New York Rangers goalies: The future is bright
As we’ve seen over the last few days, the pages of New York Rangers history are writ full of goalies who have thrilled Madison Square Garden fans throughout the years. And the team’s future in net is no less bright.
It’s clear someone other than King Henrik will be New York’s number one next year. Luckily, the Rangers have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to goalies. Let’s look down the depth chart at the pretenders to the throne.
It’s not worth spending much time talking about Jean-François Bérubé. The 28-year old former Islander and Blackhawk never stuck in the NHL and even his time in the minors hasn’t been impressive. The Flyers traded Bérubé to New York in exchange for ‘future considerations’, so they didn’t value him that highly, either.
Bérubé’s an unrestricted free agent after this season so it remains to be seen if he will be re-signed. But the Rangers need an expendable goalie with NHL experience to expose to the Expansion Draft next summer, so don’t be surprised if they ink him to a new deal. That might be the only reason New York acquired him, as Vancouver did in 1993 when they traded for John Vanbiesbrouck.
A brick Wall in net
In his column from a few months ago, Steve Paulus called 22-year old Tyler Wall “the best goaltender in college hockey” and he looks like another great late-round goalie pick by the Rangers.
Wall was chosen 174th overall in the sixth round of the 2016 Draft. He just finished his senior year playing for the UMass Lowell River Hawks with a GAA of 2.10 and a save percentage of .931.
Also on the plus side, he sounds very excited to play in Madison Square Garden. In an article by Shawn Hutcheon on NHL. com, Wall was quoted as saying this on being drafted by New York:
“It was surreal. I mean, an original six team with such an amazing fan-base. You couldn’t really ask for a better team than the Rangers.”
Tyler Wall is an exciting prospect, but we need to see how he does against pro opposition. Also, the Rangers must sign Wall to an entry level contract by August 15 or risk losing him to free agency. He could pull a Jimmy Vesey and go the unrestricted free agent route by not signing. It will be worth watching.
One negative: His nickname is “Wallsy”. That will have to change.
A Swedish goaltender? It will never work!
There was a bit of a stir in RangerLand when the team selected Olof Lindbom with the 39th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. It was nothing personal against the 17-year old Swede, but many people thought Lindbom would still be available in the third or fourth round and it was a waste to use a second on him.
What drives Rangers’ fans crazy is that this has happened before. General Manager Jeff Gorton used another second-round pick on goaltender Brandon Halverson, picked 59th overall in 2014. And what did the team get in return? Not much. 1 game in the NHL, 13 minutes played, 1 goal allowed, and a record of 0-0-0. Halverson is no longer with the team and hasn’t been in the news lately, other than Steve Paulus’ recent article on Rangers’ One-Game Wonders.
But Olof Lindbom made a splash at the 2018 IIHF U18 World Championship, helping Sweden win the bronze medal. Then, at the Swedish U18 Playoffs, he earned MVP honors with a 1.20 GAA and .955 save percentage.
Lindbom spent most of the 2019-20 season playing in Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second-highest hockey league, though his stats were mediocre. Luckily, there’s no rush to get him NHL-ready.
One negative: Legally, he can’t be called ‘Olie the Goalie’. Apparently, that’s trademarked or something.
A big dog in the Wolf Pack
Adam Huska‘s pro career did not get off to an auspicious start. After starring at UConn, he only won once in 9 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack at the end of the 2018-19 season. But the 22-year old Slovakian netminder, drafted in the 7th round (184th overall) in the 2015 NHL draft, settled in last season, establishing himself as the backup to Igor Shesterkin.
He moved up to first-string after Shesterkin was promoted to the NHL, compiling a 3.03 GAA and .894 save percentage in 28 games.
Another year of seasoning and instruction in positioning and rebound control will benefit him immensely. He and Jean-François Bérubé (also currently with Hartford) will compete for the top slot next season, which should push both players.
Sunday at the rink with Georgie
Alexandar Georgiev has already had a string of titles during his Rangers tenure. Backup to Henrik Lundqvist, Heir Apparent to King Henrik, Backup to Igor Shesterkin, and finally, Trade Bait.
Though he grew up in Russia, the twenty-four-year-old is the first Bulgarian-born player in the NHL. He went undrafted in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and later signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Rangers.
He split time in 2017-18 between Hartford and the NHL. In his first two seasons with the Rangers, he has shown brilliance, including a 5-0 shutout of the Islanders and a 4-1 victory over the Maple Leafs where he stopped 55 shots, a Rangers record for a regulation game.
For the first half of the 2019-20 season, his record was mediocre, yet pretty much a mirror image of incumbent legend, Henrik Lundqvist. With the Rangers’ salary cap woes, Georgiev is a huge bargain in comparison and rumors of the team moving King Henrik (or convincing him to abdicate) intensified. But so far, Georgiev has shown an inability to go more than two or three games without having a very bad outing, making him more of a backup than a number one starter.
To complicate matters, Georgiev is an arbitration-eligible, restricted free agent this summer so getting him under contract could be an interesting exercise.
A cessation to the succession discussion
Igor Shesterkin is the real deal, having excelled at every level of hockey, including the NHL. In the 2013-14 season with Spartak Moskva as a 17-year old, Igor had a 2.80 GAA and .903 Save Percentage. Both of those numbers are the worst he has ever had as a professional. By far. Not too shabby, is what I’m saying.
He was selected by the Rangers with the 118th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. After continuing to play in Russia, he signed a two-year entry-level contract with New York in May 2019 and made his NHL debut in a preseason game in September 2019.
Assigned to Hartford, he won the Wolf Pack’s opening game of the 2019-20 season. With a record of 15-4-3 (1.90 GAA / .934 SP) he kept Hartford near the top of the standings and headed for the playoffs.
Called up to the Rangers, he started his first game in the NHL on January 7, 2020, becoming one-third of a three-headed goalie monster. But Igor soon put all talk of who was the number one aside, winning his first two games en route to a record of 10-2-0, with a 2.52 GAA and .932 SP.
The only thing that could slow him down was a pair of freak injuries, tweaking an ankle in one game, and then a non-displaced rib fracture suffered in a car accident while driving teammate Pavel Buchnevich in Brooklyn. Igor missed a few games but other than one bad outing when he returned, the netminder took up where he had left off.
Not too shabby.
A tradition of great goaltending
Over the last four days, we’ve explored an enduring tradition of the New York Rangers, goaltending excellence. But questions remain. How and when does Henrik Lundqvist leave Madison Square Garden? Is Igor Shesterkin the man who will be in net for the next decade? Out of Wall, Lindbom, Huska, and Georgiev, who makes the leap to NHL stardom, whether in New York or elsewhere? Only time will tell.
But it should be fun to watch.
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