These NHL players might have just played their last game

Henrik Lundqvist will go down as one of the greatest goaltenders the game has ever witnessed. Since being drafted 205th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2000 NHL Draft, Lundqvist took the NHL by storm quickly becoming the face of this historic franchise.

While his puck-stopping ability has taken a hit over the last few years, his career statistics are rather incredible. In his 15 years with the Rangers, the Swedish netminder played in 887 games, starting 752 of them, owning a record of 459-310-96.

He was given the nickname “The King” due to his exceptional play in his rookie campaign, recording a 30-12-9 record, with a .922 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-against-average.

Throughout his time on the team, Lundqvist has been a staple for New York sports, putting this team on his back for years through the good times and the bad.

After wins, Lundqvist would never take the credit with the media, always crediting his teammates for their play in front of him. However, during losses, Lundqvist always took the blame, gaining respect from his teammates, coaching staff, and the Ranger faithful.

In his 15-year career, he and the Rangers made the playoffs 11 times, getting ever so close to winning a cup in 2014, ultimately losing in overtime of game 5 to Alec Martinez and the Los Angeles Kings, ending the series.

in 128 playoff appearances, Lundqvist holds a record of 61-65, but this statistic may give you the wrong impression of just how good of a playoff performer he was.

His career playoff numbers, a .922 save percentage and a 2.28 goals-against-average, goes to show just how important he was to all the playoff runs.

He would take home the Vezina Trophy once in his stellar career, coming at the conclusion of the 2011-12 campaign. That year he went 39-18-5, achieving career-numbers in save percentage and goals-against-average, a .930 and a 1.97 respectively. He also recorded 8 shutouts in the process.

While his career .918 save percentage and a goals-against-average of 2.43 will never speak the full volume of his importance to the Rangers, the ones that got to witness his glorious career will never forget it.

This season, the King has been dethroned in New York by Russian prodigy Igor Shesterkin, as well as Alexander Georgiev, which seems to be the future tandem for the Rangers.

While Lundqvist, 38, has one year remaining on his contract, he made it clear to the Rangers that he would do whatever would help the Rangers in the future, as he too realized his role with the team was changing quickly and painfully.

A clear-number one now saw himself as a third-string netminder, but he remained loyal saying he would not want to wear a different uniform, wanting to finish his career where it began.

While it does not mean it is the end of the road for Lundqvist, it seems he would rather call it a career then leave the Rangers, and sitting through another season of limited play may be too much to bear.

If this is the end of the road for Lundqvist, he will end his career being the only goaltender in NHL history to have 11, 30-win seasons in the first 12 years of a career, sitting as the winningest goaltender in franchise history (459), as well as the winningest European-born goaltender. He currently sits 6th all-time in wins, as well as 16th all-time in shutouts with 64.