A week ago, it probably would have been a challenge to identify the Rangers’ best player to date. In responding to a question about Igor Shesterkin’s season, head coach Gerard Gallant said, “Igor has been our best player for the last year-and-half.”
Putting aside the problematic math, though Shesterkin was the club’s best player by leaps and bounds during his 2021-22 Vezina Trophy-winning season, the netminder had not established a baseline of excellence this season. His save percentage that has hovered around the NHL average of .906 equates to cold pizza in the aftermath of the 26-year-old Russian’s landmark .935 a season ago, which rated as the third-best in NHL history among goaltenders with at least 50 games played.
But if not Shesterkin through the early weeks of this season, then who has been the Rangers’ best player? Again, a week ago, the answer may not have been apparent.
Now it is.
