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Stunning numbers: Henrik Lundqvist edition

Henrik Lundqvist Stats

TORONTO, ONTARIO - JULY 29: Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers looks on before playing in the exhibition game against the New York Islanders prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on July 29, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images)

NHLI via Getty Images

Henrik Lundqvist announced his retirement from hockey on Friday, ending a 15-year career that will no doubt put him in the Hockey Hall of Fame as one of the game’s all-time greats.

He may have never been able to win the Stanley Cup, but he won a Vezina Trophy, Olympic gold, World Championship gold, and was one of the best and most dominant players (goalie or otherwise) of his era.

Let’s take a look back at his greatness with some stunning numbers.

[Related: Every free agent signing by all 32 NHL teams]

All-time ranks and accomplishments

• His 459 career wins are sixth on the NHL’s all-time list.

• That win total is the most ever for a European-born goalie and for a goalie that played his entire career with one team (yes, he did sign with the Washington Capitals but he never actually played a game for them).

• His 64 regular season shutouts are 10th all-time.

[Related: Henrik Lundqvist announces retirement from hockey]

• He finishes his career in the top-10 all time for wins (459 -- sixth), total saves (23,509 -- seventh), save percentage (.918 -- 10th), games played for a goalie (887 -- eighth), and minutes played (51,818 -- ninth).

• Won the 2011-12 Vezina Trophy and was a finalist for the award (top-three finish in voting) five times. He was also a top-five finisher in the voting seven times in 15 years. He also finished sixth three other times.

Peak dominance

Lundqvist was consistently great throughout his career but he definitely played at his absolute peak between the 2009-10 and 2015-16 seasons. During that time he...


  • Had a .923 all situations save percentage that was third best in the NHL.
  • Post a .931 even-strength save percentage that was second best in the NHL.
  • Never had a single season save percentage lower than .920 and finished in the top-10 in save percentage in five of those seasons.
  • Had a league leading 39 shutouts.
  • Had .926 all situations postseason save percentage (that went as high as .930 between 2011 and 2015).
  • Recorded .936 even-strength postseason save percentage.
  • Had six postseason shutouts
  • Finished In the top-five of the Vezina Trophy voting four times in six years, was a finalist three times, won it once, and never finished lower than sixth in the voting.

[Related: Rangers to retire Henrik Lundqvist’s number this season]

Playoff dominance

Lundqvist did not ever get his name on the Stanley Cup, but many of his Rangers teams got closer to that goal than they ever would have gotten had he not been their goalie.


  • His .922 postseason save percentage was higher than his career regular season save percentage (.918).
  • He was nearly unbeatable in Game 7s throughout his career, posting a 6-2 record in winner-take-all games with an absolutely unbelievable .961 save percentage. He allowed more than one goal in only two of those Game 7 appearances, both losses. In those losses? He never allowed more than two goals.
  • Between 2012 and 2015 he had a 15-4 record and a .954 save percentage in elimination games.

Oddities and other fun stuff

• Over the past 13 seasons Lundqvist saved 178 more goals than the average goalie would have been expected to save based on the number of shots he faced (also arena adjusted) (via @IneffectiveMath)

• Lundqvist did not play a meaningless game in his NHL career (a game where his team had a 0.0 chance of winning the Stanley Cup) until his 930th game in the NHL, which came during his 13th NHL season. That means for the first 12 years of his career the Rangers were either a playoff team or had a mathematical chance of making the playoffs in every game. The only season in his first 12 years the Rangers did not qualify for the playoffs was the 2009-10 season when they were eliminated from playoff contention on the final day of the regular season in a shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. (via @HockeyStatMiner)