2025 isn’t off to a great start for the New York Rangers, who placed goaltender Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve last night with an upper-body injury.
Shesterkin stopped 21 of 25 shots faced in his team’s 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday. However, during the contest, Panthers forward Sam Bennett was hit into Shesterkin by Rangers defender Ryan Lindgren. Although the 29 year old was down on the ice momentarily, he would ultimately remain in the game.
While it hasn’t been confirmed, it’s believed that whatever occurred on that play was likely the triggering factor for Shesterkin’s injury.
December has been a tumultuous month for both Shesterkin and the Rangers alike. New York signed the veteran goaltender to an NHL record 8 year, $92M contract extension, making him the highest paid goaltender in the history of the league.
However the team has struggled to find their footing after a President’s Trophy winning campaign in 2023-24. The team currently finds themselves in the basement of the Metropolitan Division with a 16-19-1 record through the season’s first 36 contests.
New York has dropped their last 4 contests in a row, and 8 of their last 10. That poor on ice production leaves them currently 7 points behind the Ottawa Senators for the final wildcard spot, with all but the Buffalo Sabres in front of them in the Eastern Conference. It’s also resulted in the team making some off ice moves as well, shipping blue liner Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, and forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken.
The Rangers star goaltender is having an uncharacteristically uneven season, currently sports a 3.10 GAA and .906 SV%, both of which are career worst marks. He also carries an 11-15 record, marking the first time in his career that he’s at risk of finishing a season without a winning record.
Originally drafted 118th overall by New York in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, the Russian net minder has been as solid as they come in the NHL ranks since joining the club in 2019-20. After taking over the crease from Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist, Blueshirt fans haven’t had to worry much about who was tending the twine for their club since the 2005-06 campaign. Which marks an embarrassment of riches for the franchise.
In his absence, the Rangers will turn to veteran back up Jonathan Quick to shoulder the bulk of the club’s starts. Quick is 5-4-0 with a 2.69 GAA and .907 SV% for New York this season. In a corresponding move, the team is also recalling Louis Domingue from the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack to serve as Quick’s backup.
The Rangers are next in action on January 2nd against the visiting Boston Bruins in a 7pm ET contest.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.