Henrik Lundqvist recognizes the landscape as well as anyone. The 35-year-old franchise goaltender understands the implications of the dramatic reboot/rebuild that looms with the Feb. 26 trade deadline approaching and the Rangers drifting on the fringes of the playoff picture.
And yet, in his first comments regarding a potential sell-off that might imperil the club’s status as a perennial tournament entry, Lundqvist made it clear that not only is he not seeking a way out to chase a Stanley Cup somewhere else, but he is here for the long haul.
“The competitor in me wants us to have the best team possible right here and now. I’m not hoping we have a contending team in two or three years,” Lundqvist told The Post following practice Friday preceding the club’s two-game trip to Nashville and Dallas. “But at the same time, even though it’s hard to say because it kind of goes against myself, I feel so much for this organization, that whatever path they take, I’m in.
“I made a commitment to this organization a few years back. It was a big decision in my career. I hope they have the same commitment to me. I guess it would really be up to them if they have another idea, but I don’t. I want to be here.
“I want to play for one organization. This one. I love it here. I want to be here and battle through the ups and downs, the good and the bad. It’s important to me.”
Lundqvist is on the fourth year of a seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension that he signed in early December of 2013, thereby foregoing 2014 free agency. That is the commitment and decision to which he is referring as he is in the midst of a Hall of Fame-caliber career in which he has established a plethora of franchise records yet has been unable to capture the Stanley Cup.
“The question has come up before about maybe having to go somewhere else to win it, but I don’t think that way,” Lundqvist said. “I’ve never felt the need for that.”
The Rangers are clinging to hope that they can resurrect this season in which they’ve gone 3-7 in their last 10 games but the chances are growing dimmer by the day and by the significant injuries to key personnel they are confronting. Already operating without Chris Kreider (rib resection) and Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery) for a substantial length, if not the season, the Blueshirts will go without Pavel Buchnevich for an indefinite period in the wake of the concussion he sustained midway through the second period of an injury-added-to-insult of a 4-0 defeat Thursday to the Maple Leafs.
“It’s definitely the easy way out to use these injuries as an excuse for what we’ve been going through but I hope no one here wants to take the easy way,” Lundqvist said. “Our goal is to be in [the playoffs] no matter what.
“No, it’s not going the way we want but we’re still right in it. All it takes is a couple of good weeks for us to feel good about ourselves again. Losing games definitely takes a toll on your overall mindset. You need to dig deeper and have to work at it harder when it’s not there.”
That applies to Lundqvist himself, pulled from consecutive games for the first time in his regular-season 775-start NHL career. After the quickest pull of his career Jan. 23 in Anaheim after surrendering three goals on seven shots in 16:21, the goaltender was yanked Thursday after allowing four goals on 13 shots in 23:05.
“The game in Anaheim, my legs were sluggish, and I didn’t have the jump that I’m used to,” said Lundqvist, who had been pulled after the second periods of both Games 5 and 6 of the 2009 Water Bottle first round against the Caps that the club lost in seven after taking a 3-1 series lead. “Against Toronto, it was more about making some bad decisions. I was a little too passive.
“Sometimes all it takes is to be a couple of percent off, technically or mentally, and it can mean a goal or two. That makes a big difference.”
Regardless of who is in or out, who is here or not on Feb. 27, the Rangers can only go as far as Lundqvist will take or carry them. His Hart- and Vezina-worthy November, December and first three weeks of January represent the lone reason the Rangers even have a shot at the playoffs.
“I want to compete and get in,” the King said. “I truly believe that once you’re in, you never know. If you get in, it’s wide open.”
And, again, for Lundqvist, getting in means the chance to win the Stanley Cup, and as a Ranger.
“That’s what I want,” he said. “I can’t sign a blood oath to say what’s going to happen years from now, it’s too hard for me to think that far down the road, even when it comes to things like whether I would live here or go back to Sweden after I retire.
“But I can say that with the feelings I have for this organization, I have a commitment to stay here and battle, and that means in the good times and bad.”