New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin will miss the remainder of the 2026-27 season with a right knee injury the team announced on Saturday. Shesterkin had to be helped off the ice by his teammates and was unable to put any weight on his leg after falling awkwardly back into his net on a Capitals scoring attempt.
The 30 year old appeared to jam his skate into the post before collapsing in pain as the Rangers bench looked on with immediate concern for their franchise netminder.
“It’s awful, you know? He’s a pillar of this team. It stinks,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said following the 3-1 loss to Washington. “We’re not going to let that take the wind out of our sails,” Miller continued. “We love the way we’re playing most of the time.”
New York entered Friday’s contest on a 4 game winning streak, but will now have some serious questions between the pipes in the wake of Shesterkin’s injury. 24 year old Dylan Garand took over for the former Vezina trophy winner following the injury. However, with only 5 games of career NHL experience to his name, he’s unlikely to be able to handle the workhorse duties that Shesterkin was preparing to shoulder this season.
The Rangers had previously acquired veteran netminder Joonas Korpisalo from the Boston Bruins in an offseason trade, however he was placed on injured reserve last week with a lower-body injury of his own. The club provided an update on the Finnish goaltender’s health recently stating he would be out for at least another 4 weeks.
Spencer Martin and Callum Tung are currently the only other Rangers goaltenders signed to NHL contracts, with Martin seeming to have the inside track on receiving a call up to help hold down the fort alongside Garand.
New York is off on Saturday but will take to the ice at home on Sunday at 6pm ET against the Vancouver Canucks. At 4-2 on the season, the team currently sits atop the Metropolitan Division with 8 points, and with so much hockey left to play, it will be interesting to see whether the team’s front office elects to make a move to acquire another veteran netminder for the duration of the season.
Photo: David. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.