Washington Capitals: Way too early predictions for Henrik Lundqvist

Way too early predictions for new Capitals goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

The biggest splash the Washington Capitals made this offseason was when they signed Henrik Lundqvist which quite honestly will be weird and will take some getting used to.

He used to be one of Washington’s most fierce playoff rivals but now he’s rocking the red literally as he gears up for the season.

Lundqvist and his family have already visited D.C. They explored the streets and even checked out his new locker at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

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He also has unveiled his new pads on social media which are sick. Like Braden Holtby, he looks good but how will those looks trend toward the ice?

Firstly, we don’t know how long the season will be. It is highly unlikely it’ll be 82 games. The NBA found a way to pull off 72 games but it’s looking like the NHL will play as much as 50-60 games. For this exercise, I’m going to assume that the NHL is going to do a 48 game season which was equivalent to the 2013 lockout shortened season.

Second, Lundqvist is getting up there in age. I don’t expect him to take the starter’s job from Ilya Samsonov but rather be a mentor to the second year netminder. Even so, it’ll be fun to look into how he think he might do and how many starts he might get.

In that 2013 shortened year, Lundqvist got 43 starts and led the league with 24 wins. His record was 24-16-3 with a 2.05 goals against average and a .926 save percentage.

Last season was one of Lundqvist’s worst. He got 26 starts and went 10-12-3 with a 3.16 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. It is  a year he hopes to move on from as he focuses on the common team goal of trying to win the Stanley Cup.

Knowing these numbers and assuming the season takes 48 games, I see Lundqvist getting 20 starts while Samsonov gets 28. Yes I know, I’m not thrilled about a shortened season either especially with Alex Ovechkin trying to chase Wayne Gretzky but that’s a rant for another day.

Banking on Lundqvist getting 20 starts I see his record going 10-8-2. That’s almost a .500 record but that’s still an improvement from last year. I took age into consideration and the likelihood of Samsonov being named the starter.

Lundqvist’s save percentage will be .906 while his goals against average we’ll project as 2.98. Again, all improvements. What are your early predictions for Lundqvist and are you going to buy his jersey?