Future Hall of Fame goaltender Henrik Lundqvist announces retirement from NHL after 15 seasons

The 39-year-old made the announcement Friday at Frolunda HC, the Swedish club he played for prior to his NHL career. 

Lundqvist, a seventh-round pick by the Rangers in 2000, spent his entire career in New York. In 15 seasons with the Blueshirts, he has the most wins (449) and shutouts (64) in franchise history. He also won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender in 2012 and is a five-time All-Star. 

The native of Sweden finishes his career with a 459-310-96 record, 2.43 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. Internationally, Lundqvist won Olympic gold with Sweden in 2006 and silver in 2014. He also won gold at the 2017 World Championship.

After being bought out by the Rangers, Lundqvist signed with the Washington Capitals as a free agent in 2020. However, he never played for the club after undergoing open-heart surgery in January 2021. 

In a 2020 interview with Johan Rylander of the Goteborgs-Posten, Lundqvist confirmed that he had a job lined up with the Rangers after his retirement. 

"It will be the role they want it to be," Lundqvist said at the time, according to Swedish translation. "I don't know if the role will be small or if there will be something more. It is further ahead. It's all about timing. It's just not now.

"I feel that I will somehow be connected to Rangers forever after so many years and all the people I got to know in the club, from the owner on down."

It's unclear if the Rangers truly have plans to hire Lundqvist in a post-playing role.