The New York Rangers announced Saturday that goaltender Igor Shesterkin will miss the rest of the 2026-27 season because of a lower-body injury, confirming the worst fears raised a night earlier when he had to be helped off the ice against the Capitals.
Shesterkin went down Friday night at 8:20 of the second period in New York’s 3-1 loss to Washington, his right skate jamming into the goalpost as he slid back into the crease. He had stopped 13 of 14 shots to that point and was unable to put any weight on his right leg as defensemen Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson helped him off the ice, according to NHL.com.
What The Team Announced
The Rangers confirmed Shesterkin’s season is over in their Saturday announcement, but the club has not detailed the specific nature of the injury beyond labeling it lower-body, according to the New York Post. No timeline for a return has been given.
Rangers captain J.T. Miller addressed the injury after Friday’s game, before the season-ending diagnosis was confirmed. “It’s awful.
He’s a pillar of this team. It stinks. Obviously, it’s (early).
We don’t even know what’s going on, but to see him leave the game is a shot to all of us, a shock to all of us. But at the same time, it means we got to step up to a man to try to get the job done, especially (Garand),” Miller said.
Defenseman Adam Fox echoed that sentiment. “Definitely not a good feeling for anyone seeing anyone on your team go down, especially a guy like that who’s kind of the pillar on the back end there. You know, it (stinks). Obviously, we’re hoping for the best for him,” Fox said.
Who Replaces Him In Net
Dylan Garand stepped in Friday and stopped 11 of the shots he faced in the loss. The 24-year-old is 3-1-1 with a 1.31 goals-against average, a .954 save percentage and one shutout across five career NHL games, numbers that suggest he can hold the fort in the short term.
The depth chart behind him is thin. Backup Joonas Korpisalo, acquired from Boston to back up Shesterkin, is already on injured reserve with his own lower-body injury and is expected to miss roughly four weeks. That could force the Rangers to turn to Callum Tung, an inexperienced option, to back up Garand until Korpisalo returns. New York placed Korpisalo on IR and recalled Garand in a corresponding roster move before Friday’s game.
Season Context For Shesterkin
Before the injury, Shesterkin was 3-1 with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage in five starts. The 30-year-old won the Vezina Trophy in 2021-22 and is in his eighth season with New York after the club selected him in the fourth round, No. 118 overall, in the 2014 NHL Draft.
Shesterkin scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 1 in a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay, firing the puck into an empty net at 17:26 of the third period. His $92 million contract makes him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history, a deal he will now spend the rest of this season watching from the sideline.
What’s Next For New York
The Rangers (4-2-0) host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET, their first game with Garand as the primary starter. Korpisalo’s status for that game is uncertain.
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