Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesIgor Shesterkin is no longer the young kid he once was when he joined the New York Rangers’ organization all of those years ago.
At 31 years old and a little bit over a year after signing an eight-year, $92 million contract extension to remain in New York, Shesterkin finds himself in a peculiar situation.
On Jan. 16, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury issued a letter to fans outlining the team's plan to retool the roster, with their sights set on the future as opposed to the immediate present.
This sort of news certainly impacts Shesterkin, who is in the midst of his prime and now is forced to sit through a “retool” that does not have an exact timeline of how long it could last.
However, as one of the pillars of the franchise, Shesterkin knows he’ll have to step up and help guide the team over the course of this turbulent time.
“Yeah I think so,” Shesterkin said about whether he feels more responsibility to step up as a leader. “I need to show my best every day. I need to be better every day, and I need to be my best version if I want to be successful.”
What exactly is Shesterkin’s leadership approach?
“I don’t like to talk too much. I just try to show my game and try to help my teammates and help my teammates win,” Shesterkin said.
Shesterkin’s impressive play was a critical reason the Rangers were able to go 6-1-2 coming out of the Olympic break.
He’s elevated his game to the point where he’s able to keep the Rangers’ in games where they are getting heavily outshot, specifically in their 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Mar. 14 when he made 46 saves despite the Blueshirts being outshot 48-18.
The superstar goaltender has taken notice regarding the emergence of the team’s younger players, specifically when it comes to Gabe Perreault and Noah Laba.
“They have showed pretty good hockey right now,” Shesterkin said of the Rangers’ younger players. “We're so happy to have them and we hope they will develop well and they will play way better every game.”
He may be a man of few words, but Shesterkin has shown a level of buy-in to being a part of the Rangers future, and a commitment to helping the team navigate through this retool.