Henrik Lundqvist didn’t need any longer than his first year of eligibility to land a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The former Rangers goalie was one of seven revealed by the selection committee Wednesday for the Class of 2023, which was announced during an NHL Network broadcast.
Lundqvist is joined by fellow players Tom Barrasso, Caroline Ouellette, Pierre Turgeon and Mike Vernon.
Ken Hitchock and Pierre Lacroix were elected under the builder category.
His No. 30 jersey has already resided in the Madison Square Garden rafters since January 2022.
And now, Lundqvist will receive the sport’s most prestigious — and permanent — honor.
At the Nov. 13 ceremony in Toronto, Lundqvist will become the latest former Rangers player to get inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Kevin Lowe, who spent four seasons with the Rangers and was on the franchise’s last Stanley Cup team in 1994, was part of the Class of 2020.
Lundqvist, who only took the ice for the Rangers, finished his 15-year career with 459 victories, a .918 save percentage and a stretch at the start of his career where he led the Blueshirts to the playoffs in 11 of 12 seasons, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
That made his early Hall of Fame selection anything but a surprise.
He won 61 postseason games and recorded 64 career shutouts, 17th-most all-time.
Lundqvist ended his career as the sixth-winningest goalie in league history, trailing just Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Marc-Andre Fleury, Roberto Luongo and Ed Belfour.
He still holds that spot presently.
When the Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, Lundqvist shut out the Canadiens in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to snap a tie with Mike Richter for career playoff wins — giving him 42 — while also moving into a tie with Richter’s record for postseason shutouts (nine).
Three years later, to start a 2017 postseason series against Montreal, Lundqvist set that record, too.
Recently, Lundqvist has served as an NHL analyst with MSG Network and TNT while another star goalie — Igor Shesterkin — has emerged with the Blueshirts.
The pair overlapped in 2019-20, Lundqvist’s final season with the Rangers, and paired with Alexandar Georgiev to start games in the Rangers’ crease.
Following that season, the Blueshirts bought out the final year of his seven-year, $59.5 million deal.
Lundqvist became a free agent and eventually signed a one-year deal with the Capitals.
He never logged another game, though, due to a heart condition that led to open-heart surgery, prevented him from playing the 2020-21 season and ultimately led to his retirement.
“I’m OK with this,” Lundqvist said when he retired in 2021. “I am. I feel like I’m at a very strong place mentally after going through all of the challenges of the last year, starting with when the Rangers bought me out.
“For the last eight months or so, there has been so much waiting-and-seeing, and I have not been in the driver’s seat. I’ve been in the passenger’s seat. Now there was a decision to make. “It’s all still fresh. I decided only a few days ago. But I am at peace. I look back at my career, and all I have is gratitude and pride. I am just so grateful.”
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