The hits keep on coming for the New York Rangers. News emerged on New Year’s Eve that Blueshirts goalie Igor Shesterkin is injured and has been placed on injured reserve due to an upper-body ailment. The news came on Tuesday afternoon that the Rangers’ netminder will be out. This news was broken by The Athletic’s Arthur Staple among others.
Igor Shesterkin is going on IR with an upper-body injury, per source. https://t.co/kG6CVn4tMm
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) December 31, 2024
Igor Shesterkin Injured and Placed on IR
Shesterkin has only played for the Rangers in his six-year NHL career. The 29-year-old has an 11-15-1 record with a 3.10 goals-against-average and .906 save percentage. He also has one shutout this season in what’s been a down year for the Russian netminder.
The Moscow native has a career mark of 146-74-18 record with a 2.50 goals-against-average. Shesterkin also has .919 save percentage and 16 career shutouts in between the pipes. New York originally drafted Shesterkin in the fourth round, 118th overall of the 2014 NHL Draft.
Shesterkin is an Olympic gold medalist, as he backstopped the Olympic Athletes from Russia to the top prize in the 2018 Games. He’s also won a pair of bronze medals at the IIHF World Championships in 2016 and 2017.
The goalie also won the Vezina Trophy in 2022 and has played in the All-Star Game twice. He’s also won honours in the AHL and KHL. He also recently signed a massive eight-year contract extension.
What It Means
Despite the down season, Shesterkin is still one of the best goalies in the game. This is another blow to the Rangers, who are falling well short of expectations.
Veteran Jonathan Quick is going to get the bulk of the starts while Shestrkin is on the IR. The Rangers recalled veteran goalie Louis Domingue from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.
Things are bad for the Rangers and they only seem to be getting worse. We could see some more massive changes coming to the Big Apple the further the team fades from the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. See Igor Shesterkin is a massive blow for New York.
Main photo by: James Guillory-Imagn Images
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