Walker Rangers' Igor Shesterkin Could Aim for Historic Contract After Dominant Playoff Run

[Rangers1994]

Just now, Pete said:

Part of me says you just ride it out next year and take another crack at it. If the team is good, then the best you can do is a sign in trade with your leverage being that you can offer an eighth year that he won't get just from going to a new team. 

 

If they suck next year, then trade him at the deadline because you're rebuilding anyway at that point. 

 

With all the other contracts that they can't get out of, I don't see how you can pay this guy 10 million and still field the competitive team. 

 

If the Rangers allow Shesterkin to play out his contract, that may leave a distracting question mark on the whole team.  It pays to lock him up before training camp.

[BrooksBurner]

10 minutes ago, Rangers1994 said:

 

If the Rangers allow Shesterkin to play out his contract, that may leave a distracting question mark on the whole team.  It pays to lock him up before training camp.

They took Lundqvist into the last year of his deal and extended him midseason.
 

This does feel different though. As good as Shesterkin is, Lundqvist was quite literally the face of the franchise. I don’t think Shesterkin has reached that same level of endearment with the fans, or is even close to it really.

[Pete]

24 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

They took Lundqvist into the last year of his deal and extended him midseason.
 

This does feel different though. As good as Shesterkin is, Lundqvist was quite literally the face of the franchise. I don’t think Shesterkin has reached that same level of endearment with the fans, or is even close to it really.

And we saw what happens when the goalie has you over a barrel and you give him what he wants. 

 

They gave Lundquist that contract, and they could never afford to field the team around him so they gutted that team to trade for Nash at a discount, and then they had to trade Gaborik to get some guts back.

 

Making the goalie your highest paid player simply never works out because you can't win if you don't score goals and a goalie can't score goals. 

 

 

Edited June 5 by Pete

[Blue Heaven]

IMO if the Rangers were to lock up Shesty it has to be under $10 million.  

If not, as @Pete said, you ride it out next season, if they don't look like a contender he can be traded for the proper pieces for another quick re-tool.  If they keep him, sign and trade would be the way to go, maybe to a team like Utah for a Clayton Keller+.  

 

I know Benoit Allaire is stepping back a bit but he seems like he will still be somewhat of a consultant, and the Rangers have never had a problem with goalies in the pipeline the last 20 years, so I'm not at all concerned about post-Shesterkin era.

[BrooksBurner]

I think 12 is a gettable ask on the open market. 7 yr max is 84 mill. Rangers have the 8th year, 11 per is 88 mill. 4 mill to the good on total value, 1 mill less per year. That’s your hometown discount. Take it or leave it.

[Rangers1994]

43 minutes ago, Pete said:

And we saw what happens when the goalie has you over a barrel and you give him what he wants. 

 

They gave Lundquist that contract, and they could never afford to field the team around him so they gutted that team to trade for Nash at a discount, and then they had to trade Gaborik to get some guts back.

 

Making the goalie your highest paid player simply never works out because you can't win if you don't score goals and a goalie can't score goals. 

 

 

 

They traded Gaborik before they resigned Henrik though.

[Rangers1994]

3 hours ago, BrooksBurner said:

I think 12 is a gettable ask on the open market. 7 yr max is 84 mill. Rangers have the 8th year, 11 per is 88 mill. 4 mill to the good on total value, 1 mill less per year. That’s your hometown discount. Take it or leave it.

 

$12M per year is too much.  Even for Igor.  If nothing gets done by Thanksgiving, they're better off trading him.

Edited June 6 by Rangers1994

[SaveByRichter35]

On 6/3/2024 at 8:57 PM, Keirik said:

Another issue with walking away really is how it will also affect the way this team plays if the core is mostly the same. They are basically in year x of knowing they can get away with a certain style since Igor will always bail them out. I have confidence that a guy like Lavy could potentially change that style, but you're talking quite a long learning curve and i'm not sure this team has the time and capacity to do so in this window. 

 

 

Fair question. Does anyone think this team even sniff sthe 3rd round if they had nearly ANY other goalie in the entire world with the roster the way it is? 

Lol absofuckinglutely not.  In the words of the great Vincent Kennedy McMahon, "No chance in hell."

[MuddyInTheMiddle]

15 hours ago, Phil said:

 

Oh, that's a factor, 100%. Said as much above just now. Rangers have a one- or two-year window to win with this group. Their primed. Worrying about year six, seven, eight, hell, even year four, is fucking irrelevant (and should be). They're flawed, but primed. There's no telling if these same players can get nearly as far when this veteran group dissolves.

 

I get it; and that absolutely has to be Drury's mentality, but it just doesn't seem conducive to long term success. We agree that working for a nutcase like Dolan, a "long term success" mindset is a luxury that no GM employed by him can really afford. 

 

Having said that, I would have to think that teams like Dallas, Boston, and Colorado that are more focused on the "retool" rather than "rebuild" model where you start prepping the next part of your core rather than pooping the bed for several seasons just seems like a so much better of a way to go. That requires smart drafting of course, but it seems like that part of the Rangers organization is finally on the right track.  

 

Seems like such a waste to throw away what will be the best years of Fox, Lafrenaire, Miller, etc... careers when the inevitable decline of Shesterkin & Zibby are severely cap-fucking their ability to be competitive.

[Bugg]

It's all the beginning of a negotiation. If either of the Florida teams or the Stars(all zero state tax, all have Russian communities) did not have a long term solution in goal, would be worried. This is the best place for Igor. He'll get serious and well-deserved coin here. But everyone knows the Lundqvist headache with the cap is going to influence things. 

[Phil]

6 minutes ago, MuddyInTheMiddle said:

 

I get it; and that absolutely has to be Drury's mentality, but it just doesn't seem conducive to long term success. We agree that working for a nutcase like Dolan, a "long term success" mindset is a luxury that no GM employed by him can really afford. 

 

Having said that, I would have to think that teams like Dallas, Boston, and Colorado that are more focused on the "retool" rather than "rebuild" model where you start prepping the next part of your core rather than pooping the bed for several seasons just seems like a so much better of a way to go. That requires smart drafting of course, but it seems like that part of the Rangers organization is finally on the right track.  

 

Seems like such a waste to throw away what will be the best years of Fox, Lafrenaire, Miller, etc... careers when the inevitable decline of Shesterkin & Zibby are severely cap-fucking their ability to be competitive.

 

I don't mean to be glib about this, but my response is this: oh well.

 

Also, we don't know for a fact that the best years of Fox, Laf, and Miller are going to be thrown away. This team routinely finds ways out of problem scenarios. Sometimes it pays through the nose to do it, but they're not just going to let potentially great players die on the vine because of money.

[Blueshirts1926]

Let Igor walk if he wants 10-12 mill a year as the Rangers have not learned anything from paying Trouba, Zib or Panarin. At the current rate of Rangers defensive roll out Igor will be shot by the time he is 31/32 while sitting on a 10-12mill - 7 year contract. Build a better defensive around a "good" goalie. Like you guys said Kuemper, Hill and possibly Skinner are cup winners, they are not Igor but they have won!

[Br4d]

2 hours ago, Phil said:

 

I don't mean to be glib about this, but my response is this: oh well.

 

Also, we don't know for a fact that the best years of Fox, Laf, and Miller are going to be thrown away. This team routinely finds ways out of problem scenarios. Sometimes it pays through the nose to do it, but they're not just going to let potentially great players die on the vine because of money.

 

The Rangers are as good at finding their way into a problem scenario as in finding their way out of one.

 

Igor + Fox to Ottawa for Tkachuk.

 

They won't turn it down out of hand.

[RangerDanger]

38 minutes ago, Br4d said:

 

The Rangers are as good at finding their way into a problem scenario as in finding their way out of one.

 

Igor + Fox to Ottawa for Tkachuk.

 

They won't turn it down out of hand.

When I 1st read this my heart immediately said "no", but my brain was like "why not? Let's hear him out". I think Fox is the only thing I balk at here, and even then only slightly.

[jsm7302]

1 hour ago, Br4d said:

 

The Rangers are as good at finding their way into a problem scenario as in finding their way out of one.

 

Igor + Fox to Ottawa for Tkachuk.

 

They won't turn it down out of hand.

In a heartbeat I do this. Can we get a pick or goalie back in the deal?

[RichieNextel305]

18 hours ago, Pete said:

And we saw what happens when the goalie has you over a barrel and you give him what he wants. 

 

They gave Lundquist that contract, and they could never afford to field the team around him so they gutted that team to trade for Nash at a discount, and then they had to trade Gaborik to get some guts back.

 

Making the goalie your highest paid player simply never works out because you can't win if you don't score goals and a goalie can't score goals. 

 

 

Lundqvist re-signed after the Gaborik trade to CBJ, and 2 years after we acquired Nash. I believe it was during the season we won the East that he re-signed.

 

Still, I see your point. I also see the point of others where if this is a season we are going to try and make a run, no one wants distractions.

 

I personally just don’t see this lingering. I don’t think he wants it to. I don’t think Drury wants it to. With the cap rising and the potential of dropping dead wood in Trouba at some point before either next season or the following one, I think the Rangers will be able to accommodate Shesterkin at around $9.5 AAV. It’s just a matter of getting him to that point and hoping this core around him can collectively come together to finish the job.

[Albatrosss]

This team was all Shesty in the playoffs.  With an average goalie i dont think this team gets a single game win vs Carolina.  Having said that, fuck Shesty if he's asking for $12M.  Even $10M is way too much.  But i'm sure Drury will fuck this up somehow

[BrooksBurner]

3 hours ago, Albatrosss said:

This team was all Shesty in the playoffs.  With an average goalie i dont think this team gets a single game win vs Carolina.  Having said that, fuck Shesty if he's asking for $12M.  Even $10M is way too much.  But i'm sure Drury will fuck this up somehow

 

Why you running this team back if you think they're just a goalie

[Pete]

1 hour ago, BrooksBurner said:

 

Why you running this team back if you think they're just a goalie

Because we already saw you can get within a couple goals of a Stanley Cup final with what they have. 

 

In a couple of years a lot of the bad contracts will be gone. They have a bunch of players with trade protection. They are limited in what they can actually do. For the next year or two they might as well just run it back and you never know what could happen. Maybe they don't have to play Florida. It's not like they couldn't have beat Dallas or Edmonton. They got a pretty easy matchup in the first round and then they got a really hard one, and then they lost to the hardest one of all. 

 

It's not like we're saying to roll the dice for a decade. Rolling the dice for a season or two more isn't really the worst thing in the world. 

[LindG1000]

Just now, Pete said:

Because we already saw you can get within a couple goals of a Stanley Cup final with what they have. 

 

In a couple of years a lot of the bad contracts will be gone. They have a bunch of players with trade protection. They are limited in what they can actually do. For the next year or two they might as well just run it back and you never know what could happen. Maybe they don't have to play Florida. It's not like they couldn't have beat Dallas or Edmonton. They got a pretty easy matchup in the first round and then they got a really hard one, and then they lost to the hardest one of all. 

 

It's not like we're saying to roll the dice for a decade. Rolling the dice for a season or two more isn't really the worst thing in the world. 

 

+1, and we shouldn't discount what another year of development for Lafreniere, Schneider, MIller, and Cuylle (you can throw Kakko and Chytil in here, I guess) can look like. Hard to remember that these guys are still real young.

[Albatrosss]

1 hour ago, BrooksBurner said:

 

Why you running this team back if you think they're just a goalie

Because with proper upgrades they could be champs. They came pretty fucking close this season. Ride Igor for another year until he prices himself out of Big Apple. 

[Br4d]

20 hours ago, MuddyInTheMiddle said:

Seems like such a waste to throw away what will be the best years of Fox, Lafrenaire, Miller, etc... careers when the inevitable decline of Shesterkin & Zibby are severely cap-fucking their ability to be competitive.

 

100%.

[Br4d]

7 hours ago, Albatrosss said:

Because with proper upgrades they could be champs. They came pretty fucking close this season. Ride Igor for another year until he prices himself out of Big Apple. 

 

You can't get and hold the guys the Rangers need for the playoffs at any TDL.  We're 6 guys in now in this quest (Vatrano, Copp, Tarasenko, Kane, Roslovic, Wennberg) and they not only have not been the right guys in the end they haven't been replaced the following season by the right guys until we get up to the TDL and then only half-assedly.

[Pete]

Those acquisitions were fine. Just because they didn't win doesn't mean they weren't the right players. 

 

Winning is hard. 

 

Vatrano and Copp were fine. Tarasenko was fine. GG screwed up Kane usage. 

[Br4d]

1 minute ago, Pete said:

Those acquisitions were fine. Just because they didn't win doesn't mean they weren't the right players. 

 

Winning is hard. 

 

Vatrano and Copp were fine. Tarasenko was fine. GG screwed up Kane usage. 

 

GG screwed up by not having self-starters who actually produced at the level their contracts promised.

 

Seriously, who played well in '21-22, '22-23 and '23-24?

 

Only Kreider contributed all 3 seasons and he's the guy on the chopping block now because it's easy.

 

GMing an NHL team is not easy.