New York Rangers: Is It Looking Like Henrik Lundqvist's Final Year?

Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

All-Star former Vezina Trophy winner and goaltender for the New York Rangers, Henrik Lundqvist has to be disgusted and embarrassed from the Rangers’ last game, in which they were destroyed by the San Jose Sharks 9-2. Lundqvist is a unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, and with the Rangers showing lack of effort and no signs of being alive to do anything other than miss the playoffs, the question in which we fans must ask ourselves is just how much more embarrassment can one man take in order to realize that he has to move on?

Thanks to Rangers GM Glen Sather, and the poorly constructed team he has given new head coach Alain Vigneault to work with, it is almost like the Rangers organization is trying their absolute best to make Lundqvist leave.

Lundqvist is a competitor and wants nothing more than to win a Stanley Cup but he has also stated his love for New York and being a Ranger. Unfortunately for Lundqvist and Rangers’ fans, it does not look like the Rangers can consistently score and now play defense, leaving Lundqvist with even less help than in years past.

So sometime during the course of this lackluster season, Lundqvist will have to decide whether his love for New York and the Rangers are strong enough to cancel out winning a Stanley Cup. I know he would like to have his cake and eat it too by winning a Stanley Cup with the Rangers, and I would like a million dollars every single day of my life, but some things in life are just not going to happen.

The bottom line is that if Vigneault cannot figure out a strategy to help this Rangers team win games, the players do not show any effort or heart like they have done so far this season, and overall the Rangers do not drastically and magically get better than Lundqvist will decide to go elsewhere, whether he loves New York and the Rangers or not.

Steven Carollo is a New York Rangers’ and sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, add him on Facebook, connect with him on LinkedIn and join his Google network.

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