The New York Rangers have secured a lucrative contract extension with their star, Vezina-winning goaltender Igor “Shesty” Shesterkin. According to reports from ESPN and TSN’s Kevin Weekes on X, as well as ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, the extension spans eight years, with an annual value between $11.5 million and $12 million. This deal surpasses the 2024-25 cap hits of some of the NHL’s top and highest-paid goalies, including Montreal Canadiens legend Carey Price, whose cap hit this year is $10.5 million, and Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who has a $10 million AAV this season after playing a key role in the Panthers’ first Stanley Cup victory last year.
“Breaking news, breaking news. I’m told the Rangers have signed an eight-year extension, in principle, with Igor Shesterkin. Let’s go,” Weekes announced in a video accompanying the post.
New York Rangers Goalie Igor Shesterkin History
Shesterkin has certainly earned his hefty contract, showcasing impressive consistency in both the regular season and playoffs. He has maintained a save percentage of at least .900 in all four of his postseason appearances with the Rangers, with his peak coming in the 2022-23 playoffs at .931. The 28-year-old Moscow native has also been selected to two NHL All-Star Games and posted four shutouts in the 2023-24 regular season. His crowning achievement came in 2021-22 when he won the Vezina Trophy, the ultimate honor for a goaltender, joining Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist, who claimed the same award nine years earlier. That season, Shesterkin posted a 2.09 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage, his second-best regular-season save percentage in the NHL.
Sergei Bobrovsky, like Shesterkin, is a goalie of similar caliber, and his eight-figure cap hit shows that top-tier goaltenders are commanding significant contracts. If paying Shesterkin an additional $1.5 million or $2 million impacts the goalie market, so be it. The Rangers’ already impressive skaters should now feel even more confident knowing they have a Vezina-winning netminder like Shesterkin backing them up, which could elevate their overall performance.
