New York (AFP) – Igor Shesterkin, star goaltender for the New York Rangers, will miss the remainder of the NHL season with a right leg injury, the club announced on Saturday. The 30-year-old Russian, who won the 2022 Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, was hurt in the second period of New York’s 3-1 loss at Washington on Friday. Shesterkin suffered the injury after scrambling back into the goal crease and jamming his right skate into the goalpost, his right leg bending awkwardly under him as he fell onto the ice. Teammates helped Shesterkin off the ice, the goaltender unable to put any weight upon his right leg. The team confirmed only that Shesterkin suffered a lower-body injury.
It was a stunning early end to the campaign for Shesterkin, who was a reserve on the 2018 Winter Olympic gold medal Olympic Athletes from Russia squad. “It’s awful. He’s a pillar of this team,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said of the injury. “It stinks.” Shesterkin, in his eighth season with the Rangers, was 3-1 this season with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Shesterkin scored his first NHL goal on October 1 against Tampa Bay, firing the puck down the ice into an empty net after the Lightning had removed goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker.
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The Rangers lead the NHL Metropolitan division with a 4-2 record for eight points. Shesterkin signed an eight-year contract worth $92 million in 2024 that made him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history. The Rangers are also without backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who was placed on injured reserve last week with a lower-body injury. Dylan Garand, 24, was used between the pipes when Shesterkin exited and stopped 11 of 12 shots he faced in his fifth NHL appearance.
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