Though there’s not much to like about the current situation with the freefalling New York Rangers, it does create opportunities
Though there’s not much to like about the current situation with the freefalling New York Rangers, it does create opportunities to find out what they have in certain players who might not otherwise get an opportunity this season. One of them should be Dylan Garand.
The Rangers’ fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft hasn’t been great with Hartford of the American Hockey League this season, but the 23-year-old goaltender is still held in high regard by some within the organization.
With the last-place Rangers (21-25-6) heading for a second straight season out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and star goalie Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve, there might never be a better time to find out whether Garand has what it takes to be a capable backup in the NHL. Especially since the Rangers raised the white flag and declared themselves in a retool phase last week.
Again, Garand hasn’t exactly earned a callup with his play. The fourth-year pro turned in a solid effort with 21 saves in a 3-2 victory over the Bridgeport Islanders in his most recent start Friday. In his four starts prior to that, however, he gave up 18 goals. Garand is 10-9-2 with a 2.98 goals-against average (30th among qualified AHL goalies) and .896 save percentage in 22 games this season. Pretty pedestrian numbers.
Yet Garand is also coming off a strong 2024-25 season, when he won 20 game for the first time and was an AHL All-Star. Garand finished 20-10-8 with a 2.73 GAA and .913 save percentage with the Wolf Pack last season. Before that, he played to his big-game reputation, posting a .922 save percentage in nine postseason games for Hartford in 2023-24 and a .935 mark in eight playoff contests in 2022-23.
Dylan Garand deserves NHL look during Igor Shesterkin injury absence
Dylan Garand — photo courtesy Hartford Wolf Pack
The Rangers are 1-7-1 since Shesterkin went down with a lower-body injury in the first period a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth on Jan. 5. They allowed at least three goals in each of those nine games, and 45 total.
Veteran Jonathan Quick and journeyman Spencer Martin simply haven’t been good at all in place of Shesterkin, whose injury coincided with Adam Fox’s lower-body injury which forced the top-pair defenseman to LTIR.
Quick’s Hall of Fame career appears to be coming to an end. He’s struggled mightily with the increased workload. The 40-year-old gave up 31 goals over his past seven starts, two of which he was pulled from, and allowed five or more goals three times.
Martin started three of the past four games, and his results in five games overall are not inspiring, evdienced by an .864 save percentage. It’s clear that the 30-year-old who played for five teams over parts of six NHL seasons is likely an AHL depth piece at best. With the Rangers facing a significant void in goal at the moment, and having lost 11 of their past 13, there’s little downside to giving Garand a handful of starts to see what he can do.
Of course, Garand’s AHL numbers aren’t the best, though it’s possible that playing for a substandard Wolf Pack outfit contributed to that. Hartford sits second-to-last in the Atlantic Division, doesn’t score a lot, has few legit NHL prospects on its roster, and owns a minus-25 goal differential.
The Rangers recalled Garand multiple times over the years, most recently in late November, although he’s yet to make his NHL debut. With Garand set to become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent after the season, it would behoove the Rangers to know whether they want to re-sign a prospect who can eventually contribute for them in the NHL, perhaps as soon as next season since Quick very well could retire following this one.
The sinking, goaltending-challenged Rangers have an unexpected window open to do just that. Garand can hardly do worse than Quick or Martin have of late, and he just might impress the Rangers enough to get his career track pointing back toward Broadway.
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