Walker Shesterkin Aiming for Historic Contract; Rejects 8-Year/$88M Deal ($11M AAV)

[LindG1000]

11 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

You can't, and this isn't new. This has happened in the past. Chad Kilger, years ago, got traded from Toronto to Florida and refused to report. He ended up basically just retiring and becoming a firefighter, I think. Maybe a few players get real brazen and decide to pull the same card, but I doubt it, because what Trouba did here wasn't a power trip to prevent being traded at all. It was very specifically based on timing with regard to his wife's final year of residency.

 

While I agree that it is a likely outcome, I don't think it's quite a guarantee just yet. He successfully scared off - for now - 16 teams that he could have been traded to already. Just because the residency will be over doesn't necessarily mean he will acquiesce to a deal or that he won't be just as successful in fending off 19 teams next year. 

 

It is ideal. It is likely necessary. But it can be rather easily scuttled with some smart decisions on the 12 teams he cannot be dealt to.

[Pete]

39 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Agreed. Depending on the team, you can find a hockey trade, 100%. When they were talking with Detroit, for example, I said just take back Jeff Petry and buy out the final year of his deal.

 

If it were Buffalo, Connor Clifton has one more year at like $3.3 million with no trade protection. Same idea. Trouba for Clifton, one-for-one, then buy out the final year. Two years at $1.1 million buyout penalty. Easy.

 

If it's Detroit again, Chiarot (4.75x1 remaining — 2.833x2 buyout) or Holl (3.4x1 — 2.26x2 buyout) qualify for the same scenario.

He had Detroit on his no move list. I don't think there's any reason to put them on there unless he really didn't want to go, especially because your agent was calling around saying you wouldn't report. 

 

Makes me feel like they just don't want to deal with Yzerman. 

[Phil]

Right, but that list wasn't due for a few more days when he was asked to submit (early). It could be that he added Detroit to kill the ability for that deal to go through. The other thing is, we don't know for certain that it was entirely about not wanting to go there, or be traded at all. All the reporting made heavy note of the fact that he did this to support his wife, who is in the final year of her residency. All of this could change at the end of this season.

[Br4d]

41 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

 

While I agree that it is a likely outcome, I don't think it's quite a guarantee just yet. He successfully scared off - for now - 16 teams that he could have been traded to already. Just because the residency will be over doesn't necessarily mean he will acquiesce to a deal or that he won't be just as successful in fending off 19 teams next year. 

 

It is ideal. It is likely necessary. But it can be rather easily scuttled with some smart decisions on the 12 teams he cannot be dealt to.

 

If the Rangers play hardball with Trouba he has to go.  That would be true this year also but apparently the Rangers aren't willing to risk the fractures that might happen in the locker room if they followed through.

[Keirik]

2 hours ago, LindG1000 said:

 

While I agree that it is a likely outcome, I don't think it's quite a guarantee just yet. He successfully scared off - for now - 16 teams that he could have been traded to already. Just because the residency will be over doesn't necessarily mean he will acquiesce to a deal or that he won't be just as successful in fending off 19 teams next year. 

 

It is ideal. It is likely necessary. But it can be rather easily scuttled with some smart decisions on the 12 teams he cannot be dealt to.

In fairness, his play scared most of those teams off anyway 

[RichieNextel305]

https://nypost.com/2024/09/23/sports/igor-shesterkins-rangers-contract-talks-will-stop-by-season-opener/
 

Igor won’t negotiate during season. Deadline for deal is Opening Night in Pittsburgh on October 9th.

Edited September 24 by RichieNextel305

[BreakawayMachine]

Let him walk. Seriously fuck any goalie making $12+ million per year and handcuffing us.  Start the rebuild around Laf, Fox, Schneider, Miller, Perreault, Othman, Sykora and Mancini and fire everyone else into the sun for draft picks and prospects. This team isnt winning.

[Sharpshooter]

No matter what happens, I hope this doesn't have a negative affect on him during the season. If I recall, contract negotiations weighed heavily on Lundqvist, and he kind of struggled until a deal was done. I wouldn't mind $12 million if it was maybe a shorter term deal, like five years or something. But, that's not happening. lol He's definitely going to want a max deal, both term and dollars.

[RichieNextel305]

 

[Ozzy]

2 hours ago, BreakawayMachine said:

Let him walk. Seriously fuck any goalie making $12+ million per year and handcuffing us.  Start the rebuild around Laf, Fox, Schneider, Miller, Perreault, Othman, Sykora and Mancini and fire everyone else into the sun for draft picks and prospects. This team isnt winning.

 

I'm up for moving on from him as well, my man.  But I'm thinking we'd be in a lot better shape by just having Trouba and Shesty off the payroll for the future.  I'm not up for having a $12 million goalie either, but this team can win with what it has right now.

 

Eventually the changing of the guard will go down, but the Panarin's CK's and Mika's are gonna be here for at least the next 2 seasons I believe.  I dod like the look of that core you posted though! 

[Phil]

11 minutes ago, RichieNextel305 said:

 

 

Vince was on Blueshirts Breakaway this morning and noted that the understanding is this will fall "somewhere in the 11s."

[Pete]

Just now, Phil said:

 

Vince was on Blueshirts Breakaway this morning and noted that the understanding is this will fall "somewhere in the 11s."

[Ozzy]

So long Igor! 

[Phil]

Yeah, I hate every second of this.

[Pete]

They're basically offloading Trouba to pay Shesty, but I don't see anyone else is going to get paid.

 

They know the plan better than we do, so I guess we just wait. 

 

I'm more concerned that if he runs into a rough patch and sees his paycheck getting squeezed, that it just gets worse and worse. 

 

Edited September 24 by Pete

[Br4d]

What does Igor's NTC look like?

 

We might be better off trading him now for top value (1st, NHL player, good prospect) and letting Quick play 42 games next season while Garand and/or Domingues split the rest over the course of the season.

 

If Garand is good we don't need a goalie next off-season.  If not we go get somebody more in the $6M range in a trade or free agency.

[Phil]

3 minutes ago, Br4d said:

What does Igor's NTC look like?

 

We might be better off trading him now for top value (1st, NHL player, good prospect) and letting Quick play 42 games next season while Garand and/or Domingues split the rest over the course of the season.

 

If Garand is good we don't need a goalie next off-season.  If not we go get somebody more in the $6M range in a trade or free agency.

 

Modified. He submits a ten-team no-trade list.

 

https://capwages.com/players/igor-shesterkin

[Sharpshooter]

I think it gets done here at 11.5 million for seven or eight years. This is going to be a max deal in years and money, not one to compensate the other.

[BrooksBurner]

Price got 10.5M a year, which was 13.2% of the cap for year 1 of his contract. 13.2% of the $92M cap in 25-26 would be $12.15M. I think he would fetch that on the open market, and so any discount is probably going to be minimal.

 

I'll guess a little higher than @Sharpshooter. I'll guess 95 over 8, 11.875 per.

[RichieNextel305]

I’m going to assume he wants $12M AAV. Rangers would prefer $10.5M-$11M AAV. Brooks speculated he may want the highest AAV in NYR history, which would be Panarin at $11.6M AAV.

 

I’m gonna guess $11.65M AAV over 8 years. So 8 years and $93.2 Million. That would take up 11 percent of the reported $92 Million cap for next year.

 

Have to assume Trouba is gone regardless somehow. And that the Rangers will likely look to move on from Chytil and his injury history, provided what happens this year. That would clear $12.2 Million. Obviously, all of this is without factoring in any potential salary coming back. So just rough estimates, of course.

 

But Drury is going to have to get creative here. It’s likely going to have to be Trouba, Chytil and my guess would probably be one other who would also need to be moved. Maybe Kreider? Clearing those 3 gives you $18.9M in cap room. If Igor takes up $11.6, Lafreniere comes in at $7.5M, that is in at $19.5M. So you’re up $600k and that’s not even factoring in re-signing Miller, needing to replace Lindgren, etc.

 

Enjoy it, folks. This truly is going to likely be the last year we have this core, whether they win the fucking Stanley Cup or go winless and finish 0-82 and we all need to go in for psychiatric exams courtesy of Dr. Trouba.

 

Edited September 25 by RichieNextel305

[Sharpshooter]

That would suck if they had to move on from Chytil assuming he stays healthy and has a good year. It would be a 'go figure' kind of moment. lol Lindgren is definitely gone and who knows who else. Next offseason could be a big shakeup if Igor is re-signed. Drury is going to have to get creative. This whole Trouba thing was Gorton's fuck up that he has to tip-toe around. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

[Pete]

8 hours ago, RichieNextel305 said:

I’m going to assume he wants $12M AAV. Rangers would prefer $10.5M-$11M AAV. Brooks speculated he may want the highest AAV in NYR history, which would be Panarin at $11.6M AAV.

 

I’m gonna guess $11.65M AAV over 8 years. So 8 years and $93.2 Million. That would take up 11 percent of the reported $92 Million cap for next year.

 

Have to assume Trouba is gone regardless somehow. And that the Rangers will likely look to move on from Chytil and his injury history, provided what happens this year. That would clear $12.2 Million. Obviously, all of this is without factoring in any potential salary coming back. So just rough estimates, of course.

 

But Drury is going to have to get creative here. It’s likely going to have to be Trouba, Chytil and my guess would probably be one other who would also need to be moved. Maybe Kreider? Clearing those 3 gives you $18.9M in cap room. If Igor takes up $11.6, Lafreniere comes in at $7.5M, that is in at $19.5M. So you’re up $600k and that’s not even factoring in re-signing Miller, needing to replace Lindgren, etc.

 

Enjoy it, folks. This truly is going to likely be the last year we have this core, whether they win the fucking Stanley Cup or go winless and finish 0-82 and we all need to go in for psychiatric exams courtesy of Dr. Trouba.

 

I don't necessarily agree that the org wants to move on from Chytil, at all actually. But who knows.

 

That said, the thing about moving those players is that 2 of them are "damaged goods" either through injury or sucking so you are not moving them and taking no money back at all. The only player you can sell for a package of futures is Kreider.

[Mdk154]

They r not going to let Igor walk over a million per year. When there is no certainty to replace him especially. Not like there is some young gun waiting in the wings. They will find the extra million from someone else.

[Pete]

Quote

The Rangers, of course, can also point to Hellebuyck’s extension from 13 months ago and argue that the two-time Vezina Trophy winner signed for $8.5 million a year (Shesterkin has won the Vezina once).

 

To which Shesterkin’s camp can respond by saying it’s about the percentage of the cap and the cap is now going up every year. And, well, they could also say they think Hellebuyck made a mistake signing that contract.

 

In Hellebuyck’s defense, first of all, that’s still a lot of money over seven years, but also let’s point out that when it appeared as though the Winnipeg Jets might be forced to trade their star goalie because it didn’t look at first early in that 2023 offseason like they would be able to sign him, Hellebuyck’s camp got an unofficial sense of the market and realized, I think to their surprise, that no one was ready to step up and drop a mega-contract on them. So they stayed put.

 

Quote

Regardless of how this plays out, it will be fascinating to watch, in part because of what it will say about teams allocating cap dollars to the goalie position.

 

Some of that is tied to the fact that No. 1 goalies don’t play as many games as they used to. Sports science has led to more crease sharing. But there’s also a genuine belief in some NHL front offices that the talent gap has shrunk among goalies.

 

This quote from a few weeks ago from Blues general manager Doug Armstrong comes to mind. For context, as Canada’s Olympic GM, he was responding to a question about the team’s concerns in net. But his response can easily be used to describe what’s happened across the board financially to goalies over the past few years.

“My view of goaltending is that the floor is closer to the ceiling now and closer than ever before,” Armstrong said of NHL goaltending. “That’s why you don’t see a generational goalie that’s at the top of the league like Brodeur was, or Belfour, or Patrick, or Hasek for a decade. You see players come in and go out every couple of years. That’s just because I think the floor is so high.”

 

There are just as many reasons NOT to sign him for a massive number as there are reasons to sign him. 

[Phil]

Quote

But it’s my information, also previously reported, that Shesterkin is also aiming to become the highest paid player on the Rangers and in franchise history. That would mean exceeding Artemi Panarin’s annual $11,642,857 on the wildly mutually beneficial contract that has two years to go. 

 

https://nypost.com/2024/09/24/sports/igor-shesterkins-deadline-for-a-record-deal-is-nothing-to-fret-over/