If you’re still hoping to snag tickets to see Henrik Lundqvist’s iconic No. 30 raised to the rafters at Madison Square Garden, it’s going to cost you a king’s ransom.
Tickets on the secondary market for Friday’s game between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild are averaging $1,060, making it the most expensive game of the NHL regular season, according to TicketIQ. The cheapest available ticket for the game is $405.
By comparison, the Dallas Stars are retiring Sergei Zubov’s jersey as well on Friday and the average ticket price for that game is only $64.
The game at Madison Square Garden is 34% more expensive than the Seattle Kraken franchise opener in October and also easily outpaces the third most expensive game of the year, which was the Islanders’ opener at UBS Arena in November.
Lundqvist will become the 11th Rangers player to have his number retired by the organization. He joins the ranks of Ed Giacomin, Brian Leetch, Harry Howell, Rod Gilbert, Andy Bathgate, Adam Graves, Vic Hadfield, Mark Messier, Jean Ratelle, and Mike Richter.
Lundqvist spent 15 years with the Rangers and is the franchise leader in wins (459), shutouts (67), saves (23,509), and starts (887 games, 752 starts). He is also sixth all-time in NHL history in wins, eighth on the NHL’s all-time appearances list, and 17th on the all-time shutouts list.
The Swedish netminder announced his retirement from hockey in August.
“That’s the thing with the Rangers, an original six team, they’ve always taken so much pride in their history,” Lundqvist said during an appearance on the Tonight Show on Wednesday. “You feel that as a player. You come in as a young kid from Sweden at 23 years old and you see all these retired guys come by and they treat them so nicely. It means something to them, the history, and now to be part of that myself it’s kind of a surreal feeling.”
The ceremony honoring Lundqvist is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, a full hour and a half before scheduled puck drop. Lundqvist has already scouted out where his family will be sitting during the game.
“I walked up to check out where my family’s going to sit (at Madison Square Garden), where my friends are going to sit, and right there was all the banners. That was a very special moment for me, last week,” Lundqvist said.
