KING OF HART
Lundqvist keeping Blueshirts afloat with season for the ages
REGARDING the Rangers, who were delayed on their way to desert weekend matchups in Glendale and Vegas that precede the bye week:
1. No list of Hart Trophy candidates can be considered credible if it does not include Henrik Lundqvist, who in having his best season since 2011-12 has put the ageold, old-age question to bed.
“To me, 35 is just a number,” The King told The Post last week. “My body feels good. My mind feels good. I pushed myself a little bit harder in camp this year and made some adjustments to my game, but it always comes back to mindset.
“I understand that with every year that goes by, people are going to talk about my age and whether I’m slipping. I get that, and being older, maybe it’s more fun to prove them wrong. But outside talk isn’t what motivates me. I came into this year with things to prove to myself. I wanted to be sure to play as well as I could play, be at the top of my game and help us win. That’s what drives me.”
Lundqvist has been energized by the workload through which he has started 34 of 40 games. He has been brilliant in adopting a more aggressive style to counter the wave of skill around the league that’s benefitted from the crackdown — uneven, though it may be applied — on slashing. He is more active around the crease.
“The more I play, the more comfortable I am,” said Lundqvist, who has recorded a .931 save percentage and 2.32 GAA in 24 starts since the start of November. “I feel like it allows me to get to where I want to be.”
Lundqvist’s play has not only kept his team afloat, it has essentially created the illusion the Rangers might be legitimate contenders for the Cup in a season where every team other than Tampa Bay appears fatally flawed. Beyond that, a narrative is taking hold that management can’t afford to waste Lundqvist’s season and therefore should not be sellers at the deadline, but instead buyers.
But I see it a little bit differently, because I don’t see why this should be Lundqvist’s last great season. If he can have this kind of a year at 35, he can surely have another one at age 36. Hence, there should be no urgency to attempt to bulk up — or even hold onto pending free agents rather than cash in for kids and picks — if it comes at the expense adding for next year.
2. I don’t care to be one of these guys who thinks the sky is falling whenever Pavel Buchnevich’s ice time is limited or he’s moved off the top six, but … Pavel Buchnevich must play more, and it’s nuts that he’s not on the club’s top line.
Buchnevich hasn’t scored now in the past nine games, since Dec. 13 in Ottawa. He has spent the past three games on a unit with David Desharnais and Jimmy Vesey that has generated little offense. Overall, he is 11th among club forwards in 5-on-5 ice time at 11:07 per. That seems crazy. Yes, the 22-year-old Russian is still learning about play without the puck and there is work to be done on his level of consistency, but as a coach who covets skill in a league that increasingly rewards it, Alain Vigneault need look no further.
There is some serious overthinking going on in the coaches’ quarters for Buchnevich to be separated from Mika Zibanejad. Yes, they’re missing running buddy Chris Kreider on the left side, but J.T. Miller provides a power-game alternative that should mesh well with the two high-end skill forwards who have proven sympatico.
So: Miller-Zibanejad-Buchnev- ich; Rick Nash-Kevin Hayes-Mats Zuccarello; Michael Grabner-Boo Nieves-Jesper Fast; Jimmy Vesey-David Desharnais-Paul Carey.
Though I sure wouldn’t mind seeing Vinni Lettieri get another crack, maybe with Vesey and Carey, who would slide into the middle, and I’d be fine flipping Nash and Grabner.
3. The Rangers are 2-for-24 on the power play over the past seven games, with one goal the Zibanejad 5-on-3 (off the delicious feed from Buchnevich) on Wednesday and the other Miller’s 4-on-3 Winter Classic OT winner. Hence, no 5-on-4 PPG’s for seven straight. Beyond that, the Blueshirts are 5for-41 over the past 14 contests, with just two 5-on-4 goals.
For the season, the second unit has been on for only five goals while encountering difficulty on entries. And still, not a hint of Michael Grabner, who leads the team with 18 goals but has gotten a total of 1:55 with the man advantage.
Grabner may not fill any of the traditional power play roles — puck retriever, set-up guy, sniper, net-presence — but surely he’d be able to gain entry by carrying through the neutral zone and backing killers off the line. It certainly seems worth a try.