For most of the past decade, at the end of the annual Deep Danda Rangers playoffs, when the game’s stars and marquee athletes were talking to the media from a dais in front of their respective locals.
So after a match or practice it will take 10 minutes to hear from Derrick Bresard, Ryan McDonagh or Martin St. Louis. But it will be 15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, maybe 25 minutes before Henrik Lundquist hits the podium.
Or as President Kennedy once said about his wife Jacqueline, as the First Lady kept the audience waiting for her entry, “Jackie takes a while to get ready, but she’s right.”
Lundquist’s hair, of course, would be perfectly coffed. Her attire, of course, well, she would be perfect for the occasion. Those springs will blow the collective breath apart from all of the national media gathered in New York. I think one or more national columnists actually called Lundquist’s life “perfect.”
The national people were probably not far away. Lundkvist was an all-time NHL goalkeeper with the individual to match, the biggest star of the Rangers since Gretzky played Broadway. It was more gentle than inquiring. He respected everyone with whom he crossed paths.
It was the page of GQ that grew in life. But it probably underestimates its impact on New York. Not only did he win more games than any other goalkeeper in franchise history, but he and his wife, Theresi, also became part of the fabric of the community. The couple’s charitable work on behalf of the Henrik Lundquist Foundation is famous, they have two young daughters.
Yes, Henrik Lundquist and his family were picture-perfect.
But as we recall on Thursday, a picture-perfect person and family do not guarantee perfect health. Because we’ve learned from Lundquist itself through social media that he won’t be able to play this season due to a recently discovered heart condition that will require treatment. He won’t be pulling on the Capitals ’sweater in search of the Stanley Cup, which kept him away for 15 seasons in New York.
Our understanding is that Lundquist’s condition is not fatal. It is also our understanding that this is not related to COVID-19. But he won’t be able to play this year. Chances are, as he turns 39 in March, this marks the end of his career.
This is a time when, “once a ranger, always a ranger”, he rolls as much as he can.
I know how eagerly Landquist was anticipating the season, how excited he was about joining forces with Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Carl Heglin and crew in DC, it was also clear what he admired for his tenure in New York. This was going to be Kings Chapter Two. This will be perfect.
As if we needed it in 2020, we got another shock and another reminder of our mortality, how precious our time is and the responsibility to maximize life when we have the chance. And we get this reminder not from death, but from the medical condition of a -al-time professional athlete whose career is, perhaps, over.
Lundquist’s commitment and focus is legendary. Sweden’s focus will now shift from the rink to his health and to his heart, which has always been associated with New York. This may not represent the complete end he envisioned and what others want on his behalf, but after that, this is not a perfect world.
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