The Ferda Room: Shesterkin is done, and the Rangers need a net

The Rangers lost Igor Shesterkin for the season on Friday, and by Saturday the whole league was shopping for them. He jammed his right skate into a post in Washington, and New York's net now belongs to a 24-year-old with five NHL games.

The room splits on the fix. Marcus wants New York to take the cap relief and rent, Gord says nothing happens this week, and Sully wants a goalie by Friday.

The big one: Shesterkin is out for the season

Marcus Lind — What the numbers say

The number is about $380,000, which is the Rangers' cap space this weekend, with 47 of 50 contracts on the books. They can't add a goalie without long-term injured reserve.

The new CBA makes that a real choice, because relief is capped near $4 million when a player is expected back. The full amount, about $11.5 million here, opens only if New York rules him out for the playoffs too.

My call is to take the full relief, rent a goalie on an expiring deal and refuse to buy term. Connor Hellebuyck has five more years at $8.5 million, and putting him beside Shesterkin's six means $20 million a year in goalies.

I wrote last week that the $875,000 backup was their best value. Now he's the plan.

Gord Tremblay — Where it goes from here

Friedman's word on Saturday was not to expect Hellebuyck in New York, because two long goalie contracts don't match up. Grade: Reported. Kaplan has the Rangers looking at the trade market, and has Jonathan Quick as a possibility if they ask. Grade: Reported.

Quick is 40 and runs their goalie development now, while Joonas Korpisalo is about four weeks away and Spencer Martin comes up from Hartford to back up Dylan Garand.

The read: nothing happens this week, because Chris Drury waits to see what Garand is and the sellers wait for him to get desperate. If a deal comes, it comes in November, and it's a rental. Marcus has the price of the room above.

Sully — The grade and the grievance

Look, the backup plan is to ask a 40-year-old in the front office if he still has his pads. That's not a depth chart. That's my Thursday night league.

Quick went 6-17-2 for them last season with an .891, per NHL data. He retired for a reason, and the reason was the 17.

Garand has stopped 33 of 34 shots this season, by our count, so the kid has earned the net. He hasn't earned 60 starts with nobody behind him. I want a goalie by Friday, because October points count the same as the ones in March.

Grade: C for the plan. I'm a Bruins guy. I want to beat the Rangers with their best goalie in the net. Otherwise it doesn't count, and I need it to count.

Gord Tremblay — Three from the notebook

1. Connor Zary to Vancouver. Friedman has the Canucks among the teams looking at Zary, with nothing close. Grade: Reported. The 25-year-old went through waivers this week, and his $3.775 million cap hit is what's holding up a trade. Calgary still has a retention slot open.

What the numbers say: the Flames are 0-5 and have been outscored by 19, per NHL data. The read: a team in that hole eats salary sooner than it planned, and retention gets this done by Halloween.

2. Vladimir Tarasenko and Florida. LeBrun says the Panthers offered Tarasenko no more than about $850,000 in July, and he passed. He's 34, still unsigned and skating in South Florida. Grade: Reported. The word now is that there's no fit.

The read: I'd treat "no fit" as a cap statement, not a hockey one, because he scored 23 goals for Minnesota last season and Florida's power play is 1-for-28. If his ask keeps dropping, that's a short phone call.

3. Hellebuyck back to Winnipeg. Pagnotta floated that the goalie may be weighing a return to the Jets while still wanting a trade. Grade: Smoke. He's suspended for not reporting.

The read: the Jets are 3-1-1 in their last five, and Stuart Skinner has a .919 in three starts, per NHL data. Winnipeg isn't desperate, and a goalie who reports gives up his only leverage, so I don't see it before the Rangers' net settles.

Marcus Lind — The number

The number: 27.5. That's Quinn Hughes's minutes a night through five games, per NHL data. He has seven points and a point in every game, and he's doing it on a $7.85 million cap hit in the last year of his deal.

Five games is a small sample, but the usage isn't new, and it's the reason his price keeps rising.

Sign him now / Wait: Quinn Hughes

• Sign him now: seven years at $19.5 million, my projection since September. That's about 17 percent of next season's projected $113.5 million ceiling, and only Minnesota can offer the seventh year.

• Wait: a shorter deal came up over the summer and went nowhere, and Bill Guerin hasn't set a deadline. Waiting only helps the Wild if Hughes wants three years instead of seven.

• My call: sign him now. The maximum contract next season is $22.7 million, and every night like Saturday in Sunrise moves him closer to it.

Sully — The grievance

Look, the Leafs played two games this week with a 3-0 score in them. Tuesday they were down three to Nashville and won 5-4. Thursday they were up three in Vegas and lost in a shootout. That's not a hockey team. That's a seesaw with a payroll.

Then Saturday they put six on Colorado, William Nylander had five points, and now I have to hear about it until spring. Great. Tremendous.

Their penalty kill is at 95 percent, per NHL data. It's the only thing in Toronto that finishes what it starts.

Grade: F-minus for Thursday. The week was probably a B. I'm rounding down on principle.

Kept off the sheet: Bowen Byram, Chicago. Five games, 24.7 minutes a night, zero points, by our count. That's two full hours of ice time. I've sat through movies with more plot.

Fight of the week: Minnesota scored 53 seconds into Florida's home opener. About two minutes later, Bokondji Imama dropped the gloves with Michael McCarron. Florida lost 4-1. It was the best shift a Panther had all night, and the puck wasn't invited.

And yes, the Bruins scored on the power play. Three times, against Utah. I asked for one and got a three-pack. I'm 1-1 on the locks, and I'll be unbearable about it.

Tommy Kessler — Campus minute

I called UConn to win the Ice Breaker, and Bowling Green won it instead. The Falcons beat Sacred Heart 3-2 and the 16th-ranked Huskies 5-2 for the program's first Ice Breaker title. Jacob Steinman made 39 saves in the final, so that one's on me, and good for the CCHA.

Hockey East's weekend turned in a day. On Friday the league went 2-4-1 against everybody else, by our count, and Boston College lost 3-2 at home to Alaska. On Saturday it went 6-1.

Maine beat No. 6 Quinnipiac 5-3 at the Alfond to earn a split. Providence blanked Clarkson 4-0 a night after scoring six on St. Lawrence, and UMass finally won, 5-1 over RIT. The Friars are the Hockey East team I'd watch.

The prospect the NHL crowd should know: Justin Poirier, Carolina's fifth-round pick in 2024, now at Penn State after a year at Maine. He set up a goal at UConn on Friday and had the tying goal waved off on a challenge.

Meg Halloran — The W minute

I picked Wisconsin on Friday, and Ohio State took both. The Buckeyes won 2-1, then 5-3, for their first sweep of the Badgers since November 2023, and they're 6-0-0.

Saturday was the better game, with Wisconsin scoring 34 seconds in and tying it 3-3 in the second. Hilda Svensson answered 10 seconds into the third, and Sanni Vanhanen finished it with her second of the night. Rowan Houweling stopped 22 and is 4-0-0.

In Hockey East, Providence beat Boston College 3-2 in overtime, while Colgate moved to 4-0-0 with a 2-1 win over St. Cloud State.

The W read: Ohio State is No. 1 on Monday, and it should be unanimous. No. 3 Minnesota is next, at Ridder on Friday, so the Buckeyes have to defend it right away.

Pabs — The Panthers table

One win, one loss, and a week that cost more than the standings show. The cats won 2-1 in Los Angeles on Tuesday and lost Brad Marchand for six weeks doing it. Then Kirill Kaprizov scored three in the home opener, and the 4-1 loss was Florida's first in regulation.

They're 2-1-2 with a power play that's 1-for-28, last in the league per NHL data, while Matthew Tkachuk has a point in four straight.

The week ahead: Buffalo on Monday at 1 p.m., Columbus on Tuesday at 6:15, then home for Vancouver on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday. Over in Fort Myers, FGCU beat Lindenwood 4-3 on Saturday (box score).

• Marcus: Lars Eller played 18.1 minutes on Saturday, up 5.2 from Los Angeles, per NHL data. He makes $850,000, which is first-line ice time at a depth price, and it's a patch, not a plan.

• Gord: Maurice laid out Marchand's six weeks as three off the ice and three back on it. That puts him and Barkov back around American Thanksgiving, so Zito's phone stays quiet unless the record slips.

• Sully: Brady Tkachuk has zero points in five games at 17.4 minutes a night. Florida traded for a second Tkachuk and got the one who's still looking for the net. Buddy, I'm begging you, ask your brother. He's found it three times.

• Kessler: Sandis Vilmanis, the top name in my Pipeline ranking, played 13.6 minutes on Saturday, up 1.7 from Los Angeles, per NHL data. Five games in, he's still looking for his first point of the season.

The Room's locks

Last week's calls, with the receipts:

• Pabs: wrong. Florida won 2-1 in Los Angeles, but the power play went 0-for-6. Half a lock is no lock.

• Marcus: right. Florida made no trade. The week's transaction was Alexander Petrovic going back to Charlotte.

• Gord: right. Connor Hellebuyck is still Winnipeg's property, and still not reporting.

• Sully: right. Boston went 3-for-4 on the power play in Thursday's 6-1 win over Utah.

• Kessler: right. North Dakota won 3-2 at Bemidji State on Friday.

• Meg: wrong. Ohio State beat Wisconsin 2-1 on Friday.

Season records: Pabs 1-1 · Marcus 2-0 · Gord 2-0 · Sully 1-1 · Kessler 2-0 · Meg 1-1.

And this week's calls:

• Pabs: The cats score a power-play goal in Buffalo on Monday. The Sabres are killing 62.5 percent, per NHL data.

• Marcus: The Rangers don't trade for a goalie before next Sunday.

• Gord: Connor Zary is still Flames property next Sunday.

• Sully: The Rangers beat Vancouver tonight. The Canucks played last night and their penalty kill is at 52.2 percent, per NHL data. Garand can bring a book.

• Kessler: Bowling Green wins its series opener against Niagara.

• Meg: Ohio State wins at Minnesota on Friday.

Where they split

The week's real disagreement is whether Florida should sign a shooter for a power play that's 1-for-28. It's Pabs against Sully.

• Pabs: No. The fix is Barkov and Marchand in six weeks, and a unit that learns to shoot in the meantime. You don't hand out a sweater in October over 28 bad tries.

• Sully: Yes. Tarasenko is skating in South Florida and nobody's paying him. The power play is 1-for-28. I've hired plumbers with less of a résumé.

Last word: Pabs

Aaron Ekblad played his 807th game on Saturday and passed Barkov for the most in franchise history. He was here for the quiet nights in Sunrise, and he stayed for the banners. The night deserved a better score, but the record doesn't need one.