The New York Rangers and goalie Igor Shesterkin have agreed to a record-setting eight-year, $11.5 million average-annual-value contract, a league supply confirmed to The Athletic on Friday, the biggest deal for a goalie in NHL historical past.
The deal comes on the heels of New York buying and selling captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks earlier within the day, which cleared $8 million of cap house off the books for 2025-26, the 12 months Shesterkin’s extension units in.
Drafted within the fourth spherical in 2014, Shesterkin debuted in 2019-20 and emerged as one of many league’s prime goaltenders in 2021-22. He gained the Vezina Trophy that season with a .935 save proportion and a 36-13-4 file and completed third in Hart Trophy voting. Though his regular-season numbers haven’t reached the identical heights since, he’s additional established himself as one of many world’s greatest, particularly when the video games matter most. He has a .928 profession save proportion in 44 playoff video games and has helped New York to a pair of Eastern Conference finals.
Carey Price had the earlier highest common annual worth for goalies ($10.5 million). This deal additionally places Shesterkin in an analogous wage vary to Artemi Panarin, the highest-paid participant on the Rangers. Panarin has a $11,642,857 cap hit.
Shesterkin has an 8-9-1 file with a .908 save proportion to begin the season. He’s under his profession save proportion of .920 however has not been helped by a porous Rangers protection. He ranks seventh within the NHL with 9.83 objectives saved above anticipated, per Evolving-Hockey.
Questions about Shesterkin’s subsequent deal can now be put to relaxation, and the Rangers entrance workplace can look forward to different looming selections, together with how you can improve their 2024-25 roster after clearing cap house with the Trouba commerce.
(Photo: Danny Wild / USA Today)
