The New York Rangers took a bit of a risk when it came to the backup goaltending situation this offseason. With Jonathan Quick retired, the Rangers had a young option in Dylan Garand, who impressed in three starts late last season. Instead, the Rangers opted to bring in Boston Bruins backup Joonas Korpisalo in a trade for a competition. But in the preseason, it was evident that Korpisalo had the backup gig locked in, with Garand looking destined to go to the AHL, despite playing well.
The Rangers took the risk to place Garand on waivers to send him down to the Hartford Wolf Pack. It was a gamble, considering other teams needing goaltending. Yet, the Rangers and general manager Chris Drury lucked out, as Garand cleared waivers to send him to the AHL.
Luckily it worked out, because the Rangers would have been in a bind based on some breaking news on Thursday.
Rangers recalled Dylan Garand with Joonas Korpisalo injured
On Thursday, the Rangers announced that the Rangers were recalling Garand from Hartford. It was later revealed that the Rangers were placing Korpisalo on the injured reserve, and is considered week-to-week due to a lower body injury.
Talk about convenient. Imagine if the Rangers had lost Garand on waivers? They'd be in a much more difficult situation to find a goalie to backup Shesterkin, who is slated to start in the home opener later on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Rangers lucked out once Garand hit waivers. The Winnipeg Jets, who are dealing with the Connor Hellebuyck trade saga, opted to claim Clay Stevenson off waivers from the Washington Capitals. They were one of the big threats to the Rangers when it came to potentially losing Garand. Other than that, the only other goalie claimed by the end of training camp was Remi Poirier of the Dallas Stars by the New Jersey Devils.
Now, Garand will be the backup to Shesterkin on Thursday night, and based on Korpisalo's recovery timeline, he could be in line for some starts.
Dylan Garand has chance to prove worth to Rangers with Joonas Korpisalo sidelined with injury
The Rangers were taking a gamble on Korpisalo, as his stint with the Bruins didn't pan out so well. Last season with the Bruins, Korpisalo posted a 14-9-6 record, a .894 save percentage, and a 3.15 goals allowed average. It's obvious that Drury prefers to have a veteran backup goalie behind Shesterkin, which is why he made the deal with Boston for Korpisalo.
Now, just one game into the season, Korpisalo is sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Last year, Garand put up a 2-0-1 record, a 1.62 goals allowed average, and a .948 save percentage in three starts with the team.
With the Rangers playing back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday against the Lightning and Detroit Red Wings, it's quite possible that Garand will get the start in net against the latter team, which is dealing with endless drama between the Dylan Larkin trade saga and the Simon Edvinsson contract debacle.
If the Rangers didn't have Garand available, they'd be in a much deeper problem. Now, we'll see what happens once Korpisalo is cleared from injury, which means that Garand will be subject to waivers once again.
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