Henrik Lundqvist, 2 other Rangers among ESPN Top 25 NHL Players of 21st Century
Though no New York Rangers appeared on ESPN’s Top 100 Athletes of the 21st Century list, three former Blueshirts made the cut for their top 25 NHL players since 2000, published Friday.
Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid, the only NHLers to make the top 100 athletes list, ranked in the top three, leaving 22 open slots for some great players who didn’t make the cut on the big list.
It’s no surprise that Hall of Fame goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made the cut, but it was nice to see that “The King” made the top 10, named the eighth-greatest NHL player of the 21st century.
Ranked right behind rival netminder Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, who placed seventh with 490 of his NHL-record 691 wins and all four of his Vezina Trophies for best goaltender in the League coming after the turn of the century, Lundqvist is the second-highest ranked goalie on the list.
In a 15-year career spanning from 2005-20, Lundqvist racked up 459 wins, the most in Rangers history and sixth most in NHL history, securing a 2023 induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. With a .918 save percentage that ranks 12th-best in League history and a 2.43 goals-against average, the Rangers legend manned the pipes for the better part of two decades, all in New York. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2011-12.
Despite failing to win the Stanley Cup Lundqvist shined in the postseason with a .918 save percentage and 2.30 GAA in 130 games, carrying the Blueshirts through some lengthy postseason runs and an appearance in the Cup Final in 2014, when he and the Rangers lost in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.
He’s clearly deserving of this latest honor.
Related: These Rangers could’ve been considered for ESPN Top 100 Athletes of 21st century list
2 other Rangers honored on ESPN Top 25 list
Certainly Lundqvist is the headliner here from a Rangers point of view, but there are two other players with ties to the Blueshirts who made the list.
Coming in at No. 4 is future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane, who spent a half-season with the Rangers in 2022-23.
The bulk of Kane’s lengthy resume comes with another Original Six team, the Chicago Blackhawks, helping lead them to a dynasty of three Stanley Cup championships, earning Conn Smythe Trophy honors as playoff MVP in 2013. A Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP in 2015-16, when he scored 40 goals and had a League-best 106 points, Kane is the third highest-scoring United States-born NHL player of all-time and one of the most skilled wingers to ever grace the sport.
His Rangers tenure is rather forgettable since he battled a lingering hip issue and only managed six goals and 17 points in 26 games between the regular season and postseason. The Devils handed the Rangers a first-round playoff defeat in seven games and Kane departed in free agency, ultimately joining the Detroit Red Wings.
But nonetheless, it remains a part of his storied career.
The other player honored is current Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick, who owns the final spot at No. 25. Quick is one of five goalies to make the Top 25, joining Brodeur (7), Lundqvist (8), Marc-Andre Fleury (18), and Andrei Vasilevskiy (19).
Once again, Quick built the majority of his resume in a different sweater, leading the Kings to two Stanley Cup championships, ironically defeating his current team and besting Lundqvist in five games back in 2014. He earned a third Stanley Cup title as a backup on the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, although he did not see the ice in the postseason.
Like Kane, Quick is an all-time American great, holding the United States record for shutouts (60) and surpassing Ryan Miller for the most wins by a U.S.-born goalie (393) while wearing a Rangers uniform this past season.
He’ll have a strong case for the Hall of Fame, ranking 15th all-time in wins and currently boasting a 2.43 GAA and .911 save percentage in 17 NHL seasons.
After a successful first season in New York serving as a backup to Igor Shesterkin, Quick re-upped with the Rangers and will return for the upcoming season as he’ll try and help the Blueshirts to a Stanley Cup championship this time around.
It’s worth noting that a pair of former Rangers, Jaromir Jagr and Martin St. Louis, did not appear on the list, despite having solid cases.
While Jagr played 10 seasons of his legendary NHL career prior to the 21st century, leading the League in points in four of them, he still put together 14 excellent seasons in the 2000s. Jagr won the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the player with the most points scored in the NHL that season, twice after 2000, including a very special 2005-06 season when he set Rangers franchise records with 54 goals and 123 points.
St. Louis, meanwhile, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 after playing 15 of his 16 NHL seasons post-2000, accumulating 1,033 points, a Stanley Cup title with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and winning the Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy in 2003-04. St. Louis played 93 games and totaled 60 points for the Rangers after he was acquired ahead of the trade deadline in 2014 and before he retired after the 2014-15 season
Still, there’s no need to get greedy. The Rangers join the Detroit Red Wings, Blackhawks, and Edmonton Oilers as one of four teams to feature three players in the Top 25, trailing only the Pittsburgh Penguins (5) and the Boston Bruins (4).
While neither Kane nor Quick’s careers will be defined or immortalized by their time with the Rangers, like Lundqvst’s will, it’s still a part of their journey and gives the historic Original Six franchise ties to some of the greatest players of the century.
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