The much-anticipated debut of New York Rangers prospect Igor Shesterkin is coming. He’s set to start on Tuesday against the Avalanche.
Igor Shesterkin won’t have to wait long to make his NHL debut. According to Vince Mercogliano of USA Today, New York Rangers head coach David Quinn has named Shesterkin the starter for Tuesday.
Igor will start tomorrow against Colorado. #NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) January 6, 2020
Shesterkin is having an All-Star season in his first year in North America—albeit in the AHL. His production with the Hartford Wolf Pack was nothing short of astounding.
He’s already answered the first question with his development in the AHL. Now it’s time to see what he can do in the NHL.
It won’t be easy for Shesterkin, who’ll make his debut behind an extremely shaky defense. The Rangers allowed a combined 18 goals on their four-game western Canada road trip. The rookie netminder has played behind poor defenses before in the KHL, but this is the NHL and the bar is set that much higher for Shesterkin.
New York has allowed the second-most high danger scoring chances in the league this year. On Tuesday they’ll be facing a Colorado team who’s top-10 in high danger scoring chances for in the NHL. It’s not going to be an easy task for the Russian netminder.
One thing we’ve seen from Shesterkin throughout his development, however, is his ability to make the tough save look easy. He’ll most likely have to do much more of that as he suits up to face Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen.
Igor Shesterkin will be wearing No. 31 on Tuesday. He’s set to make his debut in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd who will be eager to see if Henrik Lundqvist‘s promised heir is as good as they’ve heard.
