Rangers Igor Shesterkin Reportedly Turns Down Biggest Goalie Contract In League History

Now that the Bruins have locked up netminder Jeremy Swayman with an 8-year, $66 million deal, we can now put all of our attention on the next goalie in need of a new contract, and that's New York Rangers backstopper Igor Shesterkin.

And it looks like it's getting very interesting.

Shesterkin — a Vezina Trophy winner who helped the Rangers win a Presidents' Trophy — was known to be looking for as much as $12 million per year, which would be the highest ever for a goalie in NHL history.

However, it's been reported by ESPN's Kevin Weekes — with an assist from Spongebob (seriously) — that the Rangers have offered Shesterkin an 8-year, $11 million deal, which is still the highest price paid for a goalie in NHL history.

And he said no.

Oh man, it seems nuts to turn that down… but Shesterkin is absolutely making the right decision.

I think the Rangers are in the same position as Steve Martin in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles when he tries to buy a guy's cab for $50 bucks, and the guy says something to the effect of, "Someone who would pay $50 for a cab, would surely pay $75."

The Rangers probably just wanted to see if they could call Sheserkin and his camp's bluff because if they were willing to pony up $11 million, they'd surely play $12 million.

It's believed that the Rangers will do this and Shesterkin has some leverage thanks to that Swayman deal. Sure, Shesterkin doesn't have a Cup to his name (yet), but he has more on his CV than Swayman. Plus, with the salary cap expected to keep going up, it's not a terrible idea to pay Shesterkin now, as it shouldn't put them in as much of a cap crunch in the years to come.

Shesterkin is in the final year of his current deal which is worth $5,666,667  this season.