One of the biggest storylines of the 2025-26 season was about the devastating injury to goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Subsequently, there was also a lot of discussion on his performance.
Let's break all that down in a grading piece of how his season went, and where it goes from here.
Expectations
Much like the rest of the Rangers, this season had to be better than whatever you want to call the 2024-25 campaign. That included Shesterkin, who took a minor step back in his career at 27-29-5, with a 2.86 goals against average and a save percentage of .905.
For 2025-26, the expectation was for Shesterkin to try and get back to his usual self and in turn, his team as well. But, it did not happen. Some of that was out of his control, as we will get into shortly.
Performance
At 25-19-6 with a 2.50 goals against average and .912 save percentage, it was not a terribly awful season for No. 31. He fought through injury, a lackluster defense and a white-flag waving moment with "The Letter 2.0". Shesterkin gave it his all, as always, but it was just not enough.
The real downfall here is that Shesterkin really stunk at the end of the season. Even though the season was basically down and out, there was still some meaningful games to play to try and keep the dream alive. Over his last 10 starts, the starting goaltender went 3-7. He allowed 25 goals over that time, which doesn't really point all the blame on him.
Grade: C
For what was on display in front of him, and battling a pretty serious injury in the middle of the season, you can give Shesterkin a C for 2025-26. It was ok, not good and definitely not great. We have seen his mentor, Henrik Lundqvist, take teams that were harshly worse on offense and defense into deep playoff runs. While the grade seems harsh, Igor had no problem admitting that he could play way better.
"I could play way better, for sure"
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) April 17, 2026
Igor Shesterkin talks about his season as a whole: pic.twitter.com/M9RQT0oAFN
Shesterkin is this franchise's present and future, but he needs to be better.
Where do they go from here?
Shesterkin has to be larger than the rest of his team. He has to have the same impact that Andrei Vasilevskiy does to Tampa Bay, Jake Oettinger to Dallas, Connor Hellebuyck to Winnipeg. He's shown he is capable of doing so before, and Shesterkin has to be the team's MVP once more in 2026-27 if they are serious about being contenders again.
The Rangers need to focus on giving him a little more goal support, which can come from Alexis Lafrenière and J.T. Miller next season. Additionally, the defensive unit needs a big re-work.
There is enough reason to believe that this retool could be solved in under a season or two. That leaves plenty of time for Shesterkin to try and will this franchise to becoming Stanley Cup contenders once again.
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