[brooks] Rangers Have to Test Igor Shesterkin’s Limits After Injury Return

[Scott]

Thoughts on goalies/Geertsen/Howden etc.

 

1. No sweeping statements or declarations of panic, but it should be somewhat of a concern that Igor Shesterkin has been sidelined with lower-body injuries on three different occasions within the first four-plus months and 26 starts of his NHL career.

 

Which in turn means that Alex Georgiev’s erratic start to 2020-21 becomes an added concern, as well. At this point, he is unreliable, disposed to surrendering goals on unscreened shots from the circles and unable to stop breakaways. There is every chance that Keith Kinkaid will get the nod in Pittsburgh Tuesday night.

 

Shesterkin missed three games with an ankle injury last February, missed the first two games under the bubble of the qualifying round with a groin issue, and is down again with a groin strain he sustained in last Thursday’s victory in New Jersey.

 

Does this mean that the 25-year-old Russian is injury-prone? That is probably a bridge too far, but this surely is something to monitor. By the way? After Henrik Lundqvist was sidelined for seven games late in his rookie 2005-06 season with a hip pointer, the Swede missed only two more due to injury (groin in 2010-11) over the next seven season.

 

 

Injury interruptions — including a two-week stretch last season following the automobile accident in which he was a victim — have played a role in limiting Shesterkin’s workload. So have decisions made by David Quinn, in conjunction with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire, not to give the Russian too much too soon.

 

 

Shesterkin — who skated in Pittsburgh on Monday while the team was off — has never started more than three straight games in the NHL. He has compiled a streak that long only twice, once last year and once this season. He never played more than 39 games in a KHL season, though he did play in 25 of the Wolf Pack’s 36 games last year before his promotion to New York.

 

But when Shesterkin regains his health, it will be time to give him a run. The Rangers need to know if they can lean on the heir. They might also need to see if he can stay healthy.

 

 

 

2. The Bruins have left both physical and psychological imprints upon the Blueshirts through their first four confrontations, all of which were played in New York. Nick Ritchie barreled through the crease and elbowed Shesterkin in the head without retribution on Feb. 26 before he conveniently landed on Georgiev’s head two days later. Brendan Lemieux threw down with Ritchie at the buzzer of the Feb. 28 contest.

 

The B’s have targeted Ryan Lindgren and have been unafraid to flaunt their physicality against a Rangers team that just doesn’t have the necessities to match up in a survival-of-the-fittest.

 

So, is it a coincidence with a pair coming up in Boston on Thursday and Saturday, that the Blueshirts signed Mason Geertsen, a 25-year-old, 6-foot-4, 215-pound career minor league semi-hooligan who had been in Hartford on an AHL contract, to an NHL two-way deal last week and then moved him from defense to wing?

 

 

Could Geertsen — who has picked up 519 PIMs, 43 fighting majors and 55 points (7-48) in 317 pro games after having fought 34 times while playing junior in the WHL, according to Hockeyfights.com — be promoted for these games in order to act as a deterrent/avenger against the B’s?

 

 

 

3. Brett Howden, whose offensive game has entirely evaporated, probably would have been better off starting in Hartford if the AHL had run a normal season. But Howden now has played in enough games to lose his waivers-exempt status. Hence, no one should expect to see No. 21 on the taxi squad or dressing for the Wolf Pack. At a cap hit of $863,333 on the final year of his entry-level deal, there is no way he would get through waivers.

 

One would anticipate a healthy scratch is in the offing for Howden, and if not imminently, then at least when Artemi Panarin returns to the lineup.

 

 

4. There is no update or ETA regarding Panarin, who continues to tend to issues that have arisen in conjunction with the uncorroborated and discredited assault allegations levied against him in Russia more than two weeks ago.

[ThirtyONE]

Funny this is exactly what I said about Shesty elsewhere. No more goalie rotation. Georgiev is unreliable at best. It's time to let Shesterkin roll with the good and bad. He's by far the best goalie. Even if he loses a game, he has to go out there pretty much every night at this point. There aren't many games left in the season. There's no risk of overplaying him.

 

re #2: I highly doubt the Bruins are going to be scared off by a guy who can't play hockey let alone keep up with them long enough to pummel them.

[Dunny]

I like the idea of dressing a total goon in situations like this, but I'm not sure Geertson is really in that league. I honestly don't know.

 

I was ribbing a NHLer once over 20 Bud Lights, that he better watch out next time they play the Rangers or Disco Dale Purrinton would make them all pay. He was unimpressed, and said Dale would be unable to catch anybody in the league in order to intimidate them. He was only scary in pre-arranged affairs, so I'd agree with ThirtyONE.

[CBrowningPI]

I think it's great to have a 6'4" monster on the 4th line running amuck for 9 minutes a night. Hope he's entertaining.

[Scott]

I'm sure Dylan McIlrath could be had for a price.