Rangers took care of Igor Shesterkin's contract, now they need to help him on the ice

They gave him the contract. Now they need to give him the support around him on the ice.

The New York Rangers dominated the NHL news cycle this past week by making two potentially franchise-altering moves.

The first of those moves was to finally — after months of rumors, speculation and trying — find a taker for defenseman Jacob Trouba and his remaining contract.

Before the ink was even dry on that transaction, word surfaced that they were also signing superstar goalie Igor Shesterkin to an 11-year, $92 million contract extension to keep him off the unrestricted free agent market after this season.

While they were separate transactions, I do not think it is a stretch to connect them together in terms of their importance and what they could — and will — mean for the Rangers.

The Shesterkin deal was a little surprising, not necessarily in terms of value, but because it seemed like negotiations were going to be put on hold after they failed to come to terms on an agreement before the season. But whether it happened in the preseason, during the season, or after the season it was a move the Rangers absolutely had to make. There was no way around it if they are trying to compete for a championship at any point in the very near future, and with the way the team is currently constructed.

Goalie contracts can be risky. Especially long-term contracts because there is so much volatility with the position and the performances. There might be four or five goalies in the league that I would feel comfortable investing in long-term, and Shesterkin is one of them. He should be at the top of the list. He is the type of goalie that can lift a mediocre team into the playoffs, and turn a playoff team into a legitimate contender. He has been doing pretty much exactly that from the moment he arrived in the NHL.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Since the start of the 2019-20 season Shesterkin has been, statistically speaking, the best goalie in hockey.

His .920 all situations save percentages is first among the 54 goalies that have logged at least 100 regular season games during that stretch.

His .925 even-strength save percentage is tied for the second-highest mark.

When it comes to the playoffs, his .928 all situations save percentage and .937 even-strength save percentage are both second out of the 27 goalies with at least 15 games played during that stretch, trailing only Vegas Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill who had one miracle playoff run.

Simply from a production standpoint, there has been nobody better than him since he entered the NHL.

But that does not even scratch the surface on what he means to the Rangers in terms of value.

For all of their success in the standings, as well as their run to two of the past three Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers have been and still are a very flawed team. Their success has been primarily driven by an elite power play and Shesterkin’s ability to mask their defensive and 5-on-5 flaws.

On one hand, the power play and your goalie are both significant parts of the team. It is possible to win a lot of games that way and find success. You also can not take away those wins. They happened. They mean something.

The problem for the Rangers is teams that rely on those areas to win tend to have a ceiling, and that ceiling is usually not the Stanley Cup. At some point your goalie needs some support. At some point you need to be a good 5-on-5 team. They are perhaps the greatest example of how an elite goalie can sometimes be a curse as much as it is a gift. Goalies like Shesterkin can be so good at masking your flaws, and so still helping the team win and find success, that management can just tend to assume everything is perfect.

After all, if we are winning, if it is not broken, why try to fix it?

Well, the Rangers are finding out why this season.

Let’s talk about it.