The 2005/06 season was a time of confidence for the NHL, following the canceled lockout season the year before.

Henrik Lundqvist came to New York as a 23-year-old and made his debut the same season as Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovetchkin.

Both Crosby and Ovetchkin had been ranked number one, first of all players, in their drafts.

Henrik Lundqvist had been elected in the seventh round of his.

As number 205.

Held his first zero after two weeks

But he came from a successful season in the then elite series.

He had taken home the award as goalkeeper of the year for the third year in a row, and he had been the Swedish champion Frölunda's best player - in a team full of NHL stars, that lockout season 2004/05.

Henrik Lundqvist was full of confidence.

And the demanding crowd in Manhattan in "The Worlds Most Famous Arena" longed for success.

No Swedish goalkeeper had previously entered the NHL without first playing in the Grandpa League.

Henrik Lundqvist kept his first zero in the NHL barely two weeks into the season.

And he was who he was.

Liked nice clothes.

No oversized jackets and ill-fitting pants, which was the hallmark of the NHL players at the time.

He answered the journalists' questions at length and kindly.

He seemed to enjoy the attention, but at the same time did not make himself.

He quickly became "The King".

And he changed quickly.

He moved further into the goal.

The game goes faster and the rink is narrower than in Sweden.

You can not get over from one side to the other if you play as far out as at home.

And penalty winning became a specialty that Henrik Lundqvist made his own.

Penalties were introduced, to decide matches, this season in the NHL.

Obvious part of the annual chronicle 2005

In December 2005, I worked on the annual chronicle.

It would contain reports with three of this year's top Swedish athletes.

The obvious:

Kajsa Bergqvist, who received the Bragd Gold for the World Cup gold in Helsinki.

Anja Pärson, who took two World Cup golds that year.

And the surprise:

Henrik Lundqvist, who in a few months broke through with such force in the NHL.

Did not want to play anywhere else

We were in New York and filmed for the annual chronicle when he bought his first car.

It was getting close to Christmas and it was stressful when he signed all the papers (they were many) at the car company.

His family (mother, father and sister) were visiting and waiting at home in the apartment in Tarrytown.

The Rangers management wanted the new players to live out at the training facility almost an hour north of Manhattan.

At least the first season.

Henrik and his girlfriend, now his wife, would take the train to Manhattan with the family to see "Mamma Mia!"

on Broadway.

Henrik Lundqvist was 23 years old and just at the beginning of his NHL career.


Two months later, he would win Olympic gold in Turin.

The following season, he moved to Manhattan.

He has stayed there throughout his career.

It was a conscious choice.

"The King of New York" never wanted to live or play anywhere else, which he often stated and which is also one of the reasons why he became so popular.

Staying in New York was a priority

In the summer of 2012, Henrik Lundqvist received the Vezina Trophy, as the NHL's best goalkeeper, after several nominations (the first nomination came already after the debut season).

He had grown into the organization's most important player, and the New York Rangers wanted to make sure that "Hank" did not disappear elsewhere, when the contract expired.

So already in the autumn of 2013, the parties signed a long agreement.

According to information at the time, the Swedish goalkeeper star could have been paid more elsewhere, but being allowed to stay in New York throughout his NHL career was a priority.

Both players and club management were satisfied.

In the summer six months later, the New York Rangers played the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 20 years.

There was a new club management then.

The coach.

New conditions.

Henrik Lundqvist could not be traded against his will, he wrote in the contract.

But he could be redeemed.

Maybe he would have written off that possibility, then in 2013, if he had known what would happen today.

Is your career over?

For now, 15 years in the New York Rangers are over.

The question is whether it is also the career.

Almost on the day 15 years ago, he took over Manhattan.

Lundqvist had carried number 35 in Frölunda and he also won the Olympic gold in 2006 in # 35.

But the number was not available in Rangers when the Swedish rookie stepped into NHL history in the fall of 2005, and he had to choose another.

He took # 30.

Mike Richter shirt with number 35 is forever retired and excited in Madison Square Garden.

Under the same legendary roof, number 30 will also hang.

Henrik Lundqvist became one of the NHL's biggest stars on the ice, and he is still one of the biggest outside.

ARCHIVE: Watch when SVT Sport informs Lundqvist that he has taken a place in Rangers (2005)

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See when SVT Sport gives Henke the message that he has taken a place in Rangers Photo: Per Frisell, SVT Sport