IGOR-Y DETAILS
Ex-goalie Weekes:Don't count out Shesterkin despite career-worst form
When the All-Stars assemble in Toronto this week, Igor Shesterkin will attend again — representing the Rangers for a second consecutive year — while engulfed in a career-worst stretch amid a careerworst season that hasn’t featured many answers.
Shesterkin allowed four goals on 19 shots in his last start before the break, causing his save percentage to dip to .899 and his goals against average to rise to 2.86. For as poorly as Shesterkin played in late November and early December, when he allowed at least four goals in five of eight starts, his 10 appearances since Jan. 2 have resulted in a lower save percentage (.863).
In some cases, pucks have bounced into the Rangers’ net off strange deflections, ESPN NHL analyst and former Rangers goalie Kevin Weekes told The Post. But other times, Weekes added, Shesterkin allowed goals that the former Vezina Trophy winner typically wouldn’t.
“I think the difficulty is he sets such a high level and high standard of excellence in the net, and when you’re not quite hitting that or you don’t hit that as consistently as you can, as consistently as you’re capable of and you’ve proven, then of course, No. 1, it’s frustrating to him,” Weekes said. “Beyond that, then it becomes a little confusing because technically, he isn’t doing anything incorrectly. He’s technically brilliant.”
At the peak of his Rangers tenure, Shesterkin dazzled during the 2021-22 regular season and guided the Blueshirts to the brink of the Stanley Cup final. He led the league in save percentage. Topped the rankings in goals against average. Logged six shutouts — something that hasn’t occurred once for him this year.
Similar to the top 60 PGA Tour golfers or the top 60 tennis players, there’s a level of accomplishment that an NHL goaltending spot carries, Weekes said. They’re the best at the position, and for that 53game sample size two years ago, in just his second full season — and first 82-game campaign — since transitioning from the KHL, Shesterkin was the “best out of anybody on the planet.”
It’s difficult to stay at No. 1 forever, though. The ebbs and flows of those PGA Tour and tennis rankings become inevitable over time after reaching the summit. “There’s only one place to go from there,” Weekes said, “which is down.”
That doesn’t mean Shesterkin won’t rediscover his Vezina form. Concerning stretches are magnified when they deviate from what’s become normal, Weekes said. Outside of five consecutive wins before the calendar flipped to 2024, Shesterkin’s campaign has been mostly puzzling.
It hasn’t led to much criticism from other Rangers, though. Jonathan Quick told The Post in December that Shesterkin still passed the “eye test” and that he wasn’t worried. When Shesterkin told reporters that he didn’t “know what to say to you” when asked to describe his performance, head coach Peter Laviolette still labeled him an “elite goaltender.”
Even after Shesterkin allowed three goals on the Golden Knights’ first nine shots Friday, Laviolette didn’t single out his goaltender and instead looped the Blueshirts’ power play, forwards and defense — everybody, really — into his answer about needing to “do a little bit more.” There was evidence on Shesterkin’s résumé. He’d stumped most opponents before. There was reason to hope he’d flip the concerning trends and do it again.
Quick’s presence could also serve as a factor, Weekes said, beyond the long-term benefit that he has observed other goaltenders experiencing as Quick’s teammate. At times this year, the 38-year-old has been the Rangers’ best goaltender — compiling 10 wins in 16 starts, a .915 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average. It might add a different level of competition with a former Stanley Cup champion, with the 11th-best save percentage in the NHL this season, on the Blueshirts’ depth chart.
“It doesn’t change the dimensions of the net,” Weekes said. “It doesn’t change what his job is or Igor’s responsibility. But the calculus is a little bit different when you’ve got that stud that’s there as well that’s done so much.”
Eventually, Weekes said, every goalie needs to make adjustments. He noticed it with even the best of the best — the future Hall of Famers — he played with throughout an 11-year NHL career, such as Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Brodeur. Weekes has observed Shesterkin operating differently in traffic, because the lateral skills Shesterkin sharpened in the KHL don’t always work when an NHL forward “plays differently in front of you.”
Just because there’s a down stretch, it doesn’t mean Shesterkin’s dynamic production has faded. Think of Apple stock in down years, Weekes said. One poor run doesn’t determine the future. Sometimes, it just requires more innovation.
“It’s not that you watch and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s unsightly,’ ” Weekes said. “But just for him just to regain his full form, I just think it’s a matter of time.”