Igor Shesterkin is in no rush.
He knows that sooner or later – could be sooner – Chris Drury will surrender. A white flag – in the form of a contract – will be flown over The World’s Most Famous Arena.
MSG will pay Iggy enough dough to buy Downtown Moscow and maybe even a piece of St. Petersburg.
Paymaster Drury hinted as much the other day at the annual media melee at training camp.
But, make no mistake, the dollar figure will matter and Rangers fans of various stripes haven’t hesitated to speak out against what some suggest might be a greedy Shesty demand.
“Anything over ten percent of the Cap should not happen,” Blue Collar Blueshirt website editor Sean McCaffrey told The Maven.
On X/Twitter, NYR Louie wrote, “Don’t give 10 percent Cap space to Igor. I can’t be the only guy in the Rangers community who wants to see what we have in (goalie) Dylan Garland before we give 10 percent of our Cap space to Igor.”
Right now the Shesterkin melodrama is in its second act titled: “When Will It Happen?” The Maven senses that – in his haste to avoid negotiations drifting into a season-long distraction – Drury will give away the store.
“It’s work for my agent,” Shesterkin told the media on Friday. “I don’t care about it.” (If you believe that Igor “doesn’t care,” then you believe that the cow jumped over the moon.)
A bonanza payoff will negatively affect contract talks with Alex Lafreniere whose youth makes him – in one sense – more valuable than Czar Igor.
Then, there’s the debate about greed. Or, as Leafs coach Craig Berube says, “It’s team first, not about individuals.”
Even if Shesty accepts 8 percent, you can rest assured he won’t be a pauper; either now or when he retires!
“I love the organization,” Igor concluded, “and the fans and the city but you never know what could happen.”
I hope for the sake of his team, Drury curbs Shesterkin’s enthu$ia$m.
