New York Rangers: Five untouchable assets the team possesses
![ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 21, 2017: SKA St Petersburg’s goaltender Igor Shestyorkin in their 2017/18 KHL Regular Season ice hockey match against HC Jokerit Helsinki at the Ledovy Dvorets [Ice Palace] arena. HC SKA St Petersburg won the game 4-3 in extra time. Alexander Demianchuk/TASS (Photo by Alexander Demianchuk\TASS via Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F3023e804c6c2950c8003f1acf03651d81884252ee447867fe485f2f207f80dd7.jpg "ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – OCTOBER 21, 2017: SKA St Petersburg’s goaltender Igor Shestyorkin in their 2017/18 KHL Regular Season ice hockey match against HC Jokerit Helsinki at the Ledovy Dvorets [Ice Palace] arena. HC SKA St Petersburg won the game 4-3 in extra time. Alexander Demianchuk/TASS (Photo by Alexander Demianchuk\TASS via Getty Images)")
Igor Shestyorkin
Elite goaltending has spoiled the Rangers in constructing a roster. Henrik Lundqvist has been an elite goaltender most of his time with the Franchise. But, at 35 years old the veteran goaltender is entering the twilight of his career. The team has Lundqvist under contract until the end of the 2021 season.
So, the 21-year-old Shestyorkin has ample time to continue his growth before a move to North America. He is under contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL until 2019 at which point he would be allowed to come over from Russia.
Goalie prospects develop at a different rate than skaters do. For perspective, Henrik Lundqvist came over from the Swedish Elite League for his age 23 season.
Shestyorkin posted 27 wins in 39 games with a .937 save percentage and a 1.64 goals against average. Although the talent level in the KHL isn’t to the level of the NHL, these are numbers of pure domination in a highly competitive league.
The Rangers also boast one of the best goaltending coaches in the entire league. Benoit Allaire’s work with Antti Raanta and Cam Talbot got both starting jobs with other franchises. A raw goaltending prospect with NHL starter potential will be in good hands in New York.
Being that getting fair market value for a goaltender is pretty much impossible, there is pretty much no situation where it would be okay to trade Shestyorkin.