Henrik Lundqvist

A boy from Åre, Henrik Lundqvist learned to skate on a frozen sandpit and deepened his interest in hockey after attending games at Scandinavium; those early experiences steered him toward Frölunda's junior ranks. He moved through Järpens IF and Rögle BK before breaking into Frölunda's senior team as an 18-year-old.

Drafted 205th overall by the New York Rangers in 2000, Lundqvist chose to remain in Sweden for several seasons. At Frölunda he played 180 games, posting a 1.96 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage, helped the club to two championships and dominated in 2004–05 by setting multiple national records and collecting the Honken Trophy three years straight plus the Guldpucken and Guldhjälmen in 2005.

He arrived in New York in 2005 and became the Rangers' starter after Kevin Weekes was injured, producing a rookie campaign that included 30 wins and rapid adoration from fans and media under the nickname “King Henrik.” Over his time in the NHL he compiled a sequence of seasons with 30 wins—reaching eleven such campaigns within his first twelve years—spent 15 seasons with the Rangers and won the Vezina Trophy in 2012.

Internationally, Lundqvist represented Sweden across junior and senior tournaments: silver medals at the 2003 and 2004 World Championships (he was named best goaltender in 2004) and Olympic gold at Turin in 2006, where he registered five wins, one loss and allowed twelve goals in six games. After the 2019–20 season he signed a one-year deal with Washington in October 2020 but did not play that season; he announced his retirement on 20 August 2021. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023 and into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025.

Technically, Lundqvist blended a butterfly base with an unusually assertive approach to that technique: his game was built on athleticism, tight positional play, concentrated puck tracking, an upright torso and quick reflexes.