Rangers Extend 2022 Vezina Trophy Winner Hours After Trading Away Team Captain
New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury had a busy day on December 6th. Just hours after trading defenseman and team captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, the team announced that they signed Igor Shesterkin to a contract extension. Shesterkin is in the last year of a $5.6 million-per-year contract, which he signed in 2021. The Russian netminder has been one of the best goaltenders in the NHL since coming into the league; he has a .920 save percentage, 2.48 goals-against average, 16 shutouts, and a 143-68-18 record in his career. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes and Emily Kaplan broke the news, reporting that the 28-year-old goalie agreed to an eight-year extension worth an average annual value of $11.5-12 million. That contract will make Shesterkin the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history on a per-year basis, beating out Stanley Cup winner Sergei Bobrovsky’s $10 million per year and Carey Price’s $10.5 million per year.
Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy after a masterful 2021-22 season, leading the league in both save percentage and goals-against average. That incredible season even made him a runner-up for the Hart Trophy, as he played amazingly with a mediocre offense that ranked 16th in goals scored. However, Shesterkin is in the midst of an underwhelming season by his standards, posting career lows in save percentage and goals-against average. Those stats don’t tell the whole picture, though, as he still has 4.4 goals saved above average and 11 quality starts out of the 18 games he’s played. Adam Fox, who Team USA selected to represent the country in the Four Nations Face-Off, has been the only great defenseman on this team, and the consensus seems to be that Drury made an addition by subtraction of Trouba from the roster.
After seeing this massive extension, one can presume that Trouba was the final domino to fall for this extension to be agreed upon. Drury made headlines a week ago when NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Rangers’ GM sent out a memo to all 31 other NHL teams that they were open to a trade. He specifically named Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured member of the team, and Trouba. The two struggling skaters carried a combined $14.5 million cap hit on the team, making a Shesterkin extension nearly impossible with both of them still on the team. Luckily for Drury, the Ducks agreed to take on 100% of Trouba’s salary and sent over defenseman Urho Vaakanainen as well as a conditional fourth-round pick to the Rangers.
