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Igor Shesterkin is a man of very few words, but during his exit interview on Monday, he was more outspoken than he’s ever been.
While Shesterkin still didn’t give very much context and substance in his answers, he made his feelings very clear for everyone to hear.
It started when the 29-year-old goalie was addressing the New York Rangers’ dreadful season and what went wrong as he hinted something was off with the Rangers both internally and mentally.
“In my mind, something broke during the season and went the other way. We couldn’t handle it,” Shesterkin said. “Probably not too much confidence.”
On Dec. 6, Shesterkin signed an eight-year, $92 million contract extension with the Rangers, making him the highest-paid goalie in NHL history.
After not really speaking much about it throughout the entirety of the season, Shesterkin admitted that the noise around his historic extension bothered him.
“I tried not to think about it, but to be honest, it was pretty tough because (there) was too much noise,” Shesterkin said. “I have a lot of time this summer to drown this noise and do what I want to do, play hockey.”
In 61 starts this season, Shesterkin posted a 27-29-5 record, 2.86 goals against average, .905 save percentage.
He made clear that both his performance as well as the team’s overall play was simply unacceptable.
“Not really enjoy my season, so of course I could play much better… Before when we won the Presidents’ Trophy, if we were down 3-0, we still know we can get back, but during the season I didn’t feel that sometimes,” said Shesterkin.
“We need to be stronger next season. Take this lesson and move on.”
Shesterkin plans to return to Russia in about a month for the summer where he’ll continue his offseason training.
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