Last month, New York Rangers’ legend Henrik Lundqvist announced his retirement from the NHL. Later that same day, the Rangers officially announced that they would retire his No. 30 to the rafters during this upcoming season. Now, Ranger fans, a date has been confirmed. Lundqvist’s ceremony will be held on January 28th, 2022. The Rangers will be facing the Minnesota Wild that evening. Thus, longtime teammate Mats Zuccarello will also be in attendance, as he of course plays for Minnesota.
Lundqvist signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals last off-season, but he would miss the entirety of the 2020-21 season due to an irregular heartbeat that required open heart surgery. The 39-year-old goaltender tried to make a comeback at the end of this past season, as he participated in workouts and even skated again. Yet, due to the severity of his condition, a return was not possible.
Alas, Lundqvist had an absolutely stellar career with the Rangers. In 887 games over 15 seasons, he sported a 459-310-96 record, .918 SV% and 2.43 GAA. In the process, he broke a plethora of records. He is the only the goaltender in league history who had 30 wins in each of his first seven NHL seasons and reached 400 wins faster than any other goaltender. He is the team’s all-time leader in wins, save percentage, shutouts (64), playoff wins (61), playoff save percentage (.921) and playoff shutouts (10). He also has the most wins by any other European goaltender in NHL history.
Lundqvist also won plenty of awards during his time with the Rangers, too. Most notably, he won the Vezina Trophy during the 2012 season, but was also nominated on four other occasions. He also made the NHL First All-Star Team during the 2012 season as well. He was named New York Rangers’ MVP nine times as well, with his final win being in 2018. He also won the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award in both 2006 and 2018.
Internationally, he had a lot of success as well. He won the gold medal with Team Sweden during the 2006 Winter Olympics and also a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. In the World Championships, he was a part of Sweden’s 2017 gold medal squad.
Overall, Lundqvist easily had one of the best careers ever by an NHL goaltender, so his number being retired by the Rangers so quickly is a no-brainer. January 28th is a date that we all must mark down in our calendars, as it is going to be a very special night for a very special player. No. 30 officially being in the rafters is going to be simply outstanding.