Expect Rangers’ Shesterkin To Separate Himself From Vezina Contenders
Numbers Point To Shesterkin Facing Higher Degree Of Difficulty In Hardware Quest
There’s no questioning Igor Shesterkin’s worthiness of being mentioned among the NHL’s elite goaltenders. The third-year Ranger has opened the 2021-22 season with sparkling numbers, posting a 12-3-2 record, a .935 save percentage and a 2.15 goals-against average.
His game-saving heroics eerily match legendary predecessor Henrik Lundqvist’s value to the team. As of Dec. 2, Shesterkin leads the NHL with a 16.7 GSAx per Top Down Hockey. He routinely makes incredible flurries of saves to keep the Rangers in close games and summons unorthodox saves that leave onlookers with a sense of astonishment.
Just look at this sequence of saves that he made while on a second period penalty kill against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. After losing his stick on a crucial intervention, Shesterkin then made several stops using teammate Jacob Trouba’s stick.
The Rangers completed a 4-1 victory over their Metropolitan Division rivals, improving to a 14-4-3 record and a division-best .738 points percentage. Shesterkin owns 12 of the Blueshirts’ 14 victories in a season where backup Alexandar Georgiev has struggled to provide anything close to replacement level goaltending. Through six appearances, Georgiev is 2-1-1 with a .858 save percentage and a 4.08 goals-against average.
A tremendous weight has been placed on Shesterkin’s shoulders to push the Rangers in a Lundqvist-like way above expectations. It appears that his reputation and value aren’t fully appreciated outside the New York metropolitan area. The most recent installment of NHL.com’s Vezina Trophy Tracker ranked the 25-year-old Russian netminder fifth among contenders for the award.
Placing fifth in the voting shouldn’t be interpreted as a slight, especially given the sheer quality of superlative goaltenders this season – but it was surprising to see Shesterkin not commanding a large share of first-place votes.
Keep in mind, the NHL.com ranking is submitted by a panel of 17 website writers at the quarter-way mark of the season. The Vezina Trophy itself is awarded by the NHL’s 32 general managers at season’s end. It’s possible that an early-season polling of league GMs could result in an entirely different top-five outcome.
Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames came away as the top vote-getter in the NHL.com poll, with his 77 points edging Carolina Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen’s 61 points. Markstrom has opened the 2021-22 campaign with a 10-4-4 record, a .939 save percentage and a 1.76 goals-against average, while Andersen has posted a 11-5-0 record with a .928 save percentage and a 2.05 goals-against average.
It’s no secret that the Flames make Markstrom’s life easier by playing smothering defense under head coach Darryl Sutter. Any team coached by Sutter always excels at limiting attempts and shutting down the opposition. Andersen’s workload is lessened by manning the crease for the frighteningly-dominant Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes hold opponents to an NHL-best 27.3 shots against per game, while the Flames rank fifth with 29.5 shots against per game. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Hurricanes rank first overall with an all-situation Corsi For Percentage of 55.6. The Flames aren’t far behind at a fifth-place 53.8.
Compare that to the Rangers, who rank 21st with 32.3 shots against per game and 28th with an all-situation Corsi For Percentage of 45.8. The numbers show that Shesterkin faces a higher degree of difficulty on a nightly basis. As the season rolls on, it wouldn’t be surprising if Shesterkin’s reputation of saving the Rangers’ bacon boosts his standing among NHL shot stoppers.
It was head-scratching why Lundqvist’s stellar year-by-year returns and contributions to overachieving Rangers teams were only recognized by a singular Vezina Trophy capture. Shesterkin is emulating Lundqvist’s early career path by dragging the Blueshirts to victories. Should he keep up the pace, it would be hard to overlook his Vezina Trophy candidacy.
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