Just about everyone in hockey knew that New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin would come into this season with his game face on.
Shesterkin, 28, is due to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after this season. He already turned down an eight-year, $88 million offer from the team’s management as he is looking to be not only the highest-paid goaltender in the NHL, but also reset the financial market for all goaltenders.
It would appear that after his first four games between the pipes, he is well on his way to more than earning a record-breaking contract. As of this writing (Sunday night, October 20), Shesterkin is 3-0-1 with a 1.93 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage, and one shutout.
Here is where Shesterkin’s current statistics rank in terms of the other goaltenders in the league (As of Sunday night, October 20):
Three wins (tied for fourth in the league)
1.97 goals-against average (tenth in the league)
.935 save percentage (13th in the league)
116 saves (seventh in the league)
243:38 minutes (fifth in the league)
There are a few reasons why Shesterkin is off to a fast start. For starters, he is one motivated goaltender right now.
He wants to show the rest of the league that he is the best goaltender in the world. He wants to show everyone why he is worth all the big bucks that the Rangers are more than likely going to throw at him.
In fact, after Saturday night’s 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, a game in which Shesterkin stopped 34 of 35 shots, opposing goaltender Anthony Stolarz told Luke Fox of Rogers Sportsnet after the game that Shesterkin’s performance shows why he is going to be paid a lot of dough.
“You can see why he’s going to be the highest-paid goalie in the league,” Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz offered post-game, after having to go toe-to-toe with the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner. “He came up big for them tonight.”
Another reason why Shesterkin is playing so well is because he is playing with a ton of confidence. He carried his strong play from last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs into this season and is coming up with the big saves, making second and third stops when he has to, not getting caught out of position, and being the team’s best player on a nightly basis.
After his team’s loss to the Blueshirts, Leafs franchise player and team captain Auston Matthews had nothing but praise for Shesterkin as he told Sonny Sachdeva that he knows what he is doing out there.
“He’s just a really good goalie,” Matthews said of the Rangers’ star tender from the locker room after the night had wound to a close, a nail-biter spun into a 4-1 New York win courtesy of a couple of late empty-netters. “Very composed. He’s not the biggest guy but he’s very athletic, and he seems to come up with big saves when his team needs it.”
Lastly, Shesterkin is also getting some solid goal support from the team in front of him. In the four games that Shesterkin has started this season, the Blueshirts have scored 19 goals.
The good news for the Rangers is that the last time Shesterkin got off to this kind of start, which was in the 2021-22 season, he took his team to within two wins of getting to the Stanley Cup Final, and he ended up winning the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender in the regular season. Hopefully, this season will result in Shesterkin and his mates winning a more important trophy come June.
