NEW YORK, NY – The Rangers made the decision to call up Igor Shesterkin (Shestyorkin, until recently), 
their Russian net-minding phenom and heir-apparent to The King’s throne. Igor started his #NYR career with two wins, which is as good a start as one could hope for. Things got off to a shaky start in Shesterkin’s first game against the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday night. The game was barely six minutes old and the Rangers found themselves in a two-goal hole. Another goal might have gotten Igor an early hook in his first game. But the 24-year old settled in and the Rangers battled back to win 5-3.
Thursday night, Shesty got his second win as Tony DeAngelo the Rangers beat the Devils 6-3. The defenseman had a hat trick and five points Thursday night against a sorry NJ team. Shesterkin has looked decent in net but he’s got some serious issues with positioning that he’s going to have to sort out quickly if he’s going to stick around in the NHL.
Of course this means that the Rangers now have three goalies to fill two goalie spots. Hank is untouchable – unless the Rangers pull the biggest FU since the Montreal Screwjob. Igor is supposed to be the future of goaltending in New York, which leaves Alexandar Georgiev as the odd man out. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer and the Bulgarian net-minder has been outstanding in net this year. His trade value is high, so I’m thinking Georgiev will be moved before the deadline in late February.
Meanwhile… Chris Kreider, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and until recently had not had the best performance in this big contract year. Yet, he could still fetch a first rounder if the right team comes along. But I’ll take a decent defenseman and a second or third rounder at this point.
That’s it for me. Leave your puck droppings below and come back tomorrow for King Cheesy Bruin.
