Bet, Hold or Fold: New York Rangers goalies and leaders.

Bet, Hold or Fold: New York Rangers goalies and leaders.

Following on from an examination of the New York Rangers defenders, scoring and depth forwards, today we look at the Rangers depth pieces and ask if they should bet (back them), hold (keep, but look to upgrade) or fold (get rid!).

Igor Shesterkin – Bet

Season stats: 27 wins, 29 losses, 6 shutouts, 2.86 GAA, .905 SV%, +8.4 GSAA (61 games)

Particulars: Age 29 season, $11,500,000 cap hit in 2026, signed through 2032.

About to become the highest-paid goalie in the history of the sport, Shesterkin, at times this season, must have felt like Jon Snow:

Shesterkin’s wins/loss record doesn’t do his play justice, the Russian often putting forward a stellar performance in a 3-2 loss, playing in front of a defense that was at best inattentive and at worst negligent.

The numbers suggest this is Shesterkin’s worst season as a pro. The eye test, however, shows a player who was asked to carry far too much of a load than is fair for any goalie.

Jonathan Quick – Hold

Season stats: 11 wins, 7 losses, 3 shutouts, 3.17 GAA, .893 SV%, -4.2 GSAA (24 games)

Particulars: Age 39 season, $1,550,000 cap hit in 2026, signed through 2026.

Quick’s form in his first season as a Ranger had this writer asking if he should assume the role of first choice goalie. Whilst his second season for his boyhood club hasn’t been nearly as good, Quick remains one of the best backups in the NHL. Like Shesterkin, he has suffered playing behind a team that has, at times, barely cared for the working conditions of their netminders. Still, he’s worth keeping around for one more season as the Rangers look to blood Dylan Garrand, or as a starter should Shesterkin miss any time.

Coach Peter Laviolette – Fold

Whilst it was always going to happen, the Rangers fired Laviolette earlier this week.

Let’s be clear: Much of what ails the Rangers is not Laviolette’s fault. But it’s equally as clear that he is unable to cure the Rangers’ ills. Last season, Laviolette led the Rangers to 55 wins and 117 points; both franchise records. This season could barely be more of a contrast.

He failed to unite the dressing room in light of the shedding of Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba. His 1-3-1 system, which requires aggressive forechecking and the ability to hold up play in the neutral zone, is not natural to the majority of his players. A season after it worked spectacularly, the collective intensity of the team has dropped and with it the system has collapsed.

New York’s special teams carried the Rangers at times last season. This season the power play has dropped from 26.4% (3rd in the NHL) to 17.62, ranked 27th. The penalty kill was a parsimonious 84.5% (3rd) last campaign, to a decent if unspectacular 80.33% (10th) this time around.

Whilst Laviolette isn’t Iron Mike Keenan, he’s not exactly a player’s coach, either. With the roster in disarray after Drury’s upheaval, he failed to get control of his locker room, leading to the swoon that ultimately derailed the campaign. He failed to effectively communicate with Kaapo Kakko before he was moved, has already been called out by Calvin de Haan and hasn’t handled the Zac Jones situation well at all.

And that is a perfect segue into Laviolette’s reluctance to hand more responsibility to young players or, more specifically, take responsibility away from under-performing veterans. Amongst others, Mika Zibanejad and especially Chris Kreider have seen little to no retribution from Laviolette for their at times awful performances this season. With a raft of prospects coming through, New York would be negligent to not bring in a coach who can develop their young talent.

Chris Drury’s kingdom for a Kris Knoblauch! Speaking of Drury…

General Manager Chris Drury – Hold

The team this week extended Drury’s contract, despite the poor season, in what is clearly a message to a fractured locker room that they won’t be able to wait out the GM’s tenure, so best fall into line.

Drury certainly played a major role in fracturing that locker room, his treatment of Barclay Goodrow and former skipper Jacob Trouba irking the remaining veterans. To be fair, however…he wasn’t wrong. Trouba’s play had fallen off a cliff in the back half of last season and hadn’t improved despite the team’s strong play at the beginning of this one. Goodrow, for all his playoff heroics, has been one of the worst regular skaters in hockey this season, unable to make an impact on the moribund San Jose Sharks.

To that end, you must give credit to Drury for realising that this team peaked last season and for getting out ahead in the retooling of the squad, rather than sitting on his laurels with a team that too often relied on Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and stellar goaltending to get them through.

On the trade front, most of his moves (sorry, Carson Soucy) have either worked outright or have been measured positives. Whilst he has brought more youngsters through this season, his coach – as discussed above – didn’t make the best use of them.

To that end, the writer’s main gripe with Drury was not acting sooner on Laviolette, who was clearly mailing it in through the back half of the campaign. Would it have been worth it to see what Michael Peca could do in the big chair? Sure, he may have flamed out, but if you’re trying to rebuild on the fly and the coach has lost the locker room, why not make the move?

Overall, next season could make or break Drury. He inherited a team that wasn’t his and due to their relative success, had no real choice other than to ride the wave. Now, with his prospects coming through and a series of hand-picked players arriving via trade, Drury will be judged purely on his own work.

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