Welcome back in everyone! We have a massive signing to talk about here and just what it means for this player, the club, and others around the league going forward. It is the richest contract ever signed by a goaltender in NHL history and sets the foundation for the New York Rangers for the better part of a decade.

Igor Shesterkin – G – NY Rangers – 29 years old

Contract (Extension): $92M – $11.5M AAV – Eight Years Remaining – NMC

Igor Shesterkin has signed his extension with the New York Rangers, and he is now the highest paid netminder in the league. I was skeptical that this deal was going to get done in season just reading the breadcrumbs over the summer, but I like the number that was agreed upon here. The deal – eight years, $92M, $11.5M AAV. I kind of thought that this deal might go up to $12M per year but what's $500K between friends, right? This is like negotiating on a home where the two sides are just $100 dollars apart…which in the US housing market right now would be "as-is”, take it or leave it.     

First off for the Rangers, I like that this deal got done now without this lingering on any longer. They have Shesterkin, now in his age-28 season, in net for the long haul and while maybe the last year of this deal might not age well on the ice, for what the Rangers now have in net is elite goaltending that has been provided to them for the past few seasons already. I really don't have much else here; it seemed like a no-brainer to sign one of the, if not the, premier goaltender in the NHL. Right now, Shesterkin is top-10 in GSAA, GSAx, and that goes with starting on a club that is second in expected goals against when he's in net, only behind Juuse Saros in Nashville.

As a club, they still have cap space to work with this season, with added relief from moving the Jacob Trouba contract to Anaheim. I'm a bit surprised here that New York hasn't tried to make a move earlier for a need (defensemen, cough), and would be shocked if they kept that money on the table without going out and getting an additional asset. This is the exact same club (minus Trouba, obviously) that played in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, so I can't see how the product that's currently on the ice doesn't improve with adding additional help on the blue line in front of Shesterkin. The ideal way for this contract to work for the Rangers (outside of winning a Cup), to me would be the Winnipeg model right now. Connor Hellebuyck's contact might be the best deal in hockey right now, and if the cap does rise and New York is smart here, they could have a team built in front of Shesterkin that can be in a playoff spot each and every season.

For goaltenders in general, I like to think that when one of them signs a big ticket, it raises all boats so-to-speak. But I was thinking about this earlier and can't see just who out there in the NHL right now is going to land a contract like Shesterkin just signed. Even further than that, there are only two active goaltenders that going into next season have an AAV of above $10M. That's Shesterkin, and Sergei Bobrovsky, with the unactive player on that list being Carey Price with his deal going back all the way to 2017 and expiring in 2026. So, who comes next? I went down the list here, and all the goaltenders that could sign a ticket like Shesterkin just did are either under contract now or have an extension that starts next season. I'd be curious to see what Thatcher Demko gets offered to him when he is up in 2026, but I can't see – given his injury history – that he gets north of $10M. The only names I could even come up with are younger goaltenders that may be special down the line and that was Lukas Dostal and Dustin Wolf. Still, there's a long way to go for both of them to even get to that point, and it seems like the going rate now for, I'll go excellent, staring goaltending is in the $8M – $8.25M range.
 

For fantasy, I mean, who wouldn't want Igor Shesterkin on their team? Depending on how your league scores goaltending, Shesterkin is either a first or second round pick. I'd imagine that this is most certainly the case for league out there that start two goaltenders instead of one. You know a player is a first rounder when he is rostered at 100% on Yahoo and Fantrax, and 99% on ESPN. Someone find me the one league on ESPN where he's not rostered, would love to join in if you have room!

*Salary Cap data from PuckPedia.com  

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