Lundqvist back on the ice just 47 days after undergoing open-heart surgery

When it was announced during the offseason that Henrik Lundqvist would not be a member of the New York Rangers in 2020-21, and would instead suit up for the Washington Capitals, something just seemed off.

When the subsequent announcement was made that Lundqvist would not play at all in 2020-21 and would instead under-go open-heart surgery to correct a problem that had existed throughout his entire career, I think most would have liked to have seen him in ANY NHL jersey, unsure of whether or not we had seen the last of one of the absolute best netminders of his era.

On Tuesday, sometimes truly amazing occurred. Henrik Lundqvist uploaded some videos on social media of him returning to the ice, in full gear, wearing a Capitals sweater - and he was working in his crease and taking some shots just 47 days after open-heart surgery. He captioned one of the videos with with:

"Working those legs with a steady pulse and drills with a lot of control. Today was fun."

Lundqvist, 38, is a veteran of 887 career regular season NHL games and 130 career postseason games, with a Vezina Trophy to his credit (2011-12). He's also the league-leader for games played for active netminders, as well as 2nd in wins (active), 1st in saves (active), 1st in shutouts (active) and 1st in minutes (active).

Hank is already a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, but with his heart condition now corrected, he may have extended his NHL career by a few seasons, which is wonderful news if you're a hockey fan.

Lunqvist is truly one of the greatest goalies of our time, and it's fantastic to see him back in action, albeit in a controlled practice capacity. If and when he does make it back to the NHL, it will be one hell of a comeback story.

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