NY Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is one of the best in the game, and there’s no doubt about it. Throughout his decorated career, Shesterkin has accumulated a 0.921 save percentage, 15 shutouts, a 2.43 GAA, and a whopping 0.644 quality starts percentage.
Last season, he continued his trend of awesomeness and finished the campaign with four shutouts, a 0.912 save percentage, a 2.58 GAA, plus a 0.582 quality starts percentage. But by Igor Shesterkin standards, these weren’t outstanding by any means, and most were among the worst numbers of his career - not mentioning that he also had a career-worst 10 ‘really bad starts.’
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It was good enough for another top-five finish for the Vezina Trophy, and yes, Shesterkin is a top-five, or better yet, a top-three goaltender. Some of his best games last season occurred during the back half of the season when the stakes were at their highest, and he helped the Blueshirts snag the Presidents’ Trophy.
But no, he wasn’t the best goaltender of the bunch as that honor instead should have gone to Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets.
Connor Hellebuyck, not Igor Shesterkin, is currently the NHL’s best goaltender
There’s no question that Connor Hellebuyck should be considered the best goaltender heading into 2024-25, as, for one, the guy won the Vezina with a slightly better than a middle-of-the-road hockey team. If it wasn’t for Hellebuyck, the Winnipeg Jets, at best, were a wild card team, if that.
But the ever-consistent Hellebuyck finished the year with five shutouts, a 0.667 GAA, a 0.921 save percentage, and his 2.39 GAA was his best since the 2017-18 season. Hey, Igor Shesterkin was good, and you can even call him the best netminder in the Eastern Conference heading into the season, but Hellebuyck was in a league of his own last year.
Now the question bodes: Can Shesterkin take back the gold and rise to be the NHL’s best goaltender again? The answer is yes, he can, but will he? Honestly, if he plays much like he did during the back half of 2023-24, he will challenge Hellebuyck and whoever else finds themselves in the top-tier of netminders for the upcoming campaign.
(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)