The New York Rangers have a bright future at the goaltender position, and Igor Shestyorkin is proving just that.
Igor Shestyorkin is one of the top goaltending prospects in all of hockey, and he’s a New York Ranger.
Playing for Russia in the 2018 IIHF World Championships, Shestyorkin set a Russian record for consecutive shutout minutes.
In this year's IIHF World Championship, Igor Shesterkin has established a Russian/Soviet record for consecutive shutout minutes in one World Championship tournament (140:00). #NYR
— NYR Stats & Info (@NYRStatsInfo) May 15, 2018
The 22-year-old goaltender is at the 140:00 mark without allowing a goal, a truly remarkable stat considering the amount of talent he is playing against.
Russia has had some great goaltenders to play for them over the years, and Shestyorkin is looking to be one of them. Current goalies in Sergei Bobrovsky, Semyon Varlamov, and Andre Vasilevsky are currently making an impact at the NHL level, leading their respected teams to the playoffs in 2017-18. Other goalies from Russia to have success are Evgeni Nabokov, Nikolai Khabibulin, and Ilya Bryzgalov.
Shestyorkin is continuing to build of two impressive seasons over in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg. This past season alone, he had a goals-against-average of 1.70 and a save percentage of .930. In the 2016-17 season, he was even better with a 1.64 goals-against-average and .937 save percentage.
Shestyorkin flashes the glove. #NYR pic.twitter.com/PvlPenrVQQ
— Alex Nunn (@aj_ranger) May 14, 2018
The Rangers are hoping that Shestyorkin will be the man to replace Henrik Lundqvist in goal whenever Lundqvist decides to hang up the skates. If Shestyorkin’s development continues the way it looks like it will, then the team will be in great hands during the post-Lundqvist era.
Shestyorkin and the Rangers will have to wait for him to come over with him still under contract in the KHL. But this perhaps serves as the best option for him since he will continue to play against some of the top players the KHL has to offer instead of other prospects at the AHL level. In the meantime, Alexandar Georgiev can man the fort as the backup goalie while Shestyorkin continues to develop.
Russia will be back in action against Canada on Thursday at 4 PM EST.
