‘nice to have it done’
The Rangers have made Igor Shesterkin’s extended New York stay official.
In another crucial wrinkle in Friday’s events, the Blueshirts made a commitment to the goalkeeper of six years on an eight-year, $92 million contract extension.
The deal would give him an annual average value of $11.5 million, which makes for a league record.
Rangers general manager Chris Drury confirmed the deal Saturday afternoon.
The extension, along with Jacob Trouba’s divorce from the Rangers, gives a lot of cap space to the team — just over $20 million at the trade deadline.
“It’s really nice to have it done,” Drury said on a Zoom call to reporters Saturday. “To have the certainty with the position and knowing what the cap hit is going to be moving forward. We’re excited to get it done. Excited to move forward with him.”
With Shesterkin locked in and Trouba’s $8 million cap hit out of the Rangers’ hair, Drury said he is not against making more moves down the line to help the team, which found itself in a 1-6 rut before Friday’s 4-2 win over the Penguins.
Nevertheless, Drury said he will pick his spots carefully and will not add any more immediately following Friday’s turn of events.
“It’s my job to try and figure out on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis what the team needs,” he said. “I’m certainly not opposed to make more changes, but big picture, with that said, the team has been through a lot the last couple of weeks and certainly this week. I’d like to let the dust settle a little bit. … Just like to see the team get settled in with this a little bit.”
Drury was asked about Trouba’s frustrations in how his trade to the Ducks went down, forcing him either to accept the trade options presented to him or go to waivers.
The GM declined to comment on the situation.
“I got a ton of respect for Jacob and how he handled himself as our captain. We had a lot of success under his leadership,” Drury said. “I’m not trying to mess with players. … I’m just trying to do the best I can to move the team forward and make the changes that I think are necessary.”
The Rangers will not see a new “C” stitched onto a jersey anytime soon.
Rather, the team will be moving forward with their leadership group of Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox tasked to take charge.
Head coach Peter Laviolette explained the team has no plans to name a new captain after Trouba packed his bags in exchange for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025 on Friday.
“Right now, we’ve got a leadership group that we’ve been dealing with the whole time, and right now, we’re moving forward,” Laviolette said at the Rangers’ Saturday practice in Tarrytown.
He did admit it’s possible that an alternate captain “A” could be assigned at some point, but not right away.
Brett Berard was skating with a full-contact jersey Saturday for the Rangers’ afternoon practice.
Nevertheless, he still is listed as day to day with an upper body injury, and his availability for the Rangers’ Sunday matinee matchup against the Kraken is unknown.
“I don’t know, I’ll try to be available,” Berard said after practice. “I’ll try to play through anything. I’m here. But ultimately, it’s not my decision. It’s what the docs say and what the trainers say. I mean, I hope, but we will see.”
Berard suited up for the Rangers most recently Nov. 30 against the Canadiens for just over 10 minutes of ice time.