It's Gonna Be Interesting To Watch The Rangers Navigate Their Post-Shesterkin Era
Scott Taetsch. Getty Images.Welp…the goalie goal was awesome…
Just a crushing blow for the Rangers Friday night, losing arguably the league's top goalie for the season after Igor Shesterkin blew up his right leg going post-to-post. The league's mysterious methods regarding injury info won't clarify whether it's an ankle or knee but regardless, it's a kick square in the dick of a squad off to a great start in front of a netminder who began the year in vintage Vezina form. There's no need to go into exactly why Shesty's the most important piece to any legitimate success - it's obvious. What's not so obvious is exactly where the 5-2 Blueshirts go from here.
In a perfect world, the answer is right in front of our faces. 24 year-old Dylan Garand was plucked in the 4th round of the 2020 draft and could've been plucked for free by 31 other teams after the Rangers exposed him to waivers on his way back to the AHL just a couple weeks ago. He obviously cleared though and was soon called back up to replace an injured Joonas Korpisalo behind Igor. Now he's all of a sudden the #1 for the foreseeable future. Life comes at you fast…
Garand's been excellent in his (very) limited NHL experience. After an easy home W last night against Vancouver, he's got 1.43/.947 peripherals over 5 career starts/6 games. If the kid wants to put up numbers anywhere close to that over the course of 50+ starts then Shesterkin's injury could be a blessing in disguise, especially considering he counts for a mere $875k against the cap through next season. That's not to say Garand would take the job for good even when Shesty's healthy, but proving he's a capable starting goalie solidifies the position even more for NY while providing them a monster trade asset for the future. Until Korpisalo returns from injury, it's Garand's net without question - and I don't think the Rangers brass even considers a goalie acquisition until seeing how his squad responds over the next 15-20 games leading up to Thanksgiving.
Now if the Blueshirts ARE in the market for a starter, let's all just pump the brakes on Hellebuyck. Putting his NMC aside, the assets it'd cost to get him followed by the clusterfuck of having both he and Igor under contract next season is a nightmare. We're not trying to salvage a potential Cup run. Even with peak Igor all season long, realistic expectations topped off at "a puncher's chance of a first-round upset" while missing the playoffs completely was also firmly on the table. Starting 5-2 in October doesn't significantly change that. This isn't Tampa Bay losing Vasilevskiy. The Rangers would likely target a UFA veteran (i.e. Binnington, Grubauer, Gibson) if they continue their winning ways despite sub-par goaltending. If Garand turns out to be the real deal though things could get real interesting.
Right now with Igor on LTIR, the Rangers can exceed the cap by about $4M. If/when they officially put him on season-ending IR they'll have his entire cap hit (just over $11.5M). That's a lot of money to play with, and if everything goes right with Garand stepping in to shoulder the load then GM Chris Drury is gonna be armed with some serious capital for big-game hunting. Maybe that means a guy like Alex DeBrincat - a pending UFA on a sinking Red Wings ship that'd give a huge boost to the top-six on Broadway. Maybe it means revisiting a potential Nikishin trade/extension with Carolina now that the money's there & the cap is jumping $9.5M then $14M the next two seasons. Bye bye Braden Schneider, hello future stud pairing of Smits & Nikishin.
And worst case, let's say the Blueshirts collapse without their MVP - well then Drury can weaponize cap space to absorb a couple bad contracts from actual contenders to stockpile some quality futures on top of dangling Bjorkstrand, Tolvanen and even Kartye for the right price. If Kartye proves to be a 20-goal middle-six energy guy at just $1.25M this year with another RFA year to go, he's exactly the type of player Cup-chasers at the cap ceiling pay a first-rounder for at the deadline.
It's never a good thing to lose your best player. Duh. But in looking for any semblance of silver lining then I guess if it's gonna happen, let it happen early. Now we get to see what this squad really is without the best tendy in the sport covering their warts. Now we have an opportunity to see if Dylan Garand is the real deal here instead of finding that out after losing him elsewhere for nothing. Now Drury has more ammunition to either tack on to a team that stays surprisingly successful or salvage future building blocks from a lost season. I'd much rather be watching Shesterkin on his way to a second Vezina, but the fallout could end up being almost as captivating.
VIVA LA BLUESHIRTS!!!