The New York Rangers are believed to have lost goalie Igor Shesterkin to a season-ending injury.
There’s one move the Rangers made, though, that leaves the door open for Shesterkin to potentially come back this season.
To be clear: It’s a long shot, but the path is technically still open.
Is Igor Shesterkin Out for the Season?
The Rangers have announced that Shesterkin’s injury is season-ending.
He was hurt when his leg got caught on the post earlier in the week, and it looked bad from the beginning.
The Rangers confirmed Saturday that Shesterkin was indeed going to be out for the year.
However, there’s a roster move that they haven’t made yet that impacts this slightly differently.
Shesterkin’s IR Spot
The Rangers did put Shesterkin on long-term injured reserve.
But they did not put him on the season-ending version of that list.
They still are able to make that move, but it hasn’t been made yet.
As long as Shesterkin is on LTIR but not the season-ending version, he still technically can play this season.
This is how NHL insider Frank Seravalli explained it on X on Sunday morning:
#NYR note: Rangers put Igor Shesterkin on LTIR yesterday, but not the “season ending” LTIR list.
They can always move him there later – Dallas did this last year with Tyler Seguin when they needed more space.
NYR get $3.97m in space now and full amount if on season ending, which also formally the closes door on a return.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 11, 2026
It seems the Rangers have decided not to totally end the thought of a Shesterkin recovery yet, even if it’s a long shot.
They’d likely make the full move to the season-ending list once they need that extra salary cap space.
Rangers’ Backup Goalie
The new starter will be Dylan Garand, who was backing up Shesterkin.
The Rangers are still without the injured Joonas Korpisalo, who is probably out for another month at least.
So it’ll be Garand getting a ton of work in the near-term for the Rangers.
They’ve also called up goalie Spencer Martin from the AHL level. He’d be the next man up at this point if the Rangers need to spend time with Garand off the ice.
It’s certainly not ideal for a New York team that got off to a great start to the season, but they’ll have to make do with what they’ve got.
Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin Injury Isn’t Yet Officially Season-Ending