Immediately after Henrik Lundqvist announced his retirement last month, the New York Rangers confirmed that they would be retiring his number. They’ve now announced that on January 28, 2022, his No. 30 will be raised to the rafters and never worn again. Lundqvist is the franchise leader among goaltenders in games played, wins, saves, and save percentage (among those with at least 60 appearances).
He will become the 11th player to have his number retired by the team, joining Ed Giacomin (1), Brian Leetch (2), Harry Howell (3), Rod Gilbert (7), Andy Bathgate (9), Adam Graves (9), Mark Messier (11), Vic Hadfield (11), Jean Ratelle (19) and Mike Richter (35).
- The Montreal Canadiens have confirmed that young star Cole Caufield will be out for a week with an upper-body injury suffered over the weekend. The 20-year-old played against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and then was pulled from the warmup for an intrasquad game on Sunday. With how important he is going to be for the team this year, keeping him healthy to start the season is extremely important for the Canadiens.
- It appears as though former New Jersey Devils prospect Nikita Popugaev has ended his hockey career, listing himself as an “ex hockey player” on Instagram. Popugaev was a fourth-round pick of the Devils in 2017, but never signed with the team and spent last season in the KHL. Though his rights are technically retained indefinitely by the Devils, it appears as though the 22-year-old will no longer be pursuing his career on the ice.
Is Hank still counting toward the cap?
That is so choice.
You never like to see guys in their 20s listed as “Retired” on EliteProspects. Hope it’s more about disenchantment with him, rather than injuries.
It’s not injuries.
@Gavin – Thanks! That’s better news (barring non-hockey health issues, or family concerns, that is).
No…worse…to become a social media influencer (i wish i was kidding about that)
@SpeakOfTheDevil – You’re not kidding??? He’s leaving the game for that? Do you have a link you can share?
sadness moment
link to russianmachineneverbreaks.com
@SpeakOfTheDevil – Thanks for the info. If this guy was in his late 30s-mid 40s, I’d look at it as a bit of a midlife crisis. This is just kind of weird and seems like a strange outlaw move. Who knows, at 6’6″, maybe he has a high-paying job as a bouncer or bodyguard lined up, somewhere.
He wasnt a good prospect for us anyway, he has a terrible work ethic, if he bounces the same way he plays hockey then im sure it wont be hard to get past him
@SpeakOfTheDevil – So you’re saying that “Popugaev” in Russian roughly translates to “Turnstile on skates”?
@Mac my Russian is a little rusty but i think it might mean “free booze”
@SpeakOfTheDevil – That’s it! I knew I was having trouble with some of their accent marks! One of those labels said “Genuine Russian Smoothie – Keep away from open flame!”
:)
@Mac Just a little update, not only is he trying to become an “influencer” (of what im still not certain) but apparently he is also doing prank videos, just saw this one where he threw a snake into a taxi…that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this guys maturity level
@SpeakOfTheDevil – Yeah, I read that too. It sounded like he and that other guy somehow make $ (Rubles or Euros?) doing it. That’s messed up. Somebody’s likely to get hurt with their crap. Retribution by lawsuit over there is less likely than the good, old-fashioned, flat-out industrial-strength beat downs.
“What happened to Comrade Popugaev?”
“You mean, what is left of Comrade Popugaev…”
@Mac Industrial Strength Beatdowns…ah the good old days amiright?
In Soviet Russia Prank Gets You