NHL Rumors: Any Igor Shesterkin – New York Rangers Extension Talks Will Be Interesting

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show on New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who is eligible to sign a contract extension after July 1st.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Marek: “By the way, early candidate for offseason line of the year, Igor Shesterkin, “I don’t speak English,” when he was asked about his contract .

You have a thought on the Rangers goaltender, either the line or his situation right now?

Friedman: “We’ve talked a lot about this. I think the Rangers are, are, are gonna have to maneuver this one. I think they know that Shesterkin has all the leverage in the world and their job here is to put him in a number where they realize he’s probably either, he probably deserves to earn more, but they have to build a team around him. And I think that’s what they’re going to try to do.

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I’ve heard, I heard from a couple of people that said that, you know, this is a guy who has a low-key, pretty funny sense of humor.

Marek: “Yeah.”

Friedman: “And that was a perfectly on-brand comment for him, right? So they weren’t really surprised, he just doesn’t show it publicly a ton.

The, the thing is, is someone pointed out to me, and you’re the one that brought up Carey Price who’s $10.5 (million) is, is the key number here. If you look at when Carey Price signed that deal, it was, hold on I got written down here, percentage of the cap was, was 14%, I believe.

And so, if you look at 14%, it’s, it’s $12 (million) something. So I don’t know if it’ll get there but you know, a lot of agents and teams do look at percentage of the cap.

Marek: “Yep.

Friedman: “And they say that’s the true comparable not the number. Agents do that especially. Maybe teams don’t do that as much but I think the teams recognize that the agents do that.

Marek: “Yeah.

Friedman: “So if you’re looking at percentage, the cap I think Price’s number was 14 (percent). So if you go to 14 (percent), it’ll be the, the projections that everybody’s been given out, the teams and the players, are that in the first year of his deal, the cap will be at $92 (million). So if you go 14% of $92 (million), that numbers in $12 (millions).

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So we’ll see. I mean, again, nothing is done until it’s done. It’s negotiation, you move, you move the goalposts to benefit you.  And you know, like I said, the the Rangers don’t have the leverage here, and they’re gonna have to figure it out. They’re gonna have to get to a point where they can say, you earned it but we want to win, and we’ll see where that goes.”