theathleticuk
As Dylan Garand keeps delivering strong starts, the New York Rangers are simultaneously scanning the NHL's goalie market. Garand's impressive fill-in work for Igor Shesterkin has eased the pressure to bring in outside help, and the team is pleased with the 24-year-old's performance, content to stick with him if it continues. However, Rangers president Chris Drury and his front office are preparing for all scenarios, actively making calls to gauge who might be available and what the asking prices are, according to multiple sources who spoke anonymously to The Athletic.
That includes netminders with and without term, signaling New York's openness to adding players with multiple years left on their contracts if deemed the best option. The Connor Hellebuyck situation bears watching. Don't expect the Rangers to make a play for the Winnipeg Jets star goalie, who requested a trade over the summer, but a couple of teams vying for his services would need salary cap relief to pull off a deal, most notably the Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth. Drury, armed with extra cap space after placing Shesterkin on long-term injured reserve, is positioned to take advantage.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman has floated Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Utah's Karel Vejmelka as possible New York targets if either team acquires Hellebuyck. Both goalies carry $4.75 million cap hits, with Luukkonen's deal running through 2028-29 and Vejmelka's through 2029-30. That wouldn't be ideal with Shesterkin locked up for $11.568 million per season through 2030-31, potentially leaving the Rangers with $16.3 million tied up in Shesterkin and either Luukkonen or Vejmelka next season (plus Garand and Joonas Korpisalo under contract). But Drury is doing his homework and may be willing to absorb it for now and figure out the rest later, assuming the acquisition cost is modest.
The outlook would differ if Hellebuyck ends up with the Carolina Hurricanes, as the Stanley Cup champions have ample cap space and likely wouldn't require a corresponding move. (Although Drury could inquire about Sound Beach, N.Y., native Brandon Bussi if that were to happen.) There's also the question of whether Luukkonen or Vejmelka represent enough of an upgrade to warrant a trade. Both were sporting sub-.880 save percentages and negative goals saved above expected entering play Wednesday, per Evolving Hockey, while Garand is 4-2-1 with a .929 SV% and 5.3 GSAx. It's worth noting that Luukkonen (19.02 GSAx) and Vejmelka (27.69 GSAx) are coming off solid 2025-26 seasons and bring more of the experience Drury has typically preferred from his goalies.
The other factor in this equation is Korpisalo, who was acquired over the summer to be Shesterkin's backup but has yet to appear in a game. New York has not disclosed any details about his lower-body injury, but a person briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose medical information, said the 32-year-old has been unable to play because of a foot infection. (The Athletic attempted to reach Korpisalo's agent for comment and will update this story if he responds.) We're approaching the halfway point from when the Rangers gave their initial injury timeline of four weeks, but coach Mike Sullivan said Monday that Korpisalo has yet to resume skating. If there's uncertainty regarding his return date, it could spur efforts to bring in goalie help beyond 38-year-old journeyman James Reimer, who signed a professional tryout contract with AHL Hartford last week.
Whether that happens now or later may be dictated by opportunity. If the Hellebuyck trade goes down soon and yields a motivated seller, the Rangers may be positioned to pounce. It's a possibility we're monitoring based on what we've heard about the team's activity in the aftermath of losing Shesterkin to season-ending surgery on his right knee. However, there's a compelling case for patience given the newness of the season and Garand's inspired play. New York can ride the hot hand for a while, then reassess once more teams decide to start selling off pieces. There's a list of goalies on expiring contracts who could come into play closer to the March 1 trade deadline, including St. Louis' Jordan Binnington, Seattle's Philipp Grubauer and Los Angeles' Darcy Kuemper, at which point Drury will have a better idea of how sustainable the team's 7-3-1 start is.
Disrupting those good vibes would come with risk, particularly given how the Rangers have rallied around Garand. Several teammates have mentioned playing hard for G after watching him pay his dues for four full AHL seasons. Above all, the homegrown rookie's body of work — 6-2-2 with a .936 SV% and 1.77 goals-against average across 10 career appearances — is deserving of a longer look. The Rangers are certainly considering it, but they're understandably planning to remain nimble.
What if they don't trade for a goalie?
If Garand were to seize the job and Korpisalo returned to solidify the No. 2 role, it could allow the Rangers to use their cap space elsewhere. They currently have $5.1 million in LTIR pool, according to PuckPedia, but would more than double that number by moving Shesterkin to season-ending LTIR. They've been eyeing forward talent since the summer and would love to bring in another top-six option, but it will be a while before that market fully materializes. One player we can cross off New York's wish list is Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin, who, like Hellebuyck, has an unresolved trade request. The Athletic confirmed a Detroit Free Press report that Larkin, who holds a full no-movement clause, has expanded his list of approved teams to 10, but the Rangers are not among them.
Chris Johnston released his first trade board on Wednesday, which began with 10 names. The forwards include pending free agents such as Nashville's Ryan O'Reilly, Calgary's Morgan Frost and Boston's Pavel Zacha, as well as players with term such as Vancouver's Jake DeBrusk ($5.5 million cap hit through 2030-31) and Pittsburgh's Rickard Rakell ($5 million cap hit through 2027-28). New York would have the cap space to fit any of them, but does it have — and should it be willing to sacrifice — the assets required to make a deal? Drury traded away seven draft picks over the summer, including three first-rounders, which further depleted a thin pool. He acquired five new picks along the way, but none are higher than the second round. He still holds a full seven selections for the 2027 draft, but no first-rounders in 2028 or 2030. (Both firsts are top-10 protected, in which case those picks would roll into the next year.) The Rangers have time to determine how many of their limited chips they're willing to spend, but if the team continues to play well, our sense is they'll lean more in the aggressive direction.
mits finding his place
Alberts mits recently told The Athletic he's moved out of a hotel and into his own home near the team's practice facility. The Rangers typically give young players the go-ahead to get their own place only when they expect them to stay in the NHL for the rest of the season. So mits, the No. 5 pick in June's NHL Draft, doesn't appear to be going anywhere. That shouldn't come as a surprise: The rookie has played in all 11 games so far, and the coaching staff has raved about his potential, even if he's shown some growing pains in recent games. Since Day 1 of training camp, when he played on the third pair with the NHL group, the team has positioned him to bypass the AHL.
A scout's view
One NHL scout, who spoke to The Athletic anonymously to offer his candid evaluation, recently said Alexis Lafrenière looks like a totally reinvented player. "The goals and points speak for themselves, but he's competing and getting to inside ice, and it's generated very positive results," said the scout, who has watched the Rangers multiple times to start the year. Lafrenière has bounced between New York's top two lines but has played mostly with Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault. The scout raved about the 21-year-old Perreault's playmaking ability, saying, "His vision and hockey sense is off the charts and he has good skills with the puck. The fact that he's already producing and making plays shows how high his potential still is." Anaheim's Cutter Gauthier, who played with Perreault at Boston College, can attest to those abilities. "The eyes he has are absurd," he said before the recent Rangers-Ducks game. "I feel like a lot of his assists, he's able to take a shot and score but he elects to make an easy tap-in for a lot of his teammates and just makes the game easy for them. Really fun player to play with at school but really fun player to watch, as well."
Originally reported by theathleticuk.