Rumor: Rangers call up may have been a precursor to a goalie trade.

The New York Rangers made a very exciting move on Monday when they recalled goaltender of the future Igor Shesterkin, but there may be more here than meets the eye. Although I initially suspect that Shesterkin was merely being called in to backup Alexander Georgiev, it now appears that may not be the case.

From our report earlier today:

According to an official release from the New York Rangers, the organization has recalled goaltender Igor Shesterkin from their American Hockey League affiliate team, the Hartford Wolf Pack. The move has generated a ton of buzz due to the fact that Shesterkin is viewed by many as the future of the organization, at least as far as goaltending is concerned, and it will now potentially pit the Rangers two young goaltenders against one another in the short term.

Although I speculated that Georgiev and Shesterkin would be fighting for a spot here it now seems as though the Rangers are about to hold a little showcase for their 3 goaltenders. A report from National Hockey League insider Larry Brooks has now revealed that, in spite of the fact that Lundqvist is still currently sick the call up of Shesterkin was not related to his illness. This would indicate to me immediately that the plan moving forward for the Rangers is to pull the trigger on trading one of their goaltenders. The question that remains now is which of these 3 goalies will be playing for a different team come the start of next season?

Update: More information from Rangers insider Larry Brooks, and one again it is very insightful. According to Brooks Shesterkin has a clause in his contract that would allow him to return to Europe and play there and he may have been flexing it. This is only speculation at this time but it comes from Larry Brooks so it's like highly accurate. Reading between the lines it seems fair to suggest that Shesterkin may in fact have pressured the Rangers to call him up, and I don't blame him one bit for wanting to finally get a taste of action at the NHL level. The ball is now in the Rangers court.