Season-Ending Injury
Igor Shesterkin will miss the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury, the New York Rangers announced Saturday. The 30-year-old goalie was hurt during a 3-1 loss at the Washington Capitals on Friday. He appeared to injure his right leg at 8:20 of the second period when his skate jammed into the goalpost while he scrambled back into his net. His leg bent awkwardly beneath him as he fell in the crease, and he needed help from Rangers defensemen Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson to leave the ice, unable to put weight on his right leg.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
Before departing, Shesterkin had stopped 13 of 14 shots. Dylan Garand replaced him and made 11 saves. This season, Shesterkin had a 3-1-0 record in five starts with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. He also scored his first NHL goal in a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 1, shooting the puck the length of the ice into an empty net at 17:26 of the third period after goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was pulled for an extra attacker.[S1]
A Pillar Lost
Rangers captain J.T. Miller described the injury as awful, calling Shesterkin a pillar of the team. Miller said the sight of Shesterkin leaving the game was a shock to everyone and stressed that the team must step up collectively, especially Garand. Defenseman Adam Fox echoed that sentiment, saying it was not a good feeling to see a teammate go down, particularly someone who is the pillar on the back end, and that the team is hoping for the best.[S1]
Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie in 2021-22 and is in his eighth season with New York after the Rangers selected him in the fourth round with the No. 118 pick of the 2014 NHL Draft. He is in the second year of an eight-year, $92 million contract signed on Dec. 6, 2024, which carries an average annual value of $11.5 million and makes him the highest-paid goalie in NHL history. Last season, he missed 13 games after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 5. He finished that season 25-19-6 with a 2.50 GAA, a .912 save percentage and one shutout in 51 games, all starts.[S1]
Goaltending Depth Tested
The Rangers are already without backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who will miss four weeks with a lower-body injury. Garand was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Oct. 1 after clearing waivers and being sent down on Sept. 28. He recorded 22 saves for his first NHL shutout in a 2-0 victory at the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 2. The 24-year-old has a 3-1-1 record with a 1.31 GAA, a .954 save percentage and one shutout in five career NHL games, four of them starts.[S1]
New York, which holds a 4-2-0 record, will host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET, with broadcasts on MSG and SNP. NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report.[S1]
