A look at Igor Shesterkin and the potential record-breaking contract with the New York Rangers.

It may sound like hyperbole, but the 2023-24 season has set New York Rangers’ goalie Igor Shesterkin up for a major payday. Shesterkin, who had some ups and downs during the regular season, showed his prowess in net during the postseason aiding the club in their trip to the Eastern Conference Final.

Shesterkin posted a 10-6 record with a .927 save percentage during the playoffs, and was especially in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Florida Panthers where he allowed two or fewer goals in four of the six games. His performance was so great, he is widely considered the best goalie in the NHL heading into the 2024-25 season. Heading into the last year of his contract, the question remains what will his next deal look like?

Shesterkin’s current deal

His current contract pays him a $5.6M average annual value (AAV), a value which is not befitting of the NHL’s best goaltender. 

He signed the deal back in August of 2021, a four-year deal that paid him a total of $22.67M. Shesterkin has well outperformed the value of that current deal, leading all goalies in wins since the start of the 2021-22 season. He also has the second best save percentage in that span at .921 among netminders to appear in at least 100 games.

And Shesterkin has shown his dominance at the most important time of the year. Since the beginning of 2021-22, Shesterkin is tied for second in playoff wins (23) with Jake Oettinger. It was a massive ask to overtake the Rangers’ net following the 15 years of service by franchise-great Henrik Lundqvist, but Shesterkin has been up for the task. Now it’s time for “the Czar”, as he’s so affectionately known, to be paid as such.

A potential record-setting deal

Sergei Bobrovsky, who occupied the opposite net for the Panthers during the Conference Finals, currently has the highest AAV among active goaltenders at $10M. This excludes Carey Price’s $10.5M cap hit, but it’s unlikely he ever plays another game.

Shesterkin, who is entering his UFA season six years after Sergei Bobrovsky signed his seven year contract with the Panthers, will almost certainly surpass Bobrovsky in terms of cap hit. For those wondering, Andrei Vasilevskiy has a $9.5M AAV with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The difference is, those two goaltenders both signed their contracts in 2019.

It is safe to assume Shesterkin will become the highest paid netminder in the league, but where could he rank in terms of overall players? Auston Matthews, who posted 69 goals during the 2023-24 season, is currently the league’s highest paid player with a $13.25M cap hit. Could Shesterkin rival that? What about Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid, who make $12.6M and $12.5M AAV, respectively? Is that more within the realm of possibility? 

Becoming the league’s highest compensated player may be a stretch, but a deal north of $12M per season could certainly be in the cards. It is almost a guarantee that Shesterkin overtakes Artemi Panarin’s team high $11.64M cap hit.

What about term? Well it’s hard to fathom anything other than a max eight year deal for Shesterkin. So some quick math means that an eight year contract paying what is assumed to be a $12M AAV puts Shesterkin at $96M, making him the highest paid goaltender in the league.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed. But whenever Shesterkin decides to put pen to paper on his next contract, he will surely be one of the best compensated players in the NHL.