Henrik Lundqvist time with the New York Rangers is over. Since 2005 he has been the landmark of the team, playing in New York for his entire professional career. He holds almost every goalie record for the team and his career stats in the league are all near the top. This is been a possibility for a year now and it’s a sad day. He is a legend.

The last year of his contract has been bought out so he now a free agent. He can be signed by any team that needs him or he could retire. It’s impossible to say what will happen. He does still want to play and there will be a lot of goalies on the market this off season (I think it’s like 8 with Hank included) so it’s all up in the air. It’ll be really weird to see him on another team.

Ideally, he’d end his career by retiring with the Rangers, with the final trophy for his collection, the Stanley Cup. So this feels like a let down. The front office has decided that he isn’t worth his salary any longer (one of the highest paid goalies in the league) and Shesterkin and Georgiev can guard the net together. Shesterkin is the future, Georgiev is getting better and better and you can’t have Hank be a backup while paying him starter money. The COVID shutdown put the squeeze on the salary cap so there’s little choice. It makes sense but it’s a hard pill to swallow.

Lundqvist has more highlights than you can shake a hockey stick at. His number will absolutely be retired at Madison Square Garden. With this whole mess he’s not going to get the proper public send off he deserves and that’s gross. I don’t think the organization will let that stand though. I think when he does decided to retire from the NHL and we can pack stadiums again, they’ll throw the ceremony The King rightfully deserves.