Lundqvist signs one-year, $1.5 million contract with Capitals

Henrik Lundqvist signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Washington Capitals on Friday.

The 38-year-old goalie was an unrestricted free agent after he had the final season of his contract bought out by the New York Rangers on Sept. 30. He was 10-12-3 with a 3.16 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage and one shutout in 30 games (26 starts) last season.

"For a few weeks now, I've been doing my homework on all different scenarios and options for me, and I have to say, the Capitals, they checked every box," Lundqvist said. "When it comes to a team that understands winning, a great coaching staff and an opportunity to play some games were the main factors for me.

"But there's so many things that goes into this decision for me, starting with a chance to win. I think at this point in my career, that's the most important thing. I want to have a chance to win. I know few guys on the team. I've played against a lot of the guys for so many years. I have the most respect for them. I'm just very excited and grateful actually to join them. I've been skating for a few weeks now, and I'm just really excited to take on this new challenge."

Lundqvist fills what was a need for a veteran to back up 23-year-old Ilya Samsonov. The No. 22 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Samsonov pushed Braden Holtby for playing time as a rookie last season by going 16-6-2 with a 2.55 GAA, a .913 save percentage and one shutout in 26 games (22 starts).

"I see it as we've got a good young goalie and we've got a great experienced goalie," Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. "Our goal as a team and as an organization is to win games this year and compete for a championship. I would expect him to come in and compete as hard as he can and the coaches will make the decision based on how guys are playing and us winning games and what's been best for our team."

Holtby, who became an unrestricted free agent after 10 seasons with the Capitals, signed a two-year, $8.6 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.

"We want to thank Braden Holtby for his many contributions to the Washington Capitals," MacLellan said. "Braden has built a legacy both on and off the ice that will have a lasting impact on our organization and on our community. Winning the Vezina Trophy in 2016, the Jennings Trophy in 2017 and helping the team win the Stanley Cup with his stellar play in 2018 cements his position as one of the best goalies of his era. Off the ice, he led by example and consistently made a positive impact across several important initiatives. We wish him and his family all the best moving forward."

RELATED: NHL Free Agent Tracker

Selected by the Rangers in the seventh round (No. 205) of the 2000 NHL Draft, Lundqvist went 459-310-96 with a 2.43 GAA, a .918 save percentage and 64 shutouts in 887 games over 15 seasons with New York. He is sixth in NHL history in wins, seventh in saves (23,509), eighth in games, ninth in starts (871), ninth in time on ice (51,816:19) and 16th in shutouts.

Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy voted as the best goalie in the NHL in 2011-12 and has been a finalist for the award four other times (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2012-13).

"I had a good phone call with [captain Alex Ovechkin] already," Lundqvist said. "... His record speaks for itself, but it's going to be fun to be on the same side, I'm not going to lie. Just to be around guys like that, you learn a lot and you appreciate what they've done, and hopefully we can create something special here moving forward."

With the emergence of 24-year-old goalies Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev, Lundqvist started four of New York's final 29 games last season, finishing with the fewest games (30), starts (26) and wins of his NHL career. Lundqvist started and lost the first two games against the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers when Shesterkin was unfit to play, but Shesterkin returned for Game 3 with Lundqvist as his backup in what was his last game with New York.

Lundqvist is 61-67 with a 2.30 GAA, a .921 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 130 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, when they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.

"In the springtime, it was a pretty tough time for me," Lundqvist said. "I kind of saw where this was going a little bit, so I had time to reflect and think about a lot of different things. I reached a level of so much gratitude towards the Rangers. Honestly, I feel like gratitude is the best feeling you can ever have. I appreciate everything they've done for me over the 15 years I've been there. They were ready to make a few moves and take the next step in their rebuild and moving on. I had my time to deal with that mentally because this was a big thing. I'm not going to lie, it was a really big thing for me to say goodbye because it was such a long relationship. So when this happened last week, I was in a really good place because I had time to work on that.

"It also made it easier for me to really take in all the love and support I felt during last week, and I was kind of blown away with all the support I felt. And I also felt ready for the next step because I realized how much I love the game, how much I love to compete, and then looking at the different options I had and looking at Washington and how excited I got thinking about going to Washington. Obviously it's been a pretty emotional week, but it's exciting times ahead here. That's where we're at."