Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin brushes off contract questions ahead of deal’s final year: ‘Don’t care’

Having the right mindset has been a key to Igor Shesterkin’s game for most of his NHL career.

So it wasn’t surprising to hear the star Rangers netminder brush off questions about his pending unrestricted free agent status at the conclusion of this upcoming season.

Shesterkin has dodged inquiries about his next contract before, memorably after last season’s conference final loss, when he apologized and claimed he didn’t speak English.

The 28-year-old goalie made it clear on Friday he wants to focus on the season, the team and his performance.

“I have one more year,” Shesterkin said bluntly after a near two-hour double practice session on the second day of training camp at MSG Training Center. “I don’t care about it.”

Asked if it was important for his camp and the Rangers to get something done quickly, Shesterkin said it was up to his agent. He again expressed wanting to keep his attention on practice and his game.

As for whether or not he’s expressed wanting to remain in New York, Shesterkin gushed about the club before leaving his answer open ended.

“I love the organization,” he said. “I love the team. I love the fans. So, of course, it would be great to stay here, but you never know what can happen.”

Shesterkin returned to his home country of Russia this summer for the first time since 2021.

As he usually does when he’s there, Shesterkin trained and prepared for the season with his two Russian coaches.

He was there for two weeks, over which he was able to see lots of friends he hadn’t seen in awhile and have some dinners.

“It was pretty nice, a little bit refreshing,” Shesterkin said. “I didn’t see my friends for a long time, Russian culture. It was pretty nice to be there.”

One of the few changes around the Rangers this season was losing goalie guru Benoit Allaire on a day-to-day basis.

Allaire is still in the organization, serving as the director of goaltending, but he scaled back on his regular duties.

No one will feel that more than Shesterkin, who said everything has felt the same despite Allaire’s absence.

Shesterkin said he expects Allaire to join their sessions soon.

“I know he talks with the new goalie coach [Jeff Malcolm] every day,” he added. “I think it was the same practices, everything is the same. Sometimes [Allaire] can come.”

Ben Harpur and Connor Mackey skated with the main group on Friday, which sent Chad Ruhwedel and Matthew Robertson to a different one.

Additionally, Adam Edstrom was not with the main group.

As head coach Peter Laviolette promised on Thursday, Matt Rempe rejoined the main group.

Goalie Jonathan Quick participated in practice on Friday after skating on his own for maintenance purposes on Thursday.

He did not finish the double session, however, which was again for maintenance reasons.