Henrik Lundqvist on Saying No, Betting on People, and Building His Post-Playing Career in New York

Lundqvist says that in New York, deciding which opportunities to turn down is harder than finding them. "I think it's more important to say no than yes," he says, because there are so many opportunities.

Asked how he makes that decision, he points first to the people involved rather than the offer itself.

Lundqvist says he often looks at the person running a business first. "I bet on people more than the product," he says, pointing to a history of both good and bad deals.

He concludes that execution decides outcomes, and that execution starts with leadership at the top.

Lundqvist moved to New York at 23, after establishing himself in Sweden, winning championships and being regarded as the best goalie there. Coming to New York, he felt he had to start over.

He had been a seventh-round pick of the Rangers five years earlier, so few people knew who he was. He came with an open mind, having heard about the city, the Rangers organisation, the Original Six and the weight of a big market. He describes arriving as excited, nervous and a little anxious, mostly excited to take it all on, and says that first year felt like living a dream.

Asked whether he felt like an imposter given the city and the building, Lundqvist says he felt a little intimidated but was mostly determined. He had the feeling he belonged in New York and was convinced he would make it.

He admits there were moments of questioning whether it could really happen. He had left his family, friends and safety net in Sweden, where he had built a professional career. Without the mindset that he would succeed, he says, that doubt could become a real hurdle.

Lundqvist says his last year in Sweden coincided with the 2004 NHL lockout. Several top players came to the Swedish Elite League that season, and his team won the title. He faced many of the world's best goaltenders, who normally played in the NHL.

He says knowing he could compete against them helped him mentally as he moved to New York at 23. The question was whether he could adapt his style to a smaller rink, a faster game and more skilled players, and he felt that the prior year's experience helped him a great deal.

Lundqvist says the players were excited to be back playing after the lockout, but there was also a sense that the league needed to rebuild the trust of its fans. The season had been lost, a result nobody wanted.

As a rookie arriving after the lockout, he recalls many open questions about where the league stood and how skilled players would be after a year away. Looking back, he says the game's development since then has been healthy.

Lundqvist also recalls the 1994 strike in Major League Baseball, when players walked off the field on August 12 of that year. He says that as a rookie his focus was simply on keeping his head down and surviving.

Asked how the game has grown since then, he says he loves watching hockey develop, both in North America and worldwide, as a fan now that he is retired.

Lundqvist says he quickly understood what makes an Original Six franchise special, which is its history. The Rangers have existed for over a hundred years, and he credits Jim Dolan and the organisation with prioritising and celebrating that past.

For a young player, playing at Madison Square Garden under the bright lights and media spotlight keeps ego in check. He says he realised he was a small part of an organisation that had been around for so long.

As a rookie Lundqvist saw Dolan only occasionally. Over the years they connected over shared interests, especially music. Lundqvist says he watched Dolan perform in Stockholm many years ago and describes him as a great musician.

Lundqvist says he came to understand how large a machine Madison Square Garden is, with the Sphere now part of it, hosting events, concerts and weddings. As an athlete he focused on one thing, but running a business of that size brings many challenges every day, which he says can look almost overwhelming from the outside.

Lundqvist says that as an athlete life was easy, because all he had to do was stop a puck. Now there are many decisions and opportunities, and he must think about time in a way he did not before.

When he occasionally goes back on the ice, it feels refreshing because his focus narrows again to the one task he was trained for. He says he misses that simplicity sometimes.

Asked about lessons from his relationship with Dolan as player and later colleague, Lundqvist describes what a great owner looks like from an athlete's perspective. To him, it is an owner who invests in the team and gives every player the chance to perform at the highest level.

He lists concrete examples: a top training facility, travel arrangements, hotel stays and preparation for each game. He says all these small details matter, and that Dolan's investment in players across the Knicks and the Rangers gives every athlete the chance to be at their best.

Lundqvist says he realised roughly halfway through his career with the Rangers that it was a place where his style could last for a long time. He wanted to be part of the Rangers throughout his career.

Near the end of his career he had a meeting with Dolan, who told him that whenever he decided to walk away from the game, the team would love for him to remain part of the organisation. Lundqvist says that after investing everything he had in the Rangers for so many years, that support meant everything. Rodriguez notes that Dolan does not say that to everyone.

Lundqvist says he played his entire career in one place and built many relationships at MSG and in New York City. When it was time to move from athlete to retiree, he wanted MSG to be part of his next chapter.

Lundqvist says that over his first year after retiring, his role developed into his current position as an ambassador for MSG. The work includes television and attending various events, including basketball, hockey and charity events.

He says he is more social now than when he played, because the pressure of the sport is gone and he can enjoy meeting people. He still feels goosebumps walking into the Garden, but now the feeling is one of gratitude.

Lundqvist says his approach to business has changed over the years. As a young player he focused strictly on the game and, he says, had little time or interest for financial matters. He believes it was important to build a team quickly, because athletes often lack the time to handle financial decisions.

He wanted to think about his performance, not money, so he built a circle of trust. Adam Campbell has been his business manager at CMG for 17 years, and he says that consistency has been everything. His life has grown far more complicated: at 23 his questions were about cars and guitars, and now they involve children, schools, insurance and investments.

Lundqvist says opportunities reach him differently each time, usually through a conversation that leads to the next step. The diligence and the process of reviewing an opportunity stay the same, however.

Being in New York City means there are so many opportunities that he says saying no matters more than saying yes. In deciding, he often looks at the person running the business rather than the product, a habit based on good and bad deals in the past.

Lundqvist says he is more guided by gut feeling when making a decision, while his business manager Adam Campbell relies more on data, and Campbell is the one who holds him back. He also has people at JP Morgan to consult.

He argues that it is hard for one person to know everything, especially as life and business grow more complicated. He says what matters is having people who know how to get answers and reach the right people for them.

Lundqvist works on national TV, including for TNT, and says people still see him as a Rangers player. He tries to stay objective about other teams and players, and he prepares less than some because he relies on experience, drawing on what he went through mentally in certain situations.

He says viewers often see a replay and judge a play as a silly mistake, when the player experienced it in a much faster moment. Rodriguez and Kelly joke that the higher you sit in the arena, the easier the game looks and the more confident the answers become.

Lundqvist says his charity work began after he moved to New York in 2005, when he quickly became part of the Garden of Dreams Foundation, the Madison Square Garden Foundation. He says it taught him how much impact one can have on people, such as helping a sick child or giving someone the chance to study.

He and his wife Therese later decided to start their own foundation to reach people back home in Sweden. The Henrik Lundqvist Foundation was built around a board of people who had supported him for years and had strong networks. Its partners include the Presbyterian Children's Hospital in New York, a Ronald McDonald House in Sweden and the Food Bank of New York.

The foundation also runs the Young Ambassador Program, which encourages kids to give back and aims to create the same feeling Lundqvist describes from helping someone else.