GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Igor Shesterkin is not concerned about his future with the New York Rangers entering the final season of a four-year contract.
"I have one more year, so I don't care about it," Shesterkin said after practice Friday.
Shesterkin, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2025, deferred questions about contract negotiations to his agent, saying that's "work" for him and all he wants is to "be focused on my game and on practice every day." But he stressed a desire to stay with the Rangers on a long-term basis.
"I love the organization, I love the team, I love the fans," Shesterkin said. "So of course it will be great to stay here, but you never know what can happen."
General manager Chris Drury echoed the Rangers' desire to sign Shesterkin to a long-term contract at some point.
"I'm not going to get into any private discussions or negotiations with Igor or his agents publicly, but you all know what I think of Igor and what we all think of Igor around here and we certainly hope he's here and a Ranger for a long time," Drury said. "You know how important he is to our team and our organization. We're going to do everything we can to make sure he's here for a long time."
Shesterkin signed his four-year, $22.6 million contract ($5.66 million average annual value) on Aug. 9, 2021. Since then, he's been one of the best goalies in the NHL.
Shesterkin has helped the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final twice, in 2022 when they lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and last season when they lost in six games to the Florida Panthers after winning the Presidents' Trophy with 55 wins and 114 points.
He won the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL in 2021-22, when he also finished third in the voting for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the League's most valuable player.
Shesterkin leads the NHL with 109 wins, and is second in save percentage (.921) and third in goals-against average (2.39) among goalies to play at least 100 games since the 2021-22 season. He is also 23-19 with a 2.39 GAA and .929 save percentage in 43 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during that span.
Last season, Shesterkin struggled in the first half, with a 2.86 GAA, .899 save percentage and no shutouts in 32 games prior to the All-Star break, but was selected to and played in the All-Star Game.
He took a week off after the break to work on his game and went 17-5-1 with four shutouts, a 2.20 GAA and .930 save percentage in 23 games from Feb. 9 to the end of the regular season. He was 10-6 with a 2.34 GAA and .927 save percentage in 16 playoff games.
"Igor was just fantastic and his playoffs were outstanding," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's such an important position, it's nice that you don't have to talk that much about it."
This season, Shesterkin and backup Jonathan Quick are working under a new goalie coach.
Longtime goalie coach Benoit Allaire, who also worked with Henrik Lundqvist for his entire career in New York (2005-20), reduced his role with the Rangers after last season and became the director of goaltending.
Jeff Malcolm is New York's new full-time goalie coach after spending the past three seasons in the same position with Hartford, the Rangers' American Hockey League affiliate. Malcolm filled in for Allaire when he was on a medical leave during the 2022-23 season.
Shesterkin said it will not be a major adjustment for him working with Malcolm on a daily basis instead of Allaire, saying the drills they have done in practice are the same. He also said he expects Allaire to attend one of the Rangers' upcoming practices.
"There's some familiarity," Laviolette said. " 'Malcs' has met 'Shesty' before. It's not like they met for the first time. They have met. And 'Benny' knows 'Malcs.' So there is that connection I think already, but it's new and they'll have to work on their relationship and build that together, that goaltending coach and goaltender relationship."
