Dylan Garand’s season turned in a hurry, from a waiver placement before opening night to the Rangers’ No. 1 goaltender after Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending lower-body injury.
New York has kept climbing in the Metropolitan Division despite the loss of its franchise netminder. Garand made 19 saves Sunday as the Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 at Madison Square Garden, their first game after learning Shesterkin would not return this season.
Quick facts
- Shesterkin was injured in New York’s 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Oct. 9.
- Garand has won both of his first two NHL starts, becoming the eighth rookie goalie in Rangers history to do it.
- Joonas Korpisalo is sidelined week to week with a lower-body injury.
- The Rangers have remained in the Metropolitan race while leaning on a younger roster and several offseason additions.
Garand, 24, had cleared waivers only weeks earlier when the Rangers intended to send him to Hartford of the American Hockey League. Korpisalo’s injury brought him back to New York, and Shesterkin’s absence abruptly put the crease in Garand’s hands.
“It’s a dream come true,” Garand said after learning he would get the opportunity. He said he was approaching the moment with gratitude and trying to embrace the challenge.
His win against Vancouver placed him in a small Rangers group. He is the first rookie in the organization to win each of his first two starts since Shesterkin did it on Jan. 7 and 9, 2020, and only the third to accomplish the feat in the past four decades.
Garand arrived with a long apprenticeship. The Rangers selected him in the fourth round, No. 103 overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft after his five-year run with Kamloops of the Western Hockey League. He then spent four seasons in the AHL.
Observers have pointed to his quick feet and work along the ice as early strengths. Dave Starman described Garand as a goalie with an edge and the confidence required to believe he belongs at the NHL level.
New York’s response in front of him has mattered just as much. John Giannone said the Rangers had built a tighter room during training camp, and that the reaction to Shesterkin’s injury accelerated that process. The club, he said, has refused to let the goaltending loss dictate the season.
Young roster, new pieces
George Grimm, author of “Guardians of the Goal: A Comprehensive Guide to Rangers Goaltenders,” noted that Garand has a capable team playing in front of him, much as Shesterkin did during the opening stretch.
General manager Chris Drury’s roster reset started with the June 26 deal for Pavel Dorofeyev. New York sent Vegas a first- and third-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft, plus a conditional first-round pick in 2028, then signed the 25-year-old forward to a seven-year, $77 million contract four days later.
Joseph Veleno, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Sean Durzi, Marcus Pettersson, Korpisalo, Eeli Tolvanen, Cole Beaudoin and defenseman Alberts Smits followed as the club reshaped its lineup. Smits, the No. 5 pick in the 2026 draft, was initially viewed as being at least a year or two away from the NHL.
By opening night, the Rangers were among the league’s youngest teams. Tye Kartye, 25, Noah Laba, 23, Jaroslav Chmelar, 23, and Gabe Perreault, 21, were among the younger returning players who had impressed the previous season.
Kartye was claimed by Seattle on Feb. 27, a loss that has gained weight with Veleno expected to miss three to three-and-a-half months because of a lower-body injury. Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said Kartye attacked pucks “like a dog on a bone.”
Starman also singled out Perreault and the 18-year-old Smits for adapting quickly. He credited the reliability of Drury’s additions as the young group has taken on larger roles.
A familiar Rangers question in goal
The immediate question is whether Garand can sustain his play through a full NHL workload, or whether New York will seek an experienced goaltender through a trade while Korpisalo is unavailable.
Rangers history offers some unusual precedent for emergency answers in the crease. In the 1928 Stanley Cup Final against the Montreal Maroons, Lorne Chabot suffered a serious eye injury in the second game. Coach Lester Patrick stepped in himself and helped New York win.
Patrick then turned to Joe “Red Light” Miller for the deciding Game 5. Miller backstopped a 2-1 victory that delivered the first Stanley Cup in Rangers history.
New York later won another championship behind Andy Aitkenhead, a Glasgow-born goalie with no prior NHL experience who arrived from the Bronx Tigers of the Canadian American Hockey League for the 1932-33 season. In 1941, Davey Kerr’s unexpected retirement opened the door for rookie Jim “Sugar” Henry, who helped the Rangers finish first.
The current Rangers are not ruling out the top of the division, either. Alexis Lafreniere made that plain after his third NHL hat trick, scored in New York’s 5-2 win over the Islanders on Oct. 6.
Asked about his personal target after the three-goal night, Lafreniere’s answer was direct: “Win the Cup.”
