New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin will miss the rest of the 2026-27 season after suffering a right knee injury Friday night against the Washington Capitals.
Shesterkin left the Rangers’ 3-1 loss at Capital One Arena in the second period. On a Capitals power play, he scrambled back toward his crease, jammed his right skate into the post, and fell awkwardly into the net.
Teammates Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson helped him off the ice because he could not put weight on the right leg. He stopped 13 of 14 shots before exiting.
The Rangers confirmed the season-ending diagnosis Saturday after further testing. The 30-year-old Russian had appeared in five games and posted a 3-1-0 record with a 1.79 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.
Shesterkin scored the first goal of his NHL career on Oct. 1 in a 5-1 home-opener win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He lofted the puck the length of the ice into an empty net late in the third period.
In 330 career games, all with the Rangers, Shesterkin holds a 2.51 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2021-22 as the NHL’s top goaltender and signed an eight-year contract that carries an $11,567,857 salary-cap hit, the highest in the league for a goalie.
The injury lands at a difficult time for a team that entered Friday having won four straight games and relied heavily on Shesterkin’s early-season form. The Capitals snapped that streak with the 3-1 victory.
Backup Joonas Korpisalo remains sidelined with a lower-body injury and is expected to miss another four weeks. Center Joe Veleno is out three to three-and-a-half months with a lower-body injury of his own.
That leaves 24-year-old Dylan Garand as the primary option in net for the foreseeable future. Garand cleared waivers earlier in the season and was recalled from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. He finished Friday’s game with 11 saves on 12 shots after replacing Shesterkin.
New York Post reporter Mollie Walker described the situation this way: “Worst-case scenario for Rangers with Igor Shesterkin. Devastating news for a team that is off to such a great start, which No. 31 had such a hand in. Rookie Dylan Garand goes from last round of training camp cuts as third-stringer to Blueshirts No. 1 for at least the next month.”
Defenseman Adam Fox addressed the loss after the Capitals game.
“Definitely not a good feeling for anyone seeing anyone on your team go down, especially a guy like that who’s kind of the pillar on the back end there. You know, it (stinks). Obviously, we’re hoping for the best for him.”
Because Shesterkin’s injury is season-ending, the Rangers can place him on long-term injured reserve and gain nearly the full value of his $11.57 million cap hit in flexibility. The club was already operating close to the upper limit before the injury.
Shesterkin had missed roughly a month last season with a lower-body issue. That absence contributed to the Rangers finishing last in the Eastern Conference in 2025-26. His strong start this year had helped the club reverse that trajectory early.
Coach Mike Sullivan said after Friday’s game that the situation was concerning and noted Shesterkin’s importance to the group. Captain J.T. Miller called him a pillar of the team and said the Rangers would not let the injury take the wind out of their sails.
Garand made 22 saves in a 2-0 shutout at Detroit earlier in the season. His previous NHL experience with the Rangers consists of a handful of appearances, including a 2-0-1 record, 1.62 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in three starts last year.
The Rangers face the Vancouver Canucks at home on Sunday. They will need consistent play from Garand and the rest of the roster while management evaluates short-term options in net.
