New York Rangers: The end of an era

The New York Rangers three goalie carousel should be at an end as Igor Shesterkin is no longer the heir to the throne, rather he now sits firmly on it.  His ascendance has all but officially put and end to the Henrik Lundqvist era.

Long live the King.

King Henrik presided over one the more successful runs in New York Rangers history.  He was the backbone to the franchise for almost 15 years, but now his time has come to an end.  The only question that remains is, how will the Ranger organization make his transition from King to member of the court as respectful as possible?

Hank is a legend, his greatness unquestioned.  The only blemish on his hockey career is the ever elusive Stanley Cup ring.  He has checked every other box.  The Hall of Fame will come calling soon enough.

Yet at this moment, it is hard to shake the indelible image of a prone Lundqvist splayed out on the ice in the Staples Center in 2104, as the Kings celebrated.

At this moment it is also hard to shake the thought that if John Tortorella didn’t run Marian Gaborik out of town the Rangers would have given Hank the Cup he so deserves.

2014 should have been the year for Hank.

One year later in the 2015 playoffs, it is not hard to imagine that a puck to the head of Mats Zuccarello cost Hank his second best opportunity at raising the Cup.  Zuuc was in his prime, playing the best hockey of his career, until he couldn’t.  Looking back you can’t be anything but grateful that Zucarrello made full recovery, the chance at the Cup clearly secondary to what matters most.  But the thought still lingers.

You don’t think all of that came out in the stream of emotion Hank poured out when his buddy was traded last year around this time?

It is so sad to think, that if fate had not inflicted those two turn of events on the Rangers and Lundqvist we would not be sitting here today trying to figure out a way to politely shove aside the King like plotters in the Ides of March.

Certainly a hockey player with resume like Hank doesn’t need to win the Stanley Cup to secure his legacy, but it is what he wants more than anything to cap off his career.  As fans of his for last decade and a half, it’s what the Blueshirt Faithful want for him as well.  It hurts to think that it just will not happen.

What’s best now?

It is flat-out impossible to know what is best for Hank right now.  What’s best for the team may not be ideal for him personally or professionally.  As fans we just can’t know, we can only speculate.

But what is clear, is that what is best for the team is for Shesterkin to be in net as often as possible from this point forward.  Hank either stays on as the backup to Shesterkin or approaches management with another plan that revolves around him not playing for the team next year.

That could mean accepting a trade at the deadline, accepting a buyout, or simply retiring.

The player who is left dangling here is clearly Alexandar Georgiev. Georgie can just as easily be traded tomorrow as he could be on the roster forming a goalie tandem with Shesterkin next year.  His possibilities are just as confounding as they are endless.

All of the above are not things Rangers fan can control or influence.  We must sit back and wait, checking out Twitter feeds with regularity to see if anything has happened to help paint a clearer picture.

What Rangers fans can control is the approach taken as this uncomfortable, if not painful scenario plays itself out.  Fans should not be thinking ‘what have you done for me lately’ right now. They must take a big picture approach and temper any condemnation.

Each and every one of us will be standing, cheering, perhaps even tearing-up a bit when Hank gets his inevitable night at MSG.  The jersey will go the to rafters, the number retired.

On that night not one fan should be thinking that Hank came up just a bit short.  Not one fan should be looking back on the last year two years of his contract as burden to the team. Not one fan should be thinking that it all should have ended better.

Fans should be thinking only that they were lucky enough to watch one of the best that ever was. A player who gracefully passed the crown to the next generation.  But the burden to make this scenario a reality falls to Jeff Gorton, John Davidson and yes even Mr. Dolan.

Let’s just hope Rangers management does everything possible to preserve the integrity of Henrik Lundqvist and in turn, the organization.

Anything less would be an injustice to The King.