1982) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player. He played as a goaltender for 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers. Before winning the Vezina Trophy in 2012, he was nominated in each of his first three seasons, and is the only goaltender in NHL history to record eleven 30-win seasons in his first twelve seasons. He holds the record for most wins by a European-born goaltender in the NHL. His dominating play during his rookie season resulted in the New York media and Rangers fans giving him the nickname "King Henrik".
Lundqvist is considered a butterfly style goaltender, though unorthodox because of the aggressive way he performs the butterfly. He is best known for his athleticism, strong positional play, concentration on tracking pucks, upright torso stance and quick reflexes. Lundqvist was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023.
In Europe before the NHL, Lundqvist played for Frölunda HC in Swedish Elitserien. During his years in Sweden, he developed into the league's finest goaltender, winning the Honken Trophy in three consecutive seasons (2003, 2004, and 2005). In 2005, he also won two of the most prestigious awards in Swedish ice hockey, the Guldpucken (Golden Puck) and the Guldhjälmen (Golden Helmet). Internationally, he played for the Sweden men's national team. During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, he led Sweden to their second Olympic gold medal. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025.
Early life Lundqvist grew up with his identical twin brother Joel in Åre, Jämtland, an area where alpine skiing is the most popular winter activity, though Henrik and Joel chose to play ice hockey over the more popular winter sports. During the winters, their kindergarten teachers used the kindergarten's sandpit to freeze an outdoor ice rink where the twins would frequently skate. Their interest in hockey grew even stronger when their father Peter took the twins to see Västra Frölunda HC play in Scandinavium, Gothenburg. Henrik has said he and Joel were very competitive growing up, in sports as well as school. Peter worked for a company which sponsored Frölunda, and Henrik and Joel saw many games in Scandinavium, where Frölunda became their favorite team. In 1990, Henrik and Joel joined Järpens IF and started playing organized hockey for the first time. During one practice, when the coach asked if anyone wanted to be a goaltender, Joel grabbed and raised Henrik's arm and said that his brother would like to. In 1993, the family moved to Båstad, Skåne, in southern Sweden to support their older sister Gabriella's tennis career. Henrik and Joel then joined local team Rögle BK, and were both selected for Scania's regional team in Sverigepucken in 1995. Henrik was selected to play for Scania in TV-pucken in 1996, and in 1997, when Joel was also selected. During the 1997–98 season, Henrik and Joel were extensively scouted by Frölunda, and while playing for Rögle in the 1998 Scandinavium Cup in Gothenburg, Frölunda's junior team manager and under-16 coach Janne Karlsson contacted their father, who told Henrik and Joel about Frölunda's interest in them while driving home to Båstad.
Professional career
Frölunda (2000–2005) After having a successful pre-season, Lundqvist made his Elitserien debut in the season opener on 21 September 2000 in a 4–2 loss against Brynäs IF. Lundqvist bounced back and recorded his first win in the following away game against IF Björklöven, stopping 18 shots and only allowing one goal while being short-handed. In his third straight start, Lundqvist allowed two early first period goals in a game against Timrå IK and was pulled in favour of veteran goaltender Håkan Algotsson. Lundqvist would dress for only ten more games that season and earned only one start, a shootout loss to Djurgårdens IF. Lundqvist lost his roster spot to American veteran goaltender Pat Jablonski, who joined the team in October. Tommy Boustedt, the coach of the team at the time, later said that:
Lundqvist played in nine games for IF Mölndal Hockey in the Swedish second tier Allsvenskan before joining Frölunda's junior team in the J20 SuperElit in December. After his poor play in Allsvenskan and a tough start in the J20 SuperElit, he allowed six goals in an exhibition game against Canada. National junior team coaches Bo "Kulon" Lennartsson and Mikael Tisell were worried and decided to have a talk with Lundqvist, where they questioned his motivation. Lundqvist's turning point came at the turn of the year at the 2001 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Moscow, where he led the Swedish national junior's team to a fourth-place finish in the tournament. He spent the rest of the season in the J20 SuperElit where he played 18 games, leading the league in minutes played by a goaltender. In the playoffs, he led Frölunda to their second straight Anton Cup win, which came in a 5–2 win over Leksands IF in the final at the Stockholm Globe Arena.
In December 2004, The Hockey News rated Lundqvist the sixth-best European prospect, the lone goaltender in their European top-ten list. Also in December, Lundqvist joined fellow future Rangers prospect Al Montoya on McKeen's list of top goaltending prospects, where he was ranked seventh in the group.
During the 2004–05 season, Lundqvist broke four Swedish national records: lowest goals against average (1.05), highest save percentage (.962), longest goalless streak (at 172 minutes and 29 seconds) and most shutouts in a season (6). He was also named Best Goaltender, Best Player and was selected as the league's MVP by fellow players.
In 180 appearances with Frölunda, he amassed a 1.96 goals against average (GAA) and a .927 save percentage, leading them to four consecutive playoff appearances and winning two titles in 2003 and 2005.
New York Rangers (2005–2020)
Rookie season and arrival of "The King" (2005–2009) At the beginning of his rookie season in 2005–06, Lundqvist was slotted into the Rangers lineup as a backup to starting goaltender Kevin Weekes. After losing Weekes to injury in the second game of the season against the Montreal Canadiens, Lundqvist made his long-anticipated NHL debut on 8 October 2005, against the New Jersey Devils, stopping 24 of 27 shots in a 3–2 overtime loss. Five days later, on 13 October, Lundqvist made his home debut in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,200 at Madison Square Garden in what was his first NHL win, a 4–1 victory against the Devils. Lundqvist, who would be known throughout his NHL career and international play simply as "The King," was first given this nickname by the New York Post Rangers beat columnist, Larry Brooks, on 16 October, following Lundqvist's performance against the Atlanta Thrashers, a 5–1 victory for the Rangers. Larry Brooks, in describing Lundqvist's performance in the game wrote the following:
His first career shutout came on 17 October, against the Florida Panthers, only his fifth NHL game, and with it Lundqvist became the first rookie goaltender to record a shutout for the Rangers since John Vanbiesbrouck on 2 January 1985. During the season, Lundqvist also became the first Rangers rookie to post 20 wins in a season since Mike Richter recorded 21 in 1990–91. Finishing the season with 30 wins, Lundqvist broke the Rangers rookie goaltending record of 29 wins, previously held by Jim Henry (1941–42) and Johnny Bower (1953–54). Lundqvist was among the NHL leaders in several categories: fifth in GAA (2.24), fourth in save percentage (.922), 11th in wins (30) and tied for 16th in shutouts with two. However, his regular season success did not continue in the 2006 playoffs, where he appeared in three playoff games, posted a 0–3 record, a 4.40 GAA and an .835 save percentage in a series loss to the New Jersey Devils. He was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL's best goaltender, but he was not a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the rookie of the year, because of a high quality crop of first-year players. He was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team alongside Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Brad Boyes, Dion Phaneuf and Andrej Meszároš. He won the 2005–06 MetLife/Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, a New York Rangers team award.
By the start of his second season with the NHL, Lundqvist had already made a name for himself in the hockey world, among his fellow players and with Ranger fans and was now widely known by his nickname "King Henrik" or simply "The King."
On 14 December 2006, against the Dallas Stars, Lundqvist became the first NHL goaltender to face his twin brother, Joel. He and his brother are only the third set of twins to play each other in an NHL game. The game was won by Lundqvist and the Rangers. In the Rangers' 7–0 win in game 3 of the 2007 Eastern Conference quarterfinals over the Atlanta Thrashers, Lundqvist became the first Rangers goaltender since Mike Richter in 1997 to record a playoff shutout. The win was also the Rangers' first home playoff win since Richter's shutout. For the second consecutive year, Lundqvist was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. Because Lundqvist was tied with Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames for third place in balloting, there were four finalists for an NHL individual trophy for the first time in league history.
During the 2007 off-season, Lundqvist signed a one-year, US$4.25 million contract extension with the Rangers. On 13 February 2008, Lundqvist signed a six-year, US$41.25 million contract extension with the Rangers averaging $6.875 million per season. This made him the highest-paid goaltender in the NHL on average over the length of his contract. On 24 February, Lundqvist became the first Rangers goaltender to record eight shutouts in a single season since Eddie Giacomin in 1970–71. On 6 March, he recorded his 30th win of the season, making him just the second goaltender, along with Ron Hextall, to record at least 30 wins in each of his first three NHL seasons. On 9 March, Lundqvist became the first Rangers goaltender to record nine shutouts in a season since Eddie Giacomin's 1966–67 season in a 1–0 win against the Boston Bruins. Lundqvist was named the Rangers Most Valuable Player for the fifth consecutive season (2006–07 to 2010–11), as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. He became the first Rangers player to earn the Rangers MVP award five consecutive times.
On 1 October 2008, Lundqvist and the New York Rangers won the Victoria Cup in 2008 when they won 4–3 over Metallurg Magnitogorsk. On 8 January 2009, Lundqvist was selected to play in the 2009 NHL All-Star Game at Bell Centre. On 24 January, Lundqvist made his first All-Star appearance in the Elimination Shootout. He stopped 12 of 16 shots in the shootout as Shane Doan won the competition. The next day, he played in the second period of the All-Star Game, in which he gave up six goals. On 12 March, Lundqvist became the first NHL goaltender to win at least 30 games in his first four seasons with a win over the Nashville Predators.
Establishing himself, Stanley Cup Final appearance, Vezina Trophy (2009–2017) In September 2009, despite having played only four seasons with the club, the book 100 Ranger Greats ranked Lundqvist at No. 90 all-time of more than 900 New York Rangers' players who had played during the team's first 82 seasons. On 25 March 2010, Lundqvist became the first NHL goaltender to win at least 30 games in his first five seasons after defeating the New Jersey Devils 4–3 in a shootout. He ended the season with a 35–27–10 record, .921 save percentage and 2.38 GAA in 73 games as the Rangers would finish the season as the ninth seed in the East, missing the playoffs for the first time in Lundqvist's career, finishing one point out of the last playoff spot.