Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the latest on the New York Rangers and Igor Shesterkin.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ron MacLean: “Elliotte, you could do 20 minutes on the New York Rangers, but how about a couple?”
Friedman: “I’d love to do 20 minutes. I don’t know if the audience would enjoy this much, though. Ron.
Well, first of all, the big story of the week is Shesterkin, no question about it, in the turning down of an eight times $11 million a year offer.
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And one of the things that came out of this was, does the start of the season really mean the end of negotiations? Because there had been a soft deadline on the start of the year to get this done.
Well, look, I think there were some hard feelings this week that this got out, but the overall position seems to be that the Rangers believe that if they can get to a number that makes Shesterkin happy, that the start of the season doesn’t mean this can’t get done at some point. And that’s what representatives are for, to handle all this.
And I generally hear that the word is that the Rangers feel if they get to a number that he likes, they can still get it done in season. We’ll see what happens.
I have heard many times that Shesterkin is positioned himself as the Rangers best player and most important player. I don’t think anybody would disagree with that, and that is the target here, at least. Right now, Panarin, and is their highest-paid player at about $11.64 million.
MacLean: “So is that it? If they just get above that? Because I would argue that Adam Fox, although Panarin’s good tonight. By the way, Utah Hockey Club, leading 5-3 and Shesterkin’s given up all five goals . But you got Fox to consider, if you’re the Rangers and say, ‘Well, what about him?’ He’s only making $9.5 (million), and you’ve got the Carey Price benchmark. That’s always been an argument that they’ve
made.
Friedman: “Yeah, there’s no question that $10.5 (million) for Carey Price, the Rangers have clearly said, indicated that he will be the highest paid goalie in the NHL, but how much bigger. It’s a good debate.
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Some people who negotiate say, you never want to move that far. Others say, You know what? If the player is worth it, and there’s no question Shesterkin is worth it, you just go and you make the deal.”