Did Igor Shesterkin's Performance Against Buffalo Affect the Looming Contract Renewal?

New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin will need a new deal at the end of this season, and he has been widely publicized as the potentially highest-paid goaltender in NHL history. But, after submitting an early bid to the Vezina Trophy vote in his first nine starts of the year, he finally hit a brick wall against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.

Let's look at this with a bit of a wider scope.

In only 33 minutes of work, Shesterkin was pulled from the net after allowing the opposition to score five goals on him in only 12 shots. For the 28-year-old, that is the first time he has allowed five goals in a match, and been pulled, since a similar start against Nashville last season, on October 14, 2023, in which he allowed four goals on 18 shots.

But how does this terrible outing hurt his chances of being the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history? Or, furthermore, does this one bad egg give the Rangers another look at what they should do with their limited amount of cash once the 2024-25 season comes to a close?

A Pebble Against Bulletproof Glass

This is the best analogy it seems one can come up with in regards to the heart-wrenching 6-1 loss to Buffalo the other night But does it have any kind of significance to the legacy of Shesterkin?

If you were to take a pebble and hurl it at bulletproof glass, that is the kind of impact it would have when talking about if one bad start against a middle-of-the-road NHL team does for Shesterkin's next deal.

When this season comes to an end, or even sometime before it is over to silence the noise surrounding this whole drama-filled storyline, Shesterkin will get his record-setting deal. The Rangers have hit the lottery for the third time by having franchise goaltenders that were home-grown. They were able to get the job done with Mike Richter, and we all know how tragic it was for Henrik Lundqvist, now we watch the story unfold once more with Shesterkin.

If you look at the current record-holder, Montreal Canadiens Goaltender Carey Price, and the 8-year, $10.5 million AAV back in 2017, he was 36-20-5 in the season before signing that monster deal. On two occasions, Price got shell-shocked by allowing seven goals against the Minnesota Wild on January 12, 2017, and then was pulled from a game in which he allowed four goals on 18 shots against the San Jose Sharks on December 16, 2016.

The Rangers can look at Shesterkin the same way that the Canadiens did Price almost a decade ago.

It all comes down to whether the Rangers can retain him, which should be a no-brainer, and who else they can keep to keep this team in the playoff hunt every year. They have locked up Alexis Lafreniere to a seven-year deal worth an average of $7.45 million a year. But, they also have defenseman K'Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren to attest to. Oh and by the way, Will Cuylle has been playing his heart out every night and he is up for a new deal as well.

This recent loss to Shesterkin means nothing to his next contract, and should not have the Rangers second-guessing their future. For hopefully many more years to come, we will be shouting "I-GOR!" from our seats, couches, and feet, and it will be worth every single penny.