The New York Rangers and goalie Igor Shesterkin have agreed to a record-setting eight-year, $11.5 million average-annual-value contract, a league source confirmed to The Athletic on Friday, the largest deal for a goalie in NHL history.
The deal comes on the heels of New York trading captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks earlier in the day, which cleared $8 million of cap space off the books for 2025-26, the year Shesterkin’s extension sets in.
Drafted in the fourth round in 2014, Shesterkin debuted in 2019-20 and emerged as one of the league’s top goaltenders in 2021-22. He won the Vezina Trophy that season with a .935 save percentage and 36-13-4 record and finished third in Hart Trophy voting. Though his regular-season numbers have not reached the same heights since, he’s further established himself as one of the world’s best, especially when the games matter most. He has a .928 career save percentage in 44 playoff games and has helped New York to a pair of Eastern Conference finals.
Carey Price had the previous highest average annual value for goalies ($10.5 million). This deal also puts Shesterkin in a similar salary range to Artemi Panarin, the highest-paid player on the Rangers. Panarin has a $11,642,857 cap hit.
Shesterkin has an 8-9-1 record with a .908 save percentage to start the season. He’s below his career save percentage of .920 but has not been helped by a porous Rangers defense. He ranks seventh in the NHL with 9.83 goals saved above expected, per Evolving-Hockey.
Questions about Shesterkin’s next deal can now quiet, and the Rangers front office can look ahead to other looming decisions, including how to upgrade their 2024-25 roster after clearing cap space with the Trouba trade.
(Photo: Danny Wild / USA Today)
