Rangers Roundup: John Lilley named Director of Player Personnel and Amateur Scouting; Igor Shesterkin deal being held up?
The New York Rangers made another front office hire. John Lilley will now be the Director of Player Personnel and Amateur Scouting. He was last with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as their Director of Scouting.
Rangers hire John Lilley
Per the Rangers Press Release:
New York Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury announced today that John Lilley has been named Director of Player Personnel and Director of Amateur Scouting.
Prior to joining the Rangers, Lilley served as Director of Amateur Scouting with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he held since 2018. Lilley originally joined the Leafs organization in 2006 as an amateur scout before being promoted to Director of United States Scouting in 2016.
Lilley was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in 1990. The forward played parts of three seasons with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, now known as just the Anaheim Ducks. In 23 career games he scored 11 points from 1993-1996.
He’s from Wakesfield, Massachusetts, and played for Team USA in the 1994 Winter Olympics.
What the hold up on Igor Shesterkin’s new deal?
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin did not file for salary arbitration this past weekend. That had everyone believing a new contract was in the works for the Rangers number one goaltender.
This past season, Igor Shesterkin made 35 appearances winning 16 of those games. The 25 year-old was tied for 7th in the NHL in SV% (.916), and 11th in GAA (2.62) for all goalies having played at least 25 games. When you use that same minimum games played among rookies, Shesterkin was the top backstop in SV% and ranked second in GAA to only Dallas Stars netminder Jake Oettinger (2.36).
So what’s the hold up?
It’s quite possible a deal is in place but not yet finalized. Chris Drury is still working on potential trades and would like to hold his cap position secretive. A page out of Lou Lamoriello’s playbook,
For arguments sake, if the Rangers were to complete a trade for Jack Eichel without moving any significant salary the other way, they would have an estimated $3M to $4M in cap space left.
If Drury were to sign Shesterkin to a 6 year deal around $6 million before that, they’d be over the cap. That would clearly show they a need to shed salary and consequently diminish the return on other players.
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