Insider Hints at Igor Shesterkin's Reason for Rejecting Record Contract

The New York Rangers started their season with a bang on Wednesday as they went on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 on the road. That, however, wasn't the biggest news popping up of late in Manhattan.

According to ESPN's Kevin Weekes, breaking the news on Tuesday, Rangers star goalie Igor Shesterkin has rejected a massive eight-year, $88 million contract offer that would have made him the highest-paid netminder in NHL history.

Wild theories didn't take long to start emerging, with New York Post's Larry Brooks hinting at a potential leak and Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman offering his thoughts on why Shesterkin rejected the offer.

According to Friedman, writing about it on Wednesday's 32 Thoughts column over Sportsnet, Shesterkin's reasons appear to be rooted in his desire to be compensated as the Rangers' best player.

“New York’s highest-paid player is the sublime and superb Artemi Panarin. His cap hit is slightly above $11.64 million," Friedman wrote. "I believe Shesterkin’s representatives (agent is Rick Komarow) have a simple argument: Igor is your best player; he should be compensated as such.

"In theory, no one disagrees. In practice, we’ve got a problem. And the problem is the position."

According to Friedman, Shesterkin’s camp is likely targeting a salary of around $12.58 million per year, which would match Panarin’s percentage of the salary cap.

"The more teams and agents you talk to, the more you hear 'percentage of cap' being the critical indicator," Friedman wrote. "No agent or player wishes to sign something that looks relatively small if things go where predicted.

"Panarin is at 14.29 (percent). Without knowing for sure, I suspect this is closer to Shesterkin’s initial ask. That would be $12.58M."

When asked about his contract situation and talks with the Rangers after the season opener, Shesterkin deflected the question and didn't entertain that topic of conversation, via Peter Baugh.

“I don’t want to talk about my contract," Shesterkin told reporters. "If you want, we can talk about our team. We played a really good game today. If you have other questions, we can talk about (Victor) Mancini, (Alexis Lafrenière's) goal, anything you want."

Related: Rangers' Igor Shesterkin Breaks Silence on Rejected Contract Report