All due respect to Ratelle and Hadfield - Lundqvist's retirement is much more meaningful to this generation of fans. Especially since they're not waiting 30+ years after his career is over to retire his number
This is exactly it. Lundqvist debuted on the Rangers when I was 15. A sophomore in HS. He played on the team for half of my life and pretty much all of my adult life. Every meaningful game this team has played since the 97 conference finals, he was on the team. I was too young for 94. I was 4 at the time of the cup win. There is a large chunk of fans in my demo that Hank is the best thing they've ever seen on Garden ice.
I could not miss this game even if you paid me an enormous amount of money. The ticket is invaluable to me and others. I went to David Wright's last game, I couldn't miss it. This is 10 times more important to attend. It sucks that people will not be able to go because they cannot afford to go or that there just aren't enough seats in an 18,200 seat arena. I know if this situation happened 6-7 years prior to now, I probably would be shit out of luck too.
I am sure MSG will do an amazing job with this on TV. It's never subpar. The seat in a bar or in your home will be great for the ceremony too.