Alexey Dementiev, goalkeeper agentRangers “Igor Shesterkin, in an interview with , expressed his opinion when it is better for players to debut in the overseas league.
26 years Shesterkin became the third Russian goaltender to win the Vezina Trophy for the NHL’s top goaltender. Previously it was directed by Sergey Bobrovsky (2013, 2017) and Andrey Vasilevsky (2019).
– Shesterkin moved to America, winning the Gagarin Cup and the Olympics. It turns out that for a career it is better to leave as an adult – so there are more chances to play at the base of the NHL club?
– Each player has an individual starting age in the NHL, so it is difficult to give a universal opinion on this question. I will say this: if earlier the first draft picks could immediately bring results in NHL games, then among those who were chosen not so long ago, one can only remember Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid – the rest of the top second-draft picks are in the shadows, needing to prepare physically and mentally to fully compete with current NHL players.
In my opinion, the optimal age to start playing in the NHL is 20 to 23: remember Malkin, Tarasenko, Ovechkin, Panarin, they all started playing around that age. As for goalkeepers, in addition to physical and mental preparation, you have to “mature”. So I wouldn’t change anything about how far Igor has come: he left for the NHL in time, managed to mature as a person, and as an athlete, he did it in a great system. Everything is on the rise, and Vézina, with a huge margin over its competitors, confirms the correctness of the stages chosen by Igor.
Text: Andrey Petrov
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
