It really would be terribly sad to see her retire. She has such talent and is still young.
I do blame Nikita, but the Federation handled that whole split badly and not with enough force to make them stick with it. Nikita acted like a spoiled brat and the parents let them get away with it. They were the most promising Russian ice dance pair and that was a huge mistake from which Russian ice dance has never recovered. Russia simply lost their footing and momentum on the ice dance world stage and it is no surprise at all that neither of them made it to the Olympics this time and that Russia didn't medal in the event.
At this point I don't think Lena and Nikita would pair up together again, but honestly, not sure what the Russian Fed has in mind to recoup itself, SB and ZG are simply not of the caliber of any of the teams at Wolds. In my opinion, SB were never of that caliber, sorry SB.
Arina and Maxim, the new junior world bronze medalists, these and some other promising juniors are the future for Russia. You look at S/K's last performance at a recent gala and you see how much Nikita has regressed just by skating with Victoria, its a real pity, but that was his decision, his loss. Russia needs to look forwards.