The New York Rangers have made a large investment in their goaltending situation — the first since moving on from Henrik Lundqvist. Rangers general manager Chris Drury announced on Monday that the team has agreed to a four-year contract with goaltender Igor Shesterkin.
While the terms weren’t disclosed in the announcement, the New York Post is reporting that Shesterkin’s new contract will have a $5.6 million average-annual-value.
Shesterkin is coming off of a season in which he put together a 16-14-3 record to go along with a 2.62 goals-against-average and a .916 save percentage in 35 games. The 25-year old goalie has appeared in 47 career NHL games during the past two seasons with the Rangers.
The Russian netminder was originally selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Draft. With this new deal, Shesterkin is cemented as the team’s netminder following the Henrik Lundqvist era.
Shesterkin and fellow goalie Alexandar Georgiev will likely serve as the team’s two netminders for the 2021-22 season. Georgiev had an 8-7-2 record and a 2.71 goals-against-average last season as he shared the goaltending duties with Shesterkin.
The Rangers underwent a regime change in the offseason, as head coach David Quinn was fired and replaced by former Vegas Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant. In addition, the team shook up the front office by firing John Davidson and Jeff Gorton and tabbed Drury as the president and general manager.
