The New York Rangers are off to a surprisingly hot start to the season, with a 6-2-2 record thus far. They've also managed to pick up five of those six wins away from home, with a current road record of 5-1-1. While top players like Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have played a role in this, arguably the largest factor in the Rangers' early success has been goaltender Igor Shesterkin.

Shesterkin has started eight of the team's 10 games so far, posting an excellent .943 save percentage and a 1.85 goals against average. He's allowed one goal or less in five of his games so far, despite the fact that he's averaged 33 shots against per game. Shesterkin also sits second in the NHL in goals saved above average, according to HockeyReference.com.

He's had to be great so far, considering the Rangers aren't actually producing all that much offense. They rank 31st in shots for per game, ahead of only the Arizona Coyotes, and 26th overall in goals for per game. They really haven't had a ton of secondary scoring and as a result, they can't afford to allow many goals whatsoever.

Of New York's 10 games so far, they've scored more than three goals just one time and have scored two goals or less in half the games. Igor Shesterkin has had to be excellent in just about every one of his wins so far, given the Rangers have been outshot by a margin of 165-132 over his five victories this year. He's also managed at least a .966 save percentage in each of those five games. It's very telling that the team has allowed the 11th most high-danger chances of any team in the league (according to NaturalStatTrick.com), but is also tied for the ninth-fewest goals against. While we can expect the Rangers' offense to recover, given the team ranked 10th in the league in goals for per game last season, and it's unrealistic that Shesterkin can keep this current pace, he's going to have to continue to be great for New York to contend for the postseason.

The Rangers haven't reached the playoffs since 2017 (and no, the qualifying round in 2020 doesn't count). It's clear there's a focus for the team to get back to the postseason but it isn't going to be easy. They're also in a very difficult Metropolitan Division, where seven of the eight teams have above a .500 points percentage, while the Pittsburgh Penguins sit at 3-3-2. In the immediate future, the Rangers' upcoming schedule isn't overly easy either, with their next three games coming against the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers. It could also be said that the quality of competition the Rangers have faced so far hasn't been overly high, but again, you can't pick apart a team posting a 6-2-2 record to start the year, with seven of those games coming on the road.

New York committed to Shesterkin long-term this summer, signing him to a four-year contract at a $5.67 million cap hit and it's proving to be a bargain of a deal. It's interesting to think that Shesterkin actually only had 47 regular season games of NHL experience heading into the season, considering how heavily he's been relied upon so far.

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The Rangers do have a pretty decent backup option in Alexandar Georgiev as well but he simply isn't at the same level. There's no doubt Igor Shesterkin was the starter coming into the year, but I don't know that him taking eight out of 10 games was the assumption. If he can continue to be anywhere near this dominant though, how could the Rangers not try to to use Shesterkin as a 60-game starter?

There's certainly already a case to be made that Shesterkin is one of the best goalies in the world, with a .924 career NHL save percentage to this point. That said, if the team continues to rely on him as much as they have been so far and he can lead them to a postseason appearance, he deserves to be in the conversation surrounding who the NHL's top netminder is.

The Rangers will have a tough time remaining near the top of the Metropolitan Division standings this season but their strong start builds promise that this could be their year to finally return to the playoffs. When Shesterkin's in net, the Rangers have a chance to win just about every game and while his .943 save percentage is bound to drop, it wouldn't be shocking to see him finish the year above a .920 or even .925 save percentage.

If the Rangers do end up having success this season, we can be pretty confident that Igor Shesterkin will have a large role in it.