Rangers goalie woes signalling a league wide change
Going into this season, the Rangers felt they had a great tandem in the Eastern Conference with Igor Shesterkin along with Jonathan Quick manning their net.
Fresh off back-to-back 35 plus win seasons along with the Vezina trophy win, it was expected he was going to carry this team and potentially be in the Vezina conversation again.
That is not the case as Shesterkin has had his statistically worst year of his career.
Through this season, he has played 31 games and has gone on a record of 19-11-1 with a 2.82 save percentage and a .901 save percentage.
Those numbers are certainly not flattering and will not give the confidence the Rangers fan base needs as the team continues to be on top of the Metro Division.
However, it seems there's been a trend throughout the NHL this year that many top goaltenders that have been leading the way have had poor years as well.
Goalies like Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jake Oettinger and Jussi Saros for example are all having terrible statistical years.
With the NHL pushing for more goals and the skills of the best players in the league increasing along with the next generation of talent, it's clear the goaltending position has become less dependable on stealing games and getting shutouts.
Other factors include age, injuries and team design have all worked into the stats and has changed the landscape.
As the NHL trade deadline approaches, the Rangers are expected to be quieter as their team is relatively sound.
It is expected however, that the team will look at helping their defence and potentially bottom 6 as they will need to be tougher to play against and give the goaltending a better shot at being great.
The Rangers will be at home for their next game when they played the Vegas golden Knights.
Puck drop will be at 7:00 PM eastern on January 26th.
| POLL | ||
Do you think the Rangers should look for a goalie at the deadline? | ||
| Yes - they need to find some insurance | 39 | 16.5 % |
| No - Igor will turn it around | 197 | 83.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
