New York Rangers Prospects: Six Goalies Dream to be King
The New York Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Raanta sharing the net minding duties right now. But Lundqvist will turn 35 before the season is over, which makes fans and front office alike wonder, who will replace the King.
Within the New York Ranger system, there are six young goaltenders looking to someday be the last starter named as the Rangers take the ice. Three are already playing for the Ranger farm teams.
The Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL, are where Magnus Hellberg, Brandon Halverson and Mackenzie Skapski are honing their netminding skills.
Tyler Wall and Adam Huska are both freshmen goalies at Hockey East schools, UMass-Lowell and UCONN, respectively. Igor Shestyorkin playing for SKA St. Petersburg rounds out this goaltending half dozen.
The Hartford – Greenville Connection
Brandon Halverson is a 20-year-old, 6 foot 4, 201-pound native of Traverse City, Michigan. He is also is also rated as one of the best New York Ranger goaltending prospects in years. After being promoted from Greenville to Hartford, Halverson has a record of 3-3-0 with a GAA of 3.88 and a SV% of 861. He was selected by the Rangers in the second round of the 2014 NHL entry draft.
Halverson has very good size, excellent lateral movement, but sometimes gives up big rebounds. That is one area that he does need to work on. However, he does not only track the puck, but sees the game in front of him very well.
He has also worked well at coming out of his crease to challenge shooters much better. His combination of size, athleticism and technical skills compare him favorably with other prospects his age. It also suggests that he can be a successful starter one day.
Magnus Hellberg is a 25-year-old native of Uppsala, Sweden, who was traded from Nashville to the New York Rangers for a sixth round draft pick from 2017, back in November of 2015. Since then, Hellberg has played for both Greenville and Hartford.
So far this season for the Hartford Wolf Pack, Hellberg has a record of 8-7-1 with a GAA of 3.51 and a SV% of 898.
Hellberg is big and lanky, standing 6 foot 5 and weighing 201-pounds, and plays using a butterfly style. He is athletic and his reaction is quick as he squares up to the shooter. However, he is an awkward puck handler and must work extremely hard to rectify that part of his game.
He is in the second year of his contract and may have opened the eyes of other teams around the league. This could produce a trade, which would clear room for the other goalies within the system. It would also allow Hellberg to receive a legitimate shot at the NHL.
Mackenzie Skapski is a 6 foot 3, 192-pound, 22-year-old who hails from Abbotsford, BC. He was selected by the New York Rangers in the sixth round of the 2013 NHL draft. Skapski began this season with Hartford, but has since been sent down to Greenville. He is 6-3-0 with the Swamp Rabbits, with 1 shutout, a GAA of 2.81 and a SV% of 912.
Skapski is currently in the third year of his entry-level contract and faces a log-jam of goalie prospects ahead of him. Although he has good size and demonstrates excellent play down low, his overall game is still developing.
Skapski played two games in the NHL, defeating the Buffalo Sabres twice during the 2014-15 season
Frosh in the NCAA Hockey East
Tyler Wall is an 18-year-old, 6 foot 3, 216-pound freshman attending UMass-Lowell. A native of Leamington, Ontario, was selected by the New York Rangers is the sixth round of the 2016 draft. Currently Wall has a record of 9-4-1 with 1 shutout, a GAA of 2.08 and a SV% of .918.
Wall has been named the Hockey East Defensive Hockey Player of the Week twice this season. The first was 10/17/16 when he stopped 42 of 44 shots in two victories over Colorado College. In that two-game weekend set, Wall had a GAA of 1.20 and a SV% of .955.
The second time he won that award, he stopped 52 of 55 shots in a two-game sweep of Vermont. Who was ranked 19th in the country at the time. Wall’s GAA was 1.50 and his SV% was .945 over the weekend of 11/7/16.
UMass-Lowell is currently ranked seventh in the NCAA by both RPI and Pairwise.
Adam Huska is a 6 foot 3, 201-pound, 19-year-old from Zvolen, Slovakia. He was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 draft. He plays for the UCONN Huskies of Hockey East and is gainning quite a reputation. So far this season, Huska is 4-3-3, with a 2.54 GAA and a .926 SV% with 1 shutout.
Huska received the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week award for 10/31/16. That weekend he made 47 saves, 21 alone in the second period, in a 4-2 victory over Notre Dame. He received the first of his two Rookie of the Week awards on 11/21/16. That was for making 37 saves in a 4-0 shutout over Boston University.
On 12/5/16, Huska received the Rookie of the Week award for stopping 65 of 69 shots against UMass-Lowell in a two-game set. UCONN won the first game 3-2 and the second was a 2-2 tie.
Huska as also been named to Team Slovakia and will represent his country in the World Junior Championships. These games are currently being played in Toronto and Montreal. The tournament will finish up in early January of 2017.
As a prospect for the Rangers, Huska has excellent lateral movement and challenges shooters extremely well. He will have the time to develop into an NHL starter while he enjoys college at UCONN.
From Russia with Love
Igor Shestyorkin hails from Moscow, Russia and stands 6 foot 1 and weighs 190-pounds. The young 20-year-old was selected by the New York Rangers in the fourth round of the 2014 draft. Shestyorkin plays for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL.
A mere boy among men, yet he is doing much more then holding his own. In fact, Shestyorkin is one of the hottest and most capable goalies in the KHL.
He was named Goalie of the Month for October, where his personal shutout streak reached 272:08, which is the third longest streak ever in the KHL. That month also saw him win 13 games and record a .943SV%, coulped with a GAA of 1.43.
This season Shestyorkin’s record is 22-2-4 with eight shutouts, a GAA of 1.51 and a SV% of 943. And this by a young man who will not turn 21 until December 30th, of this year.
Even though Shestyorkin has not signed an entry-level contract with the New York Rangers, it is not a necessity. Most scouts, who have also said that he has great reflexes and excellent lateral movement, believe he will sign with the Rangers at the conclusion of the 2019 season in the KHL.
Next: New York Rangers Prospects- Defense
With goalie prospects like these, the future is more than only bright, it is downright blinding.