On Sunday, October 6, the Boston Bruins and their goaltender Jeremy Swayman ended their contract stalemate when the team signed him to an 8-year, $66 million deal.
For a restricted free agent, the talks between Swayman, 25, and the Bruins were contentious. A lot was said last week and it looked like things would continue to go south until the two sides came to their senses and worked out a deal.
Based on how Bruins’ backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo played in his team’s 6-4 opening night loss to the Florida Panthers (six goals allowed on 35 shots), the team must be thanking their lucky stars that they were able to get a deal done. Sure, Swayman still has a lot to prove, but there is no doubt that he is already a better goaltender than Korpisalo.
As of this writing (Wednesday, October 9), the New York Rangers are going through a somewhat similar situation with their own goaltender, Igor Shesterkin. After this season, Shesterkin, 28, becomes an unrestricted free agent (UFA) and should he hit the market, there will be a lot of teams clamoring for his services.
It appears that at least for right now, the team and their current franchise goaltender are not close to signing a deal. It was reported on Tuesday, October 8 by ESPN NHL analyst Kevin Weekes that Shesterkin and his agent, Maxim Moliver, rejected the Rangers offer of an 8-year, $88 million extension that would have made him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history.
There are obviously a lot of worried and angry Rangers fans after hearing this news. On one end, you have fans that do not want to see him leave because of how well he has played with their favorite team while on the other end, you have fans that are angry and telling him to walk because he is being greedy.
At this point, there is no reason to really be angry at Shesterkin. It is Shesterkin’s agent that is going after the bag of dough he believes he client deserves while Shesterkin is focused on doing everything he can to win the Rangers a Cup for the first time in 31 years.
“It’s work for my agent,” Shesterkin said of his contract negotiations at the start of training camp. “I just want to be focused on my game and on practice every day.”
Secondly, after what Swayman got in his deal, it is easy to see why Moliver rejected this offer from the Blueshirts and wants to establish his client as the best in the business. The difference between Swayman and Shesterkin is massive.
Shesterkin, besides winning the Stanley Cup, does not have a lot to prove to the franchise and their fans. Since joining the Blueshirts in the 2019-20 season, he has accomplished the following:
Regular season
- 135 career wins
- 2.43 career goals-against average
- .921 career save percentage
- 15 career shutouts
- 2022 Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender when he was 36-13-0-4 with a 2.07 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage, and six shutouts
- 2022 finalist for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player
- NHL First All-Star Team (2022)
- Played in the NHL All-Star Game (2023 and 2024)
Stanley Cup Playoffs
- Took the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 and 2024.
- Won two Game 7’s in 2022 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes, respectively.
- 2.41 career goals-against average
- .928 career save percentage
When you look at the above, it is easy to believe that Rangers general manager Chris Drury is going to give in and reward Shesterkin with an extremely lucrative deal. Sure, lesser goaltenders have won Cups (Matt Murray, Darcy Kuemper, Braden Holtby, and Adin Hill), but with Shesterkin between the pipes, anything is possible.
Yes, there will certainly be a lot of sweating going on the longer this goes unresolved, but in the end, the two sides will come to an agreement and the Rangers will be set in goal for the foreseeable future.
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