Lundqvist appreciated for desire to win, former Rangers teammates say

Henrik Lundqvist
's most frequent teammate during his 15 seasons with the New York Rangers was Marc Staal, together for 767 regular-season games from 2007-20.

Staal, a defenseman in his second season with the Detroit Red Wings, said his appreciation for the retired goalie and what he meant to him and the Rangers for all those seasons has grown since they've gone their separate ways.
"What I appreciate now more than ever is just the consistency of having him there," Staal said. "He was your goalie. You knew he was going to play well. There was never even a thought or worry or concern about your goalie. Having that comfort level for all those years, that's pretty rare. Looking back on it, we were lucky."
The Rangers will retire Lundqvist's No. 30 in a ceremony before their game against Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG+, BSN, NHL LIVE). Lundqvist will join
Ed Giacomin
(1),
Brian Leetch
(2),
Rod Gilbert
(7),
Adam Graves
(9),
Andy Bathgate
(9),
Mark Messier
(11),
Vic Hadfield
(11),
Jean Ratelle
(19) and
Mike Richter
(35) as players to have their numbers retired by the Rangers.
Like Staal, others who played with Lundqvist for a large portion of those 15 seasons, all for New York, remember his competitiveness, consistency, work ethic and insatiable desire to win as the attributes that drove him to be the winningest goalie in Rangers history and a likely Hockey Hall of Famer.
Lundqvist is sixth in NHL history in wins (459), ninth in games played (887) and 17th in shutouts (64). He is fourth in save percentage (.918) and tied with
Pekka Rinne
for eighth in goals-against average (2.43) among the 78 goalies who played at least 500 NHL games.
In addition to leading the Rangers in wins, he's first in games played, shutouts and save percentage among those who played at least 100. He's also their leader in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in wins (61), games (130), save percentage (.921) and shutouts (10).
"He taught me so much about just coming to the rink just ready to compete each night," said Carolina Hurricanes forward Derek Stepan, who played 483 regular-season games with Lundqvist from 2010-17. "He probably took 35 breakaways from [Mats] Zuccarello after practice some days. That's pretty special. He's just driven. He was just driven to win. He wanted to win. That was the whole point of his process and that was cool."

Ryan Callahan
, the former Rangers captain who played 440 regular-season games with Lundqvist from 2006-14, said he used to marvel at Lundqvist's pre-practice routine, always working on the details of his game with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire.
"It's 45 minutes or a half-hour before the rest of us were even out there and he's basically bagged himself," Callahan said. "Then you see him walk into practice and he's giving that same exact effort that he would in a game. He was just so competitive at all times."
Callahan said it used to drive Lundqvist crazy when someone scored twice in a row on him in the same practice drill.
"I remember numerous times him losing his mind," Callahan said. "It made you want to score on him more. You could see he was getting frustrated and then you'd see the boys in the line going, 'Let's get another one.' His competitiveness drove everyone else."
Lundqvist said it was born out of a desire to constantly test himself.
"It was just that important," he said. "People might think the suits or the cars or whatever, but in the end that didn't matter at all. What mattered to me was the competition and measuring yourself against the best all the time. I got that opportunity every day playing in this league."
What Lundqvist didn't realize is he was also teaching a master class in competitiveness.
"What I learned the most was about having a winning mentality every day," Zuccarello said. "It doesn't matter who shoots at him, he wants to win, he wants to save that puck. To see our best player have that mentality, that goes a long way. You can have as much skill as you want, you can train as much as you want, but in those game moments, those situations, you have to have the mentality to be the best and that's why he was the best."
When an opponent got the best of Lundqvist and he didn't like it, he would occasionally give what retired defenseman
Dan Girardi
, a teammate for 754 games from 2006-17, called "the Hank stare."
"Say it goes off you and he knows he's going to make that save and doesn't need you to get in the way," Girardi said. "That was always the funny thing, the Hank stare. It was never serious. Like, I never cared. It's just a funny thing that it kind of evolved into a little laughing thing on the bench, like if I got hit and the puck went in Marc would be like, 'Oh, did you see Hank stare.' It was always a joke. Maybe not to Hank."
Staal laughed about it too.
"I've gotten that," he said. "We had a few arguments about that every once in a while. At the root of it he's just really competitive. He just hates getting scored on."
Girardi said he got fewer stares the longer he played with Lundqvist.
"I think he realized as the years went by that we were putting our bodies on the line," Girardi said. "I'd dive face first in front of a shot for Hank and he would dive across the net and do anything if something happened to me. That's why we were so successful."
Callahan said Lundqvist's desire to win and be a part of something special in New York carried from the ice into the dressing room. He was royalty in the city, nicknamed "The King of New York," and he had the looks, hair and clothes to match it.
"His casual wear was nicer than my business casual," Girardi said.
But Lundqvist never tried to be anything but a hockey player, a good teammate and a leader, Callahan said.
"He was one of the boys," Callahan said. "That's how we treated him and that's how he acted."
It made Lundqvist's teammates like and appreciate him even more.
"It was genuine," Girardi said. "Hank wants to be the best in everything. He set a really good example for everyone. He was only a couple years in when I got there, and you could just tell he was at another level of professionalism and you wanted to be like that guy. He was the man."