How the Rangers should handle Igor Shesterkin's contract offer from here

I've read the various analyzes on why it's so risky to give goalies generous, long-term contracts like the one Igor Shesterkin is seeking, and they all make perfect sense.

Additionally, there appears to be an immediate consensus that the eight-year, $66 million contract recently signed between the Bruins and 25-year-old Jeremy Swayman, which carries an annual cap hit of $8.25 million, is a template for goaltenders should serve.

But here's the thing: none of that applies in this case. The Rangers have already crossed the Rubicon. Ownership, management, GM Chris Drury, they've already grown to eight years and $88 million, The Post has confirmed.

The Rangers aren't trying to limit Shesterkin's tenure to six years through his age-34 season. You don't charge the goalie pennies unless you want to add up the sum of pennies and pennies that equals the total of the offer.

Management has taken the philosophical leap. Unless I'm missing something, they want their franchise goalie to be their franchise goalie. And after speaking to enough people over the past few days, I don't believe Drury or the Rangers were the source of the leak that prompted ESPN's Kevin Weekes to report the offer.

As I wrote for Wednesday's print edition, this was never Drury's style. The leak does not benefit the team. In reality, it does no one any good. It creates controversy at the opener's door that the organization would never invite.

As for Swayman, remember that he had a December 1st deadline that he had to meet or he wouldn't have been able to play in the NHL this season. Shesterkin is under contract, and the team's most important player – and by far the best player in the last three playoffs – was the Blueshirts' sixth-highest paid player.

Now it's all about dollars. Let me change that. For the Rangers, it's all about dollars. But if for Shesterkin and his camp the philosophy is to eliminate the contractual boundary between a goalie and a position player, for Drury it presents a more complicated equation.

There once was a demarcation between forwards' and defensemen's contracts, happily pushed by Boston's Raymond Bourque, who was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the all-powerful GM Harry Sinden. It took the great Scott Stevens to reset the bar through back-to-back offer sheets.

If that's the case, if it's a statement contract, I can't imagine Leon Draisaitl's extension with the Oilers next season, where the club's second-best player will be at 15.91 percent of the cap in 2025-26 ($14 million). helped move things forward.

Again, if the Rangers believe they can build a Cup winner on the back of an $11 million goalie, there's really no argument that adding another $750,000 or $1 million to the pot kills the plan would.

At this point, if I'm the Rangers, I'm making Shesterkin a contract offer that would make him the highest-paid player per year in franchise history at $12 million per year. If that's not enough, then play out the season because there's no viable immediate plan B and deal with it later.

They play the season the way the Yankees played with Aaron Judge in 2022. They play the season the way the Yankees are playing now with Juan Soto.

It's about this year for the Rangers. They have their franchise goalie under contract. Even if next year has to wait, at least the franchise has plenty of practice at it.