New York Rangers: New Wolf Pack goaltending coach helps development

Although not officially announced by the New York Rangers or Hartford Wolf Pack, the organization will bring on another goaltending coach. Eric Raymond will now be the full time goaltending coach for the Wolf Pack and the organizations’ prospect pool will benefit.

As announced by his former team, the Halifax Mooseheads, Eric Raymond will be promoted to full time goaltending coach with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate. Last season, he coached for both Halifax in Canada’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Hartford.

Raymond did not have a notable playing career, his most successful season came in 1994-95 where he played for the Rochester Americans of the AHL for 34 games. However, he has been the goaltending coach of the Mooseheads since the 2010-11 season.

Additionally, Raymond was the goaltending consultant for the gold medal winning Canadian World Junior Championship team this past tournament.

As the Rangers continue with their rebuild, they are in a transition state with their goaltending. The hiring of a full time minor league goaltending coach to assist Benoit Allaire through this transition will be beneficial.

Near Future

The reality is Henrik Lundqvist will be 36 at the beginning of next season. Luckily, he is showing no signs of significantly slowing down. However, the organization does not have a clearly defined depth chart beyond him.

First, Ondrej Pavelec was not re-signed by the team after his injury shortened season.

After his brief stint in the NHL last season, undrafted Alexandar Georgiev appears to have the backup’s job to lose. However, the team also re-signed Marek Mazanec to a one year deal.

Last season, the Wolf Pack utilized six different goaltenders. Georgiev played the lion’s share with 37 games, followed by Mazanec (20 games) and Chris Nell (18 games).

Furthermore, most of the Rangers’ best goaltending prospects are not expected to play for Hartford next season. Igor Shestyorkin has one year remaining on his deal with the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg. Adam Huska and Tyler Wall will both return to the NCAA to play their junior year campaigns. Newly drafted Olof Lindbom is expected to continue playing for the Djurgardens organization in Sweden.

However, Raymond will still have his work cut out for him. It may be more conducive for Georgiev’s long-term development to play a full season in Hartford under Raymond’s tutelage. The thought here is that he would be the starter and play more games rather than back up Lundqvist.

In the event that Georgiev does beat out Mazanec for the backup role, or the Rangers sign a proven NHL backup, having Raymond work with Mazanec is beneficial too. Mazanec is still young at 27 and it is not unusual for goaltenders to flourish later in their careers. He also has the most NHL experience of any Rangers’ goalie not named Lundqvist.

Heir to the Throne

The Rangers must plan for Lundqvist’s successor before he retires to ensure a smooth transition into their next window of contention.

For a while, the presumptive heir has been the Russian phenom Igor Shestyorkin.

If all goes according to plan, this season will be the his last in the KHL. Then he will likely need a season or two in Hartford where he will work closely with Raymond. By the time he should be ready to make the jump to the NHL, Lundqvist will be 38 and in the last year of his contract.

Ideally, Shestyorkin starts about half the games that season while learning from Lundqvist and Allaire. His progress that season should be with an eye on him taking over the starter role for the Rangers’ 2021-22 season.

The Rangers appear to have several other promising options for potential future starters however. These include this year’s second round selection, Lindbom, in addition to Georgiev and Huska.

Like Shestyorkin, Lindbom and Huska will need some time in the AHL and/or ECHL where they will demonstrate if they are capable of playing at the next level. Huska is probably a year behind Shestyorkin, presumably playing his senior year at UConn in 2019-20. Lindbom is likely several years from making the jump to North America as he is only 17 and yet to play a game in the SHL.

Raymond’s Opportunity

There may be some concern that there are really no notable prospects that developed under Raymond in Halifax. The most notable player is probably Zach Fucale who was drafted in the second round by the Montreal Canadiens.

Fucale did backstop the Mooseheads to a QMJHL and Memorial Cup chamiponship in 2012-13 and Team Canada to a WJC Gold Medal in 2015. However, he has not amounted to much since and has yet to play in the NHL.

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However, Hartford is fortunately so close to New York City and more importantly, the Rangers’ practice facility in Westchester County. Raymond will have ample opportunity to learn himself from one of the best in Benoit Allaire.

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