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New York Rangers: Next number retired

By James Carrier

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 25: New York Rangers legend and Hockey Hall of Famer, Jean Ratelle, speaks to the crowd prior to having his #19 jersey raised to the rafters of Madison Square Garden during his jersey retirement night prior to the game against the Detroit Red Wings on February 25, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 25: New York Rangers legend and Hockey Hall of Famer, Jean Ratelle, speaks to the crowd prior to having his #19 jersey raised to the rafters of Madison Square Garden during his jersey retirement night prior to the game against the Detroit Red Wings on February 25, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 25: Former New York Rangers Jean Ratelle and his familey watches as the banner with his name and number are lifted into the rafters before the game between the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings on February 25, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.The New York Rangers honored Jean Ratelle before the game. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 25: Former New York Rangers Jean Ratelle and his familey watches as the banner with his name and number are lifted into the rafters before the game between the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings on February 25, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.The New York Rangers honored Jean Ratelle before the game. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

With a boatload of New York Rangers greats retired, who is next in line to definitely get his number up in the rafters?

Only ten New York Rangers have had their numbers retired, hanging from the rafters of Madison Square Garden.  The latest was Vic Hadfield, whose number 11 was retired in December.

The question is who will be the next player honored and there is one obvious answer.  Next is a career New York Ranger, a sure fire Hall of Famer and one of the greatest goalies in NHL history, Henrik Lundqvist.  The only question is when Lundqvist’s number 30 will be honored.

Why Henrik Lundqvist?

Besides the fact he is one of the best looking hockey players, his career stats are mind-boggling.

Lundqvist has been to five All-Star Ggames, won the Vezina Trophy in 2011-2012, has a career save percentage of 9.18 and a career goals against average of 2.41. He was also named New York Rangers team MVP a whopping seven years in a row from 2006-2013, then also won it in 2016 and 2018.

In 2017, Lundqvist became the 12th goalie to get to 400 career wins and he is now sixth all time in wins with 449. Also, In January 2018, he recorded his 20th win of the season, making him the only goaltender in NHL history to reach 20 wins in 13 consecutive seasons.

He also led the New York Rangers to the playoffs 12 out of his first 13 years on the team, went to the Conference Finals three times, and the Stanley Cup Finals once, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in 2014.

He is also the New York Rangers all time leader in almost every goalie statistic including wins, playoff wins, shutouts, and games played. Lundqvist is first in saves by an unbelievable margin. He leads with 22,710 career saves, over 5,000 more than Mike Richter’s 17,370.

Getting away from the NHL stats, he also won an Olympic gold medal with his home country of Sweden in 2006.

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