Spencer Martin was recently called up to join the New York Rangers' goaltending tandem to serve as Jonathan Quick's backup, and while he's been a good soldier and veteran presence, Dylan Garand is the player the front office needs to be learning more about. The Blueshirts are a team that has eyes on the future, and if they want to become a contender again, they need to be efficient with how they spend their money. One of the best ways to do that is by having a backup goalie that is efficient and effective, and that's something they need to find with Quick showing his age and possibly being ready to retire.
The Rangers need to see what Garand does in a "worst case" environment
The Rangers are a mess right now, and there might be some people out there who look at this situation as a case of the team trying to spare a young player. This is actually the best time to play Garand, because the Rangers want to see how he responds to this pressure, and overall lack of support. In the NHL there have been several instances where a goalie thrives behind a strong system and defense, and the player's success being more about their situation than it is their overall ability. Martin's numbers haven't been great, and they are in line with what he's done for the majority of his NHL career. But the Rangers knew that, and why they are wasting precious time that could be used to evaluate an important player in their system is a question that deserves answering.
Garand has 132 games of experience at the AHL level, and he's posted a .902 save percentage and a 2.93 goals against average in the regular season, and a .927 save percentage and 2.21 goals against average in 17 playoff games. These numbers are more than good enough for him to get a look. If Garand is able to hold his own right now, than he certainly will be able to do so in the future when the team is further built up and not missing key players.
Rangers need to make the most of the time they have to get looks at Garand
The Rangers only recently decided to release the Letter 2.0, so it is possible they could make a switch soon. There's only a handful of games before the Olympic break, and it would be wise to give Garand a look, evaluate his performance, and then send him back to the AHL to play more games. He can't be any worse than the .848 save percentage and 4.13 goals against average Martin has given them, which was to be expected from a player who started their season in the KHL.
Garand will turn 24 in June, and still has time to get NHL action. At this point most goalies who are going to have an NHL career would have gotten a look by now, and it remains curious that they've held him back. He had a great track record in the CHL, has performed as well as you can reasonably expect for a pretty bad Hartford Wolf Pack team, and could ultimately be a really cost efficient backup for Shesterkin if the Rangers let him.