After all the noise, after all the disruption centering around Jacob Trouba, the week will end with an affirmative exclamation point.
The Rangers have made a commitment to the future.
The Rangers have made a commitment to the present.
The Rangers have made a commitment to Igor Shesterkin.
And Shesterkin has made a commitment to the Rangers.
The Post has learned the Blueshirts and their franchise goaltender have reached an agreement on an eight-year, $92 million contract extension that will kick in next season under which Shesterkin will earn an annual average value of $11.5 million, a record for an NHL goaltender.
The Rangers have yet to make the signing official, so when asked about it after the team’s 4-2 win over the Penguins, Shesterkin opted not to comment.
“Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow,” No. 31 said jokingly.
The signing at that number represents a coup for the Rangers and GM Chris Drury in an environment in which speculation has run rampant on whether the Blueshirts a) might trade Shesterkin; or, b) be able to keep him off the free-agent market next July.
The signing represents the most positive news of a season in which the team has been buffeted by outside noise while enmeshed in internal turmoil, having lost six of seven before Friday night’s victory at the Garden.
This is a statement that Drury and the hierarchy are not turning their backs on this season or the near future and indeed believe in this team.
One issue down.
Montreal’s Carey Price had been the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history under an eight-year, $84 million deal with annual average salary of $10.5 million that commenced in 2018. Price has been on long-term injured reserve because of knee issues since the end of the 2021-22 season.
If the 2025-26 cap is set at the projected $92.4 million, Shesterkin’s contract will account for 12.44 percent of the total. Artemi Panarin, who remains the highest-paid player in franchise history at $11,642,857 per, accounted for 14.29 percent of the cap in his first year in New York. When Henrik Lundqvist’s final contract kicked in in 2014-15, the King accounted for 12.32 percent of the cap while earning $8.5 million per.
This was not an exercise in greed from Shesterkin, represented by Rick Komarow and Maxim Moliver. Not in the least. After securing a record second contract for a goaltender four years ago under which the netminder is earning an AAV of $5,666,667, it was a matter of finding the number that would keep the team’s most valuable player in New York.
The native of Moscow, who will turn 29 on Dec. 30, rejected an eight-year, $88 million offer on the eve of the opener that put him on track to test the July 1 unrestricted free-agent market. But though the netminder’s camp indicated there would be no further talks until the season’s end, Drury reached out early this week and reopened negotiations that came to fruition Friday.
Shesterkin, whose early brilliance carried the Blueshirts to 5-0-1 and 12-4-1 getaways, went 6-2-1 with a 2.22 GAA and .933 save percentage through Nov. 3. But he has understandably buckled while facing a succession of odd-man rushes and high-danger chances created by repeated breakdowns at both ends of the ice.
Perhaps ironically, the 2022 Vezina winner is in the midst of a career-high five-game losing streak. He stands 8-9-1 with a 3.05 GAA and .908 save percentage, though he has been the Rangers’ best player through this challenging first quarter.
The Blueshirts selected the Russian in the fourth round (114th overall) of the 2014 draft out of Moscow Spartak Jr. Shesterkin graduated to St. Petersburg of the KHL before coming to North America for the 2019-20 season.
Shesterkin was promoted to the Rangers on Jan. 6, 2020, after a half-season with the AHL Wolf Pack and displaced Lundqvist from the No. 1 job in a three-goalie scenario that included Alex Georgiev under then-head coach David Quinn.
No. 31 then commanded the No. 1 job the following 56-game season after Lundqvist had been bought out with Georgiev serving as the backup. A year later, Shesterkin posted a .935 save percentage that ranks as the third-best in NHL history behind Tim Thomas’ .938 in 2010-11 and Dominik Hasek’s .937 in 1998-99 (50-game minimum) to secure the Vezina before leading the Rangers to the conference final.
Indeed, Shesterkin has been the Blueshirts’ best player in each of the past three playoff seasons, recording a .928 save percentage and a 2.39 GAA while taking his team to the final four twice. He is generally recognized as the NHL’s best goaltender.
That is why next year he will become the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history.
