“The last year at SKA before leaving, we paid a lot of attention to psychology. It was necessary to survive in the NHL ”- coach Shesterkina

Goalkeeper coach Rashit Davydov in an interview with expressed the opinion that the example of a goalkeeper New York Rangers Igor Shesterkin motivate young players.

Davydov has been working with Shesterkin since the goalkeeper played at SKA St. Petersburg. The Russian arrived in North America in 2019 and started playing in the NHL in 2020.

Shesterkin became the third Russian goaltender to win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender. Previously it was directed by Sergey Bobrovsky (2013, 2017) and Andrey Vasilevsky (2019).

— Igor’s example is inspiring. He had great formative years in St. Petersburg, where he grew technically, tactically and mentally. He had to prove it, overcoming some resistance. And that toughened him up. The last year at SKA before leaving, we paid a lot of attention to psychology, so Igor was ready for it. Because the NHL had to survive. Before leaving, I told him: “Igor, don’t worry about technique and tactics, you’re doing everything well. Just take it there. And everything will go just fine.”

And when he arrived, the Rangers told him, “You’re the first Russian who doesn’t need retraining.”

You remember, Shesterkin played 25 games for the Hartford farm club, saved 93.4% of the shots. And he grew up in the NHL, and he went there, went there. It was predictable. But it’s good that it happened in practice. After all, all sorts of factors can interfere. And it’s a great example of motivating young goalkeepers on how to achieve their goal. The fact that our Russian goalkeepers receive such awards becomes the best goalkeepers in the league. This means that the training system of our goalkeepers is effective and at times we are even ahead of our colleagues. This is not bravado, but a fact. Strangers write to me and admit it themselves,” Davydov told .