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The Rangers' Benching of Henrik Lundqvist Is Weird, And Risky

New York coach Alain Vigneault's decision to bench future Hall of Fame goalie Henrik Lundqvist for a week is all but unprecedented, and could backfire on the Rangers.
Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

After four consecutive games of sitting on the bench with his perfectly coiffed hair, expertly trimmed beard, and piercing blue eyes tracking the puck from afar, Henrik Lundqvist will be back between the pipes for the New York Rangers on Thursday night. And again on Saturday. And probably Sunday, too.

Over the rest of the season, it will be the five-time Vezina Trophy finalist getting the lion's share of starts. Lundqvist taking a backseat to career backup Antti Raanta for a week likely will become a footnote to the Rangers' season, something we will barely remember when Lundqvist is inducted into the Hall of Fame in 20-whatever.

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But make no mistake about it—what coach Alain Vigneault did to a goaltender of Lundqvist's caliber, who is still at the top of his game, was very weird and borderline unprecedented, all in the name of squeezing maybe two extra points out of a four-game stretch.

Looking back at NHL history, an elite goaltender sitting four straight games because of performance almost never happens.

Read More: It's Time For The NHL To Rethink Its Playoff Format

Lundqvist is 34 years old. You can set your watch by his .920 save percentage, a number he hasn't failed to reach since 2008-09. He has four more years remaining on his contract and 386 career wins; barring injury, he should crack 500 career victories and finish behind only Patrick Roy (551), Martin Brodeur (691) on the all-time list.

It's important to understand that while Lundqvist already is among the all-time greats and has hints of gray in his exceptional beard, time hasn't passed him by yet. It will, and he's certainly closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Still, Lundqvist's .912 save percentage through 21 games this season appears worse than it really is mostly because of years of consistent dominance. Yes, he has allowed a few more soft goals than usual over the first two months, but the Rangers were banking points at such a high rate that allowing Lundqvist to work through his glitches would have made all the sense in the world.

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Only it didn't make sense to Vigneault. And that's so, so weird.

When you're not concerned about historical comparisons made by VICE Sports hockey writers. Photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Brodeur shared time with Chris Terreri to start his career with the New Jersey Devils. Roy had a fairly even split with Brian Hayward in Montreal when he first broke into the league. But once both men became established as all-time greats, only injuries (and maybe Roy quitting on his team mid-game) could get either out of the net for an extended period of time.

The only time Brodeur sat and watched four straight starts from the bench was at the tail end of his last Devils season. Cory Schneider made five straight starts from April 1-10 before Brodeur started the final two games to end his New Jersey career. Despite rocking a sub.-.909 save percentage for four straight seasons, it wasn't until he was 41 years old and the Devils had a superior option at the end of a lost campaign that Brodeur was benched.

Roy hung around until he was 37, and was never given the Lundqvist treatment. When he retired in 2003, of course, he was still elite—so maybe it's not surprising that he never encountered the Brodeur treatment, either. It shouldn't surprise anyone that Roy quit while he was ahead.

Dominik Hasek, considered by many to be superior to both Brodeur and Roy, never missed four straight starts for anything other than injury once he became a No. 1 goaltender—until his final season in 2007-08, when he took a backseat to Chris Osgood.

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Hasek, it should be noted, was 43 at the time.

Hasek, Roy, Brodeur and Lundqvist comprise the modern-day Mount Rushmore of goaltenders. Roy never endured the Lundqvist treatment. Brodeur and Hasek did, but not until their 40s. Lundqvist is just 34. His .912 save percentage is slightly below average, sure, but nothing like Hasek's (.902) and Brodeur's (.901) at their respective ends.

It's just baffling.

Making things even weirder is that Vigneault has refused to bench any other underperforming veterans for extended periods of time since coming to New York. Dan Girardi? Get out there! Marc Staal? You can do better, I know it! Dan Boyle was legally dead during his final season, and still played 74 games.

Meanwhile, Lundqvist posts an .894 save percentage in three December starts after delivering a .925 save percentage in 11 November appearances, and he temporarily loses his job to Raanta.

When you're all dressed up with no place to go. Photo by Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

Let's try a cross-sport analogy. Imagine if after a mediocre April and May, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon skipped Jake Arrieta's turn in the rotation four straight times at the start of June. Arrieta is healthy, consistently great, but he has struggled to the tune of 12 earned runs in 18 innings. Some of that is Arrieta's fault, but it also has to do with his defenders not giving him much help, either.

You'd wonder if Maddon had lost his mind, right?

Raanta went 3-1-0 and allowed just three goals with two shutouts, so it's not as though this move didn't work in the short term. On the other hand, it's not as though Lundqvist couldn't have earned three wins over that time frame. So the real question is this: how does (unintentionally) humiliating Lundqvist affect him and the Rangers long term?

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It's probably either one of two things.

1. The Rangers have learned their lesson about taking Lundqvist for granted and will carry over their improved defensive play into his starts. Raanta made 17 saves in one win and 19 in another, so it's not as though the same onslaught that regularly greeted Lundqvist existed over these past four games.

2. Lundqvist never finds his form because his confidence is shot. Goalkeeping becomes a weird time share that ultimately hurts the Rangers in the long run. The Rangers release Lundqvist after the season; he joins the St. Louis Blues for seven games before announcing his retirement.

Lundqvist was playing poorly before he was benched. Raanta played out of his mind his four starts. The Rangers went 3-1-0. On the surface, it makes sense. Sports is a win-now business.

In the context of great goaltending, however, it was weird. And risky. At season's end, we may look back on this at the move that made the Rangers' season, or the one that submarined it.

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