I'm Afraid I Can't Do That, Igor

The Spotlight is on Igor Shesterkin as he demands the biggest contract in Rangers' History

There's a famous scene in the cinematic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey when Dave attempts to re-enter the pod bay doors, and the ship's computer, Hal-9000, will not comply. The "eye" of the computer stares into the camera and hauntingly says, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave." It signals Hal's turn from helpful AI to sinister presence. New York Rangers' goaltender Igor Shesterkin decided to shelf contract negotiations until the end of the season to squeeze every dime he can out of the Blueshirts, but the Russian goalie finds himself in one of the worst stretches of his career after a hot start. Before the season, Kevin Weekes reported that Shesterkin's camp turned down an 8-year, 11-million-dollar extension. However, that decision sheds light on one notion: the Rangers cannot afford this deal.

"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." - Winston Churchill

Henrik Lundqvist handed over the net to Igor Shesterkin, but the Swedish netminder played far more games than the young Russian goalie

In 2013, the New York Rangers were in a similar situation with franchise goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist was coming off two seasons where he either won the Vezina trophy (Best Goaltender) or finished 2nd...when he arguably should have won again. Lundqvist would also table contract negotiations but sign a 7-year, 59.5m extension on December 4th, 2013. That contract would kick in 2014-15 and raise his salary from 6.875m AAV for the previous 5 seasons. It was a modest 24% increase for a goalie who was a finalist for the Vezina trophy 4 times. Furthermore, since entering the league in 2005, Lundqvist played more games (574) than any New York Ranger from 2005-2014 (Dan Girardi 569). The team was built around Lundqvist and when you make him keystone of your team, it's hard to remove it without thinking the entire structure would fall. Even after signing the contract, Lundqvist would lead the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994 and bring them back to the Eastern Conference Finals in the next season. Lundqvist would win one more playoff series under his 7-year deal before being bought out by the Rangers in 2020.

It's been over two years since Carey Price took off his goalie mask, and he remains the highest-paid goalie in the NHL

The next eye-opening contract of note was the mammoth deal with Montreal's Carey Price. The Vezina-trophy-winning goaltender signed the 8-year, 84-million-dollar extension on July 2nd, 2017. When the contract began the following year, the BC goaltender would play the most minutes in the NHL over the next two years. Price played 7,320 minutes and 4 seconds over the next two seasons but was only 13 games over .500 with a 62-49-12 record. That's a far cry from Price's 44-16-6 Vezina trophy season. What makes matters worse is that Price has been on long-term IR since 2022 due to injury and has played 5 games since the start of the 21-22 season. He is currently the NHL's highest-paid goaltender and has not played in two years. What does that tell you?

Since his epic 21-22 season, Shesterkin's Goals Against and Save % have regressed every year.

Lastly, compare Lundqvist to Shesterkin. It's not apples to apples. From 2006-07 to 2013-14, Henrik Lundqvist played 521 games out of the 622 possible games the goaltender could have played. That number included four seasons with 70 games played. If burnout was a concern, it wasn't to Lundqvist. He posted a 309-195-62 with a .920 Save % and a 2.26 GAA. Lundqvist played 83% of the Rangers games with consistent numbers throughout the nine seasons. Flash forward to now, where Shesterkin won a Vezina in his first full season as a starter, his save % and GAA have deteriorated every season since. To be fair, every goalie's numbers would decrease after a .935 Save % season, but Igor has never had the number go back up. His 201 games played between 21-24 account for 67% of the Rangers games played. Compared to his current teammates, Igor Shesterkin's 201 games would rank him 12th behind Braden Schneider. If a team is centered around a goaltender, it will behoove them to play him as much as possible, but as last year has proven, Igor needs to take time for "mental breaks". However, can the Rangers afford their goaltender to need "mental breaks" at 12m with a 13% cap hit?

Igor Shesterkin is hoping to be smiling soon enough with a brand new contract extension, but there is no metric that says the New York Rangers will invest wisely in him

If the excuse is that Shesterkin needs better defensemen in front of him, cutting the Rangers' cap space by asking GM Chris Drury to more than double his salary while his contemporaries are making far less will not help improve his defense. Drury has seen declining numbers from his current goaltender and watched his former teammate decline after signing a huge deal. The Rangers' GM must think with his head and not his heart on this one. Like Dave asking Hal-9000 to open the pod bay doors, Drury must tell him, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Igor."

Note: Igor Shesterkin began the 24-25 season with a dominant October 4-2-1 record with a .923 save % and a 2.43 GAA. November has seen the opposite results. 3.44 GAA, .902 Save % and a 4-5 record.