Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin at 30: Time waits for no one in NHL
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin stops the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Capitals on Dec. 23 in Washington. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
ARLINGTON, Va. — Igor Shesterkin turned 30 on Tuesday. How did that feel?
“I don’t know yet,” he told Newsday. “First practice was good.”
This was after the Rangers goaltender and his teammates prepared for Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve game in Washington with a workout at the Capitals’ suburban training facility.
And, as Shesterkin said, he looked good. He often does, and his puck-stopping has helped keep the scoring-challenged Rangers in playoff contention at the midpoint of their season.
But let’s take a moment at this milestone birthday to look at the bigger picture.
Shesterkin is not yet old, but he is no longer young, and it would behoove the Rangers to take advantage of his prime by winning something big one of these late springs.
The idea is to avoid for Shesterkin the resume hole with which his predecessor left the NHL. A fellow named Henrik Lundqvist.
You might recall him as an excellent goalie who reached one Stanley Cup Final, in 2014 at age 32, but never won it all.
Lundqvist left the Rangers at age 38, and a year later retired because of a heart condition, just as Shesterkin was establishing himself as a top goalie himself.
Now Shesterkin is in his seventh season. Again, not old. But not young.
How does he feel physically now compared, say, to when he was 22?
“I think it has changed since I was 14, but since 22? I think it’s the same,” he said.
Shesterkin hopes to have another decade or so in him and need look no further than his own dressing room for inspiration. Backup goalie Jonathan Quick turns 40 in three weeks.
“I think it’s a great example for me how he loves his job, how he practices, how he is every day,” Shesterkin said. “I hope I will have the same opportunity as him.”
Coach Mike Sullivan said age is just a number for goalies, just as it is for the rest of us.
“I think age is a relative term,” he said. “I think there’s a lot involved with that. Some players age out sooner than others. I think lifestyle, training habits, work ethic, passion for what you do, all of those things play into it.
“I think Shesty’s a guy who controls a lot of those things. You look at the game he played (Monday against the Hurricanes), and it was an elite performance (in a 3-2 overtime loss).
“As a 30-year-old goalie in this league, he’s got a lot of experience. I think he’s one of the elite goaltenders in the league and he’s got the benefit of wisdom.”
Shesterkin has started 32 of the Rangers’ 41 games and is 16-12-4, with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
He has not been the problem with the Rangers. But he said the only interest he has in his performance so far is how it has translated into wins.
“We want to be in the playoffs,” he said. “I think about our team goals. We need to play better. We need to get two points every night.”
But isn’t there pressure to be sharper than ever when you are on a team that has struggled to score all season, including eight shutouts?
“I just try to stop the puck and give a chance to my teammates,” he said.
Shesterkin reiterated he was happy to have a “good, good practice” under his belt in his first day as a thirtysomething and said his only birthday plan was to call his parents in Russia.
Lundqvist was 32 when he led the Rangers to that ’14 Final against the Kings. The Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky was 35 and 36 when he won the past two Stanley Cups.
So there is life after 30 for top goalies who take care of themselves.
But the clock is ticking.
Fox could return Wednesday
Sullivan anticipates defenseman Adam Fox will be a game-time decision Wednesday. Fox has been out since Nov. 29 with an upper body injury.
In practice on Tuesday, he quarterbacked the top power-play unit and was paired on defense with Vladislav Gavrikov, both strong signs that he will return to action.
“He’s a difference-maker,” Sullivan said of Fox, who is from Jericho. “He’s a very difficult guy to replace on so many levels.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
