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New Jersey Devils appoint Sunny Mehta as their new general manager.
Dylan Garand, the rookie goaltender for the New York Rangers, showcased his potential with a strong performance in a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite his impressive starts, the Rangers missed an opportunity to better evaluate his future as a goalie during a challenging season.
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Rookie goaltender Dylan Garand closed out the New York Rangersâ dismal 2025-26 season Wednesday, turning in a third impressive performance in as many starts by stopping 29 shots in a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Given Garandâs strong efforts in his first three NHL outings, itâs difficult to fathom why the Rangers didnât give the 23-year-old more runway in a last-place season to find out whether he has an extended future on Broadway, or even if heâs ready to be Igor Shesterkinâs backup on Broadway next season.
Though the Rangers avoided a worst-case scenario Jan. 5, when Shesterkin escaped a season-ending injury after his left knee bent awkwardly during a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth at Madison Square Garden, he did miss 13 games.
While that was good news for the Rangers, they squandered a month to get a much more extensive look at Garand, when Shesterkin was sidelined. Deciding not to recall Garand at that time created what was avoidable uncertainty as the organization heads into the offseason needing to find a viable backup plan for Shesterkin for the first time since summer 2023.
Dylan Garand recorded a third impressive performance, stopping 29 shots in a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Rangers missed the chance to evaluate Garand more thoroughly during a last-place season, despite his strong performances in his first three NHL games.
Igor Shesterkin missed 13 games due to a knee injury, which could have provided more opportunities for Garand to prove himself as a potential backup.
Garand's strong showing raises questions about whether he could be ready to serve as Shesterkin's backup next season.

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With Jonathan Quick announcing his retirement Monday, closing out his 18-year career with three seasons as Shesterkinâs backup in New York, general manager Chris Drury and the front office face a decision on how to fill the spot behind one of the top netminders in the NHL next season. Garand might be the man for the job â but the organization didnât do nearly enough when it had the chance this season to alleviate some of the question marks around the 2020 fourth-round draft pick.
Thatâs because rather than call Garand up from Hartford of the American Hockey League to back up Quick when Shesterkin was injured, the Rangers chose to recall veteran journeyman Spencer Martin. The 30-year-old ended up appearing in six games during that stretch, failing to impress at all.
Martin posted an .863 save percentage and 4.13 goals-against average in those contests. Quick wasnât any better, making nine of the starts with Shesterkin out and recording an .853 save percentage and 4.33 GAA. Quickâs struggles with the increased workload exposed the fact that the 40-year-old was no longer a starting-caliber goalie, and could only be counted on for an occasional spot start or relief appearance. The Rangers lost 11 of 13 games without Shesterkin, fell out of the playoff race, and publicly announced a retool.
Garand, in the season finale against the Lightning, again flashed the traits that should have earned him more NHL minutes this season â a âquietâ presence in the net, strong positioning, excellent instincts, a quick glove hand, and apparent confidence that rubbed off on teammates. Ironically, he bested Lightning goalie Brandon Halverson, a Rangers second-round draft pick in 2014 who didnât pan out.
âI thought he was solid again. He swallows a lot of pucks,â coach Mike Sullivan said postgame. âWhat really impressed me was his rebound control. ⊠I thought he did a great job swallowing pucks and there were whistles and face-offs, and it just settles everything down when the goaltender has that type of rebound control, and he certainly had it tonight.
âHe had three starts for us here late in the season, all three I thought he played extremely well.â
That made the decision to go with Martin over Garand, who was 2-0-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in his three games, in January look overly conservative and short-sighted.
The Rangers felt they had their reasons. They likely didnât want to put too much pressure on Garand to play savior with Shesterkin out and potentially wreck his confidence â especially with Quick struggling in an expanded role. And Garand ended up not playing well at Hartford in January after the organization went with Martin instead, giving up four or more goals four times in seven starts from Jan. 9-28. One could project that Garandâs struggles would be significantly magnified had he been facing NHL rather than AHL competition during that time.
Yet all of that reads like excuse-making now. Garand allowed two or fewer goals in five of his six starts just before Shesterkinâs injury. And the Wolf Pack, last in the Atlantic Division, are among the worst defensive teams in the AHL, with only two teams giving up more than their 3.5 goals per game on the season. It should go without saying that Hartford didnât play too well in front of its goalies in 2025-26, perhaps leading to Garandâs rough January stretch.
The Rangers were also an improved defensive outfit in Sullivanâs first season, placing 15th in the League with 3.04 goals allowed per game. Better play and structure in their own end was noticeable. So it stands to reason that playing Garand wouldnât have amounted to throwing him into a defenseless situation by any means, though the Rangers were far from their best in all facets of the game back in January.
Garand was finally called up March 20 and made his NHL debut two days later, opening eyes with a 35-save performance in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Madison Square Garden. He got his next start March 27, stopping 27 shots against the Chicago Blackhawks, a 6-1 victory, his first in the NHL.
Now, management must decide whether to pursue a veteran backup this summer with not nearly enough intel on whether the club already has a trusted NHLer in Garand to play behind Shesterkin. Perhaps the front office saw all it needed to see in three games, but that comes across as unrealistic.
âI never want to go back to the [AHL], honestly,â Garand said Wednesday. âIâm so hungry to be here. I want to be in this league and a part of this organization, and thereâs nothing else like it, itâs the best thing in the world. So yeah, itâs been a great taste and definitely, going into this summer, very motivated to be back here.â
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The Rangers, like any team, need to harbor confidence that their No. 1 goalieâs backup can step in for an extended period and hold the fort. While these Rangers werenât a Stanley Cup contender this season and are in a formally-stated âretool,â that doesnât lessen the need for known goaltending reliability off the bench.
Though the Rangers didnât view Shesterkinâs injury as the right time to have Garand start his NHL career, one could argue that it was in fact the perfect opportunity. The Rangers werenât in the playoff race for essentially the whole season, and they certainly didnât harbor any postseason illusions by the time Shesterkin was hurt.
The Rangers instead went with Martin, a below-average veteran whoâs spent most of his professional career in the AHL, and predictably received below-average play. With Martin not in the mix as a candidate to be Shesterkinâs backup next season, those six starts feel pointless.
Certainly, the Rangers excel when it comes to finding and developing high-end NHL goalies, going back to the start of the 1980s. Perhaps they will do so again with Garand, who wonât be asked to be anything more, barring injury to Shsterkin, than an understudy in a Blueshirt. If that happens, however, it will be at least a partial surprise, given that the organization didnât better utilize this season to gather more extensive information on what it has in Garand.
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