There was the jersey retirement at Madison Square Garden. There was the premiere of his biographical documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival. Now, there is his election to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Henrik Lundqvist has recorded a hat trick for the ages. The King will have a plaque in the Great Hall. Royalty joining royalty.
“I have to tell you that even when I was drafted by the Rangers, a career in the NHL seemed too good to be true,” Lundqvist told The Post in a phone conversation hours after the goalie was selected to join the Class of 2023. “I remember thinking that I had so much work to do in order to get to that level.
“It wasn’t until two years later that I thought it could be possible when I came to a Rangers prospect camp in Calgary. That’s when I started to think it could be real. But this? The Hall of Fame? No. That was not something I could ever have imagined.
“To have the kind of career I did, I think of so many players who were such a big inspiration to me and of so many teammates who were such a big part of my success,” said the Forever No. 30. “It was really cool to get that phone call today.”
Lundqvist is part of a class that includes fellow former goaltenders Mike Vernon and Tom Barrasso; former center Pierre Turgeon; former Canadian National Team forward Caroline Ouellette; former coach Ken Hitchcock and late former general manager Pierre Lacroix, but not former winger Alex Mogilny, unaccountably and cruelly snubbed yet again.
The 41-year-old Lundqvist is the first Swedish goaltender elected to the Hall and the third netminder selected off his work as a Ranger, following Eddie Giacomin and Chuck Rayner. He will become the seventh member of the 2006 Olympic gold medal-winning Team Sweden to be inducted, joining Nicklas Lidstrom, Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Alfredsson.
There had been only five Swedish goaltenders to play in the NHL while Lundqvist, born March 2, 1982, was growing up and developing through his junior leagues. Pelle Lindbergh, who died at the age of 26 in an automobile accident during his fourth season with the Flyers, was the most accomplished of the group, which included Tommy Salo, Tommy Soderstrom, Hardy Astrom and Goran Hogosta.
“My first idol was [forward] Peter Lundmark, who didn’t go over to the NHL,” Lundqvist said. “I was too young to see Pelle, I followed the top goalies in the Swedish Elite League and of course it meant a lot to me when Swedish goalies made it in the NHL, but my favorite players were Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek.
“I loved the way they competed and how they played. With Hasek, I remember watching him play, making these unbelievable and creative saves, and I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to try that in practice. He was a problem-solver.
“He was the first goalie to drop his paddle, lay his stick on the ice and move across. I didn’t have a goalie coach until I was about 15 or 16, and in Sweden we were taught to stay on our skates and stand up more. So it was different when I started to drop down and get low. The coaches weren’t sure what I was doing.”
But Lundqvist did and he did it well enough to become the winningest European-born netminder in NHL history, eclipsing Hasek’s career total of 389. The King completed his career with 459 victories.
The numbers speak for themselves. But Lundqvist was more than the digits. He was the face of the Rangers for 15 years. He was the name above the title on the Madison Square Garden marquee. He needed to be the best player on the ice nearly every game of his career in order for the Blueshirts to win. Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders.
He was charismatic and fan friendly. Inquisitive and articulate. King Henrik. The native son of a small resort town in Sweden called Are, current population of 3,200, was made for the Great White Way. He came, he stayed, he conquered.
“I never had the dream of living in a big city but I had conviction to become the best hockey player I could be and needed to follow that wherever it took me,” Lundqvist said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I envision this. It seemed so far away.
“But the Swedish NHL guys who knew me told me I was going to like New York. They were right. I loved the high energy and all of the opportunities available. Once I got here, I wasn’t going to shy away from any of it. I embraced the experience. I loved it.”
He is a husband to his wife, Therese, father to the couple’s daughters, Juli and Charlise. The rest of Lundqvist’s life lays ahead.
“I enjoy the freedom I have to be with my family after so many years of sticking to the schedule,” said Lundqvist, who has carved out a feature role on MSG Network and on the TNT telecasts. “I love my association with the Garden that gives me so many opportunities that I am open to and curious to explore.
“It’s been great. All of it. I cherish every day of my Rangers career.”
Henrik Lundqvist, Hall of Famer.
Too good to be true.