Rangers Move Igor Shesterkin to Season-Ending IR
It’s officially official: Igor Shesterkin won’t play again this season. The silver lining? The Rangers just freed up a lot more room under the cap.
We all knew it was the case, but it still stings knowing it's officially official. The New York Rangers have placed goaltender Igor Shesterkin on season-ending injured reserve. This means that no matter what, their star goaltender will be ineligible to play at any point this season, including the entirety of a potential postseason.
The #NYR have moved Shesterkin from Long Term Injured Reserve to Season Ending Injured Reserve. This means he is now ineligible to play this regular season and playoffs.
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) November 15, 2026
Moving him to SELTIR increases their LTIR benefit from the benefit limit of $3.9M to his full cap hit of…
By doing this, the Rangers are able to increase their long-term injured reserve (LTIR) benefit from the $3.9 million limit to Shesterkin's entire cap hit of $11.57 million. This means the Rangers now have $10.5 million in available cap space.
What does this mean exactly? Perhaps nothing. However, in the event president and general manager Chris Drury decides to make any trades this season, he now has extra room under this year's cap. According to MoneyPuck, the Rangers currently have an 83 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 43.1 percent chance of winning a round.
Playoff chances as of Sunday https://t.co/RbnckCMfDn pic.twitter.com/339vcBZ4xQ
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) November 15, 2026
The decision to move Shesterkin from LTIR to season-ending injured reserve (SELTIR) could mean two things. Either there's absolutely no chance of him returning in any capacity before next season, or the Rangers could be exploring opportunities to improve the roster this season sooner rather than later. With Thanksgiving acting as the typical league-wide benchmark in the standings, the Rangers could be viewing that as an opportunity to make a move.
