“League’s Best Goaltender” Shesterkin Saves Rangers From Senators – Trentonian

NEW YORK – Igor Shesterkin will be paid.

Whether it’s from the New York Rangers or another organization, if they somehow let him reach free agency, that much is evident, and it became even more so Friday night when the 28-year-old All-World goaltender years old, stole two points from the Ottawa Senators with 40 saves in a 2-1 win at Madison Square Garden.

“He ran out of things to say,” offered defenseman K’Andre Miller. “Just spectacular. Everyone’s sitting there on the bench just praying to make another one of those saves, and somehow they just keep making it. Obviously, we’d like to clean up our defense a little bit, but we love who we have there.”

I really do. But he really needs to shore up what has been a surprisingly lax defensive effort at times, something that has arguably been the team’s biggest strength, Igor or not.

It was the second straight start in which he faced 40 or more shots — he was bombarded with 45 in their loss to the Washington Capitals earlier this week — and he faced six high-danger chances Friday night, according to Natural Stat Trick, including Adam Gaudette’s goal with just 7:32 left in regulation that pulled Ottawa within a point.

Not all odds are created equal, of course, so Shesterkin’s response when asked if facing more rubber in a game helps him get stuck in was an understandable one.

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no,” he said. “Guys did their job in front of me, came out, not a lot of rebounds.”

Trying to bounce back from the loss of Shesterkin is something the Rangers simply cannot afford.

In the final year of a four-year contract that carries an AAV of $5.667 million, the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top point guard turned down a deal this offseason that would have kept him under wraps for eight years at an amount of 11 million dollars. – clip per year.

Although Juan Soto isn’t exactly betting on himself and finally earning a quarterback, and the goaltending market has seemingly reset with his eight-year, $66 million ($8.25 million AAV) contract Boston’s Jeremy Swayman just before the year started, the young Bruins netminder isn’t necessarily a fair comparison. Swayman is entering just his first season as the undisputed starter in Beantown, while Shesterkin has, by all accounts, handled the bulk of the workload since being called up in 2019-20.

Faced with the impossible task of filling Henrik Lundqvist’s skates, the Russian-born star took it even further, continuing a still-early streak in his sixth season with the team that would have put him on his way to seeing his number 31. sweater held up to the rafters alongside other goaltending legends for the Original Six franchise, such as Lundqvist, Mike Richter and Ed Giacomin.

Although some have criticized the reported request by Shesterkin and his camp, in relation to the projected salary cap for the 2025-2026 season, which is estimated to be around $92.5 million, getting about 12% of that for a goaltender who currently. is second in the league among goaltenders with five or more appearances, a .931 save percentage and is fresh off leading his team to the Eastern Conference Finals in May, still seems reasonable.

If the Rangers don’t, other franchises will surely line up to do so.

According to his teammates, including Alexis Lafreniere, who scored Friday’s winner and was recently signed to a long-term deal, there is no better place to have him than at the world’s most famous arena. .

“He made some massive saves for us,” he said. “Tonight was crazy, honestly. Some of the saves he made were unreal…he is the best goalkeeper in the league and we are lucky to have him. But, we don’t want to have to give him so much work.”