Shesterkin ready to join Rangers' elite goalie fraternity

GREENBURGH, N.Y. --Igor Shesterkin sees reminders of the history he's following whenever he gets to the rink. It's the small fraternity of New York Rangers legends that the goalie, even after winning the Vezina Trophy last season, feels he's still pledging.

"We can look at how many jerseys are retired from goalies," Shesterkin told NHL.com in a 1-on-1 interview after practice Friday. "I understand everything."
There's Eddie Giacomin's No. 1, Mike Richter's No. 35 and Henrik Lundqvist's No. 30 that hang above the rink at Madison Square Garden Training Center, the Rangers' practice facility, and Madison Square Garden, their home rink.
Action photos of Giacomin, Richter and Lundqvist are part of the collage that curls 360 degrees around the dressing room at the practice facility.
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In fact, Giacomin, Richter and Lundqvist are seemingly everywhere. They are regulars at the Garden, and Lundqvist is a studio analyst for MSG Networks and a Madison Square Garden employee in business operations. Shesterkin dresses and undresses for practices and games in Lundqvist's old stall.
"Right now, I still think I'm not there. I know who played before me. I'm just trying to reach that level," Shesterkin said.
He did that last season.
His .935 save percentage was the highest and his 2.07 goals-against average was the second lowest in a single season behind Lundqvist's 1.97 in 2011-12 for any Rangers goalie who played at least 50 games.
Shesterkin's 36 wins were the most for any goalie in team history that played in fewer than 60 games in a season (he played in 53). Richter, Lundqvist and Giacomin all had seasons with more wins, but all with at least 62 games played.
"To have numbers that good you can't afford too many off nights," Lundqvist said. "That was the biggest strength."
But Lundqvist had five seasons with at least 36 wins and 11 with at least 30. He's first in Rangers history with 459 wins.
Giacomin had five seasons with at least 30 wins. Richter, the only one of the group to win the Stanley Cup in New York, has the Rangers' single-season record with 42 wins in 1993-94. He is second with 301 wins; Giacomin is third with 267.
They're Rangers legends because they were at the top of the NHL season after season after season. That is Shesterkin's next challenge, and he knows it.
"What happened last season stays in last season," Shesterkin said. "Right now, I need to show everybody it's not a mistake my last season. I just want to play much better and better."
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Shesterkin has proven his excellence over time before. His game grew in each of his three full pro seasons in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, improving from one year to the next for SKA St. Petersburg and ultimately playing to a 1.11 GAA and .953 save percentage in 2018-19, good enough to prompt his move to North America.
"He has that confidence that he can stay at that high level," Lundqvist said.
The difference, Lundqvist said, is he has to do it in the NHL, in front of critics who do not care what he did in Russia and are only interested if he can meet the high expectations he's carrying into this season.
It's the exact same challenge Lundqvist faced after winning 30 games, with a 2.24 GAA and .922 save percentage, as an NHL rookie in 2005-06, the season after he was named the most valuable player in the Swedish Hockey League, winning a championship for Frolunda.
"Being a player playing in Europe, you think you've been doing it for many years, but you come here and people say you're doing it for the first time," Lundqvist said. "It's like, 'OK, you just have to prove it again.' There are things that are new, but there are things that are exactly the same, the pressure, expectations, big games. That helps."

Shesterkin experienced it all last season, guiding the Rangers to two come-from-behind best-of-7 series wins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
They were down 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round and Shesterkin was at his worst, getting pulled from Games 3 and 4, allowing 10 goals on 45 shots (.778 save percentage).
But he said the team meeting after Game 4 was his favorite moment of the playoffs.
"One time, Chris [Kreider] or 'Troobs' [Jacob Trouba], somebody said good words, and I feel inside of me it clicked and I knew we will win the series and we have a really good chance to win the Cup," Shesterkin said.
The Rangers did win the series and they did the same against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round before being eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on June 11.
They played 20 games. Shesterkin had a 2.59 GAA and .929 save percentage.
"I got more confidence in the playoffs," Shesterkin said. "Usually, when I played in the KHL you cannot talk with somebody in the game, you cannot look at somebody, because the head coach maybe won't be happy. But here everybody in the playoffs tried to tell me something and I could look at my team and smile. It's more loose, so I'm not like a robot."
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Shesterkin's life changed nine and a half weeks after the Rangers' season ended. He became a dad for the first time, his wife Anna giving birth to Timofey on Aug. 17.
"I just want to look at him 24/7," Shesterkin said.
Shesterkin and his family moved out of Manhattan for this season, into a house they're renting in Greenwich, Connecticut. They lived in the city for the past three seasons, but with a baby and a dog, it was time to experience the suburbs.
"It's nice when you have a baby and a dog, you can walk with the stroller and the dog can run everywhere," Shesterkin said.
As he talks, it's easy to pick up on Shesterkin's comfort level.
He's sitting in what is now rightfully his locker stall. Lundqvist ceded it long enough ago that any remnants of his career are now on the walls and rafters, part of Rangers lore, history that is revered instead of expectations that have to be met.
Shesterkin is smiling and laughing as he talks about how he became a goalie at 7 years old because of Dominik Hasek, and how his father didn't think it would last.
"In our team when I grew up, we had maybe 10 players who were goalies too, but maybe one week, one month or two months and after that they gave it up," Shesterkin said. "It's why my father said he didn't want me to be a goalie, but I wanted it. I told him it's my goal and I promise you I won't give it back. But after two years I got tired of it and I said I wanted to be a player, but my coach told me you will be a good goalie so stick with it."
He laughed as he told that story.
He went on to discuss why Lundqvist became his favorite player as he got older, the memories he has from being in training camp with him.
"I didn't talk with him too much, but he sat around me, I had a chance to look at how he practiced, how he played, how he worked in the gym," Shesterkin said. "It helped me so much without words."
Shesterkin has the words now. He is so comfortable with his English that he has no issue doing the whole interview for this story without a translator.
"After last season I'm more loose and if I don't know any words I can say something stupid," Shesterkin said, laughing. "I can speak more now. I'm more comfortable. I feel more comfortable with every player."
He is also comfortable with where he is in the small fraternity of legendary Rangers goalies.
But one great season isn't enough to get him initiated. This season has to be better.
"All I want right now is the Stanley Cup with the Rangers," Shesterkin said. "If I have a chance to get one more Vezina it will be fine, but our goal is the Stanley Cup, and it doesn't matter what happens to get there."