These are two very different situations, and it will be near impossible for the Rangers to bungle it as badly as the Islanders did three years ago.
But the Blueshirts are carrying three goalies, just as their suburban rivals did for a large portion of the 2016-17 season before it blew up in their face. The Rangers just called up Igor Shesterkin, and the Russian heir apparent to Henrik Lundqvist is set to make his NHL debut on Tuesday night at the Garden against the Avalanche. Lundqvist was set to back up, while the emerging Alex Georgiev would be a scratch.
When the Islanders had their three-goalie situation, none of the three was a top prospect like Shesterkin, nor a legend like Lundqvist. And still, it turned into a debacle.
“It’s fine at first, but then as time as goes, if there’s still three — and even if they’re all good teammates, good friends, want to win — that’s when it becomes an issue,” said one person who had close knowledge of the Islanders situation during that time. “What’s the length of time? How are their attitudes, how are their practices, as time goes on? It can be a bit of an issue.”
Back at the start of 2016-17, the Islanders had a net that was set to be split between Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss, but general manager Garth Snow then claimed Jean-Francois Berube off waivers from the Kings during the preseason. If the Islanders tried to send Berube down to AHL Bridgeport, he would have to clear waivers again — and likely the Kings would have claimed him back.
So Berube stayed, and the three goalies struggled to divide practice time. Halak’s agent, Allan Walsh, took to Twitter to vocalize what everyone was thinking — that the arrangement was untenable and was bad for all three goalies. Snow responded by sending Halak to the minors just after Christmas, keeping him there for over three months before it was clear the club needed him if they wanted to make a late playoff push.
By then, coach Jack Capuano had been fired, replaced by neophyte headman Doug Weight. The club ended up missing the playoffs by one point, and Snow and Weight lasted only through the next season before new owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky hired Lou Lamoriello to run all hockey operations, quickly dismissing the two.
The three-goalie situation was a big stain on Snow’s resume. He needed to trade the Golden Knights first- and second-round picks, among other assets, so they would choose Berube in the 2017 expansion draft. Halak left and is excelling in Boston. Only Greiss remains.
The Rangers promoted Shesterkin because he was dominating the AHL in his first season in North America, and with a European Assignment Clause in his contract, he could have returned to Russia’s KHL at any time. General manager Jeff Gorton needs to know what he has in Shesterkin as the Feb. 24 trade deadline approaches, with Georgiev possibly becoming attractive to teams needing help in goal and trying to make the playoffs.
Lundqvist, set to turn 38 years old on March 2, has one more year left on his contract with an annual $8.5 million salary-cap hit. The career-long Ranger with a no-move clause in his contract chose to stay through this rebuild, and that likely isn’t going to change.
The person with knowledge of the Islanders said the most important thing during this stretch is that coach David Quinn and his staff continue to communicate with the three goaltenders. Quinn has said that the team is focused on the present and “not worried about three weeks from now or three months from now.”
The Islanders said the same thing. Although it was a very different situation, it remains one that can’t last for very long. It would be tough for the Rangers to mess it up as badly as their neighbors did, but history shows that it’s only going to get more difficult the longer it drags on.
“[In general], if you have one guy with an attitude, it can ruin a whole [locker] room,” the Islanders person said. “They’re all going to accept it because they have to accept it. But the big issue is what happens as time goes on.”
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