Igor Shesterkin saw an opportunity and let the puck fly.
Sure, he’s a goalie, but the other net was empty. He had space to flip the puck down to the other end of the ice. Why not aim it centrally and see if he could score a goal?
Well, his aim was true.
The New York Rangers, for the first time in their history, had scored a goalie goal.
That stat, though, isn’t the most astounding from the moment.
This is: Shesterkin is the first member of the Rangers’ 2014 NHL Draft class to score a goal in the NHL.
Shesterkin’s Other History
Think about that stat for a second. An entire draft class, 12 years ago, no one having scored a goal in the NHL.
And then it’s the goalie who ends the drought.
It’s certainly a brutal miss of a year in the draft by the Rangers, the kind that can set an organization back.
The fact that it’s a dozen years ago means the impact is mostly gone, but it certainly was costly for a while.
At least they got Shesterkin, who isn’t a goal scorer but certainly gets the job done in goal.
The fact that this is a real stat shows you just how bad scouting was under the Sather/Clarke regime for a bit there. Giving away first round picks like a business that was closing down doesn’t help either. #NYR https://t.co/I7utq7RjEI
— John (@92In82) October 2, 2026
The Rangers will take the goalie goal, but they’ll otherwise try to forget about the outcomes of that draft class.
New York Rangers 2014 NHL Draft Class
The Rangers started things poorly that year because they didn’t have a first-round pick.
They had dealt it to the Tampa Bay Lightning along with Ryan Callahan and their 2015 first-round pick for Martin St. Louis.
The Lightning later sent the 28th pick to the Islanders, who used it on Josh Hosang — who did finish his NHL career with seven goals before attempting to begin a rap career.
As for the Rangers, these were their picks that year:
- Round 2, Pick 59: Brandon Halverson
- Round 3, Pick 85: Keegan Iverson
- Round 4, Pick 104: Ryan Mantha
- Round 4, Pick 118: Igor Shesterkin
- Round 5, Pick 122: Richard Nejezchleb
- Round 5, Pick 140: Daniel Walcott
- Round 5, Pick 142: Tyler Nanne
Halverson was actually a goalie also, so goals weren’t coming from him. He’s currently in the AHL with the Texas Stars.
Iverson was a center in the WHL at the time, but he topped out at the AHL level.
Mantha was a defenseman in the USHL who made it to the AHL but no further.
Nejezchleb also topped out at the AHL before playing in Europe on the right wing.
Walcott, a left winger, did make the NHL for a single game with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-21. He had five penalty minutes and was a minus-1 and was still playing in the AHL as recently as last season.
Nanne was drafted while in the USHL and never got further than a season in the AHL.
Yep, not a draft class to write home about for the Rangers aside from Shesterkin.
Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin Goalie Goal Comes With Depressing Truth