The New York Rangers got their season going on Wednesday trouncing the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road and beating Sidney Crosby's team by a stout 6-0 final result.
With everybody packed inside PPG Paints Arena, it was expected that Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin was going to face media members asking him about the record-breaking, $88 million contract offer the team offered him.
According to reports emerging on Tuesday, Shesterkin didn't quite like that deal, thus rejecting it and leaving all doors open regarding his future in Manhattan.
Shesterkin was in fact asked about those reports and the ongoing contract talks after the win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, as echoed by USA Today's Vince Mercogliano.
Just to be clear, 3 distinctly different questions were asked: 1) General reaction to yesterday's report; 2) Was he bothered by the leak? 3) Is he open to in-season negotiations?
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 10, 2024
He made it clear he doesn't want to discuss any of it, which I'll respect (as I'm sure others will). https://t.co/Ps5oNDNyEk
The goalie politely declined to offer any details nor engage in any talks with the media about his future deal.
“I don’t want to talk about my contract negotiations,” Shesterkin said, following his 29-save shutout in the Rangers’ season-opening 6-0 victory. “Sorry.”
Shesterkin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2025, was open to discuss anything unrelated to his contract.
“If you want, we can talk about our team," Shesterkin said. "We played a really good game today.
"If you have other questions, we can talk about [Victor] Mancini, [Alexis Lafrenière’s] goal, anything you want.”
Had the 28-year-old goalie accepted the reported contract offer, he'd have become the highest-paid goalie in NHL history surpassing Carey Price’s $10.5 million AAV.
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, however, that might not be enough to convince Shesterkin to sign. In Friedman's eyes, Shesterkin's chasing the biggest contract within the Rangers organization, as he reported in his latest 32 Thoughts column.
"New York’s highest-paid player is the sublime and superb Artemi Panarin. His cap hit is slightly above $11.64 million," Friedman wrote on Wednesday. "I believe Shesterkin’s representatives (agent is Rick Komarow) have a simple argument: Igor is your best player, he should be compensated as such."
Related: Report: Rangers Could Have Leaked Igor Shesterkin's Contract Offer