Igor Shesterkin came well out of his crease to challenge a shooter midway through the second period in Washington on Friday, then fell as he scrambled back. His right skate jammed into the post and he collapsed into the net, unable to put weight on the leg as Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi helped him off.
The New York Rangers ruled him out for the season a day later without explaining why, but the initial reports weren’t great. Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic has now filled in the gap.
“It is a right knee injury that will require surgery and a lengthy rehab, according to a source,” Mercogliano wrote. “That’s why the Rangers aren’t expecting him back this season.”
How long will Igor Shesterkin be out?
Nothing official has been attached to it yet, and the club hasn’t confirmed a date for the procedure. A goaltender rebuilding a knee faces a longer road than most, given how much of the position depends on dropping into the butterfly and pushing laterally off that leg thousands of times a night.
The timing is brutal for both parties. Shesterkin had started the season 3-1 with a 1.76 goals-against average, the best stretch of his career since the Vezina, and had become the first goaltender in Rangers history to score a goal just eight days before the injury. He added an assist three days after that.
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He is also in the second season of the eight-year, $92 million extension that made him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history.
New York now has a problem. Joonas Korpisalo is dealing with a lower-body injury of his own and Spencer Martin is also unavailable, which leaves 24-year-old Dylan Garand as the starter by default. Garand took over in Washington on Friday and stopped 11 of 12 shots after coming in cold.
The Rangers finished last in the Eastern Conference last season, a campaign in which Shesterkin missed a month with a lower-body injury. J.T. Miller was defiant about the task ahead.
“We’re not going to let that take the wind out of our sails,” Miller said.
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