Igor Shesterkin's deadline for a record deal is no cause for concern

Aaron Judge had an Opening Day negotiation deadline in 2022 as he approached the final year of his contract before free agent eligibility, and that seems to have worked out quite well for No. 99 (perhaps the first time ever that number in a hockey column did not refer to Wayne Gretzky) and the Yankees.

Therefore, there is no reason to overreact when it was announced that Igor Shesterkin had been given a similar deadline as the Rangers franchise goaltender approaches the final year of his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

This may be an attempt by Shesterkin's side to gain an additional advantage, but in reality it changes nothing. The goalie has one hand. Everyone knows that. And I don't mean his catching hand either.

Shesterkin will become the highest-paid goalie in NHL history. There's no doubt he'll surpass the $10.5 million per year Carey Price earned with Montreal on his eight-year contract that took effect in the 2018-19 season when the cap was set at $79.5 million. So in the first year, Price used 13.21 percent of the cap.

The Post's Mollie Walker's June 2 report that the goalie would demand $12 million per year has been confirmed by multiple sources, and I would be shocked if GM Chris Drury hasn't already discussed an offer between $10.5 million and $11 million per year if the numbers were swapped, presumably for a seven or eight-year deal.

But I have information, which has also been reported previously, that Shesterkin also has a goal of becoming the Rangers' and franchise's highest-paid player. That would mean surpassing Artemi Panarin's annual salary of $11,642,857 on the mutually beneficial contract that has two years left on it.

Twelve is a nice round number.

Twelve would represent 13.04 percent of the projected $92 million cap for next season.

I can tell you right now that I never believed for a second the theory that Henrik Lundqvist's $8.5 million annual salary—12.32 percent of the cap in 2014-15—was a major factor in the Blueshirts' failure to win the Cup during the King's reign.

I would even say that signing Dan Boyle as a free agent rather than keeping Anton Stralman after the club reached the 2014 cup final was a bigger factor. Maybe that's just me.

I also don't quite understand why there's such a new fixation on what percentage of the salary cap is devoted to goalies. A few weeks ago, Leon Draisaitl signed an eight-year contract extension with an annual salary cap of $14 million. That's 15.91 percent of next year's revenue. But I don't recall any alarm bells ringing in Edmonton. And Draisaitl is the Oilers' second-best player.

One of the biggest free agent contracts in New York City professional sports history, Panarin ate 13.94 percent of the salary cap last year and 14.29 percent in the first year of the contract in 2019-20. I don't remember a soul talking about it.

Apparently this only applies to goalkeepers.

One could argue that Stanley Cup winners don't necessarily need goalies at the top of the food chain. That's not entirely unreasonable. I thought about it after the Avalanche won in 2022 with Darcy Kuemper and Vegas won the Cup in 2023 with Adin Hill in goal.

At the same time, two of the last five Cup winners had either the most expensive or second-most expensive active goalie in the NHL in their ranks: the 2024 Panthers won with Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million per goal) and the 2021 Lightning took their second consecutive win with Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million).

Bobrovsky accounted for 12.27 percent of the cap when the contract began in 2019-20 and 11.97 percent last season, but that didn't seem to stop the Puddy Tats from building a championship roster.

A strong team could probably win the Cup without an established elite goalie, but when you look at the Rangers' roster, do you see a strong team? I don't. I see more of a franchise that has historically been reliant on goalies. In fact, of the 11 players whose numbers were retired by the franchise, three are goalies – No. 1, Eddie Giacomin; No. 35, Mike Richter; No. 30, The King.

Drury and the Rangers will have a tough time this summer. Alexis Lafreniere needs a new contract, as does K'Andre Miller. Those two plus Shesterkin will cost a combined $11.864 million this season. That figure will more than double in 2025-26. It could reach $26 million. That's the math the hierarchy will have to deal with.

Shesterkin is the Rangers' most important player and has been their best player in each of the last three playoffs. Nobody, but nobody, doubts his pedigree. But in the last two seasons following his 2021-22 Vezina, he has not been the team's best player during the regular season. He had subpar first halves and was a bit too erratic. He should have a better regular season.

I don't know if $12 million a year is too much for the Rangers' most important player given the salary cap, but I do know it's not an unreasonable demand.

And I also believe that if Shesterkin really wants to stay in New York, the two sides will work it out and celebrate like it's 1999. Don't worry about an opening day deadline.