Henrik Lundqvist to miss next NHL season due to a heart condition

Henrik Lundqvist will miss the upcoming NHL season after signing with Washington Capitals due to a heart condition.

Future Hall of Fame goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, revealed Thursday on Twitter that he would not be joining the Washington Capitals just yet, and will miss the entire 2021 NHL season due to a newly discovered heart condition.

The 38-year-old Lundqvist signed a one year contract with the Capitals after he was bought out by the New York Rangers in September despite 15 legendary seasons with the team.

Lundqvist also had a message for Capitals fans, and the pain and disappointment in his voice is apparent after finding out he will not be able to join the team this season.

The entire NHL community supports Lundqvist in his battle

The Capitals gave their full support to Lundqvist in a statement, saying that they “are supportive of Henrik’s decision to step away from hockey at this time due to his heart condition. Our players’ health is of the utmost importance, and we stand behind Henrik’s decision. We want to wish him and his family all the best moving forward.”

This season with Washington was supposed to be Lundqvist’s comeback after being bought out by the Rangers. His job would’ve been to split time with Ilya Samsonov and take some of the burden off of the young goalie, if not steal his starting job outright in pursuit of the first Stanley Cup in his legendary NHL career.

As for the Capitals, Samsonov will have to relied upon even more than expected in his first full season as a starting goalie, and back-up goalie will have to worked out in the time being. They have two viable options in the organization already with Vitek Vanecek and Pheonix Copley, but neither of them have significant NHL experience, and in a condensed season like the one upcoming, a strong goaltending tandem is needed to go far. The goalie free agent market is obviously dried up by this point as well, with 39-year-old Craig Anderson as the best option available.

It’s truly devastating to see this happen to as a good a guy as Henrik Lundqvist. Hopefully, this is not the end of Lundqvist’s amazing career. He deserves far better than for it to end like this. Here’s hoping that he can take good care of his health, and produce one of the greatest comeback stories in hockey history. Until then, take care King.