Washington Capitals: Henrik Lundqvist makes the right decision for 2021

Tough news for the Washington Capitals. Henrik Lundqvist is out.

Henrik Lundqvist announced on his Twitter and Instagram that he won’t be joining the Washington Capitals this upcoming season due to a heart condition. This is a big blow to the Caps goalie department and now they have to search for a new goalie. Regardless, health comes first and Henrik made the right decision to step away from the game for now.

10 weeks ago the Caps signed the 39 year old. This came after he was bought out by the only team he’d ever known, the New York Rangers. At the time, the Caps were saying goodbye to Braden Holtby and looking for a veteran netminder to help mentor Ilya Samsonov, who enters his sophomore year.

There are still some veteran netminders available on the market if the Caps choose to go this route like they did in early October. Lundqvist was the perfect fit at the time when the Caps signed him to a one year deal worth $1.5 million. Now the Caps have to either search the market or address the situation in house.

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The free agents still available include the likes of Cory Schneider, Craig Anderson, and Ryan Miller. In house options include Pheonix Copley, Vitek Vanecek, and Zach Fucale. Only Copley out of that trio has NHL experience with 29 games under his belt but none last season.

The Caps issued a statement fully supportive of their netminder taking time away from the game: “The Washington Capitals 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.”

In addition to the graphic with the long statement by Lundqvist on his decision to sit it out, Lundqvist also released a video that was shared by the Caps.

“Today is a pretty tough and emotional day for me. For several weeks now, I’ve been undergoing different types of tests related to a heart condition. And after lots of discussions with doctors around the country and finally receiving the last results earlier this week, I unfortunately won’t be able to join the team this year. And I will need to continue the process to address and fix these issues,” Lundqvist said in the video which you can view in full here.

Stars and Sticks wish Henrik a speedy recovery and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.