backup job behind star netminder Igor Shesterkin<\/a> is up for grabs after it was vacated by the since-retired Jonathan Quick. <\/p>\nGarand will go toe-to-toe with veteran goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for the role, which the 24-year-old started making a case for last season with a 2-0-1 record through his first three NHL games.<\/p>\n
Korpisalo was still brought in from Boston this summer \u2014 for Kalle Vaisanen and a 2028 fourth-round draft pick \u2014 to ignite some internal competition.<\/p>\n
![\"Rangers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Albert-Smits.jpg\")
Rangers rookie Alberts Smits participates in their 2026 Development Camp on
June 29, 2026 at Madison Square Garden. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [Garand] showed us late in the season last year that he\u2019s very capable of making saves in this league,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said. \u201cThat, in and of itself, just his overall growth and development, has given us a little bit more legitimate depth at the goaltending position. Korpy is a guy that I think is a bona fide NHL goalie that\u2019s had success and has a body of work in this league that shows that he can be an effective goaltender, especially at the backup position.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done an admirable job in the places that he\u2019s been. He\u2019s done an admirable job in the places he\u2019s beenWe feel like that position right now is competitive. I think ultimately as an organization the ultimate goal is to have fierce internal competition, healthy competition at all the positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Smits, Sullivan noted that the 18-year-old\u2019s history of playing in international men\u2019s leagues has paved the way to his current position. <\/p>\n
Despite acknowledging that Smits has a chance to make the Opening Night roster out of training camp, Sullivan also showed the organization\u2019s caution.<\/p>\n
President and general manager Chris Drury also has publicly stated the Rangers\u2019 wish to do what\u2019s best for his development.<\/p>\n
Since the Rangers drafted him fifth overall in June, there appeared to be some distaste for the narrative of Smits being the most NHL-ready defenseman in the 2026 class and how it could affect him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re impressed with his game,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI think the most important thing is, and we have talked about this internally, is that in the big picture, the sooner that Smits becomes part of our roster the better. But we also have to make sure that we do the right thing for him, both in the short term and in the long term.<\/p>\n
![\"Dylan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Dylan-Garand.jpg\")
Dylan Garand makes a save during the Rangers\u2019 3-2 loss to the Jets on March 22, 2026
at the Garden. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see where it goes. We\u2019re going to watch him in training camp with our veteran players, and his play will tell us where we think he fits and what\u2019s best for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan noted that Pavel Dorofeyev can skate on both the right and left wings. As for where the 25-year-old Russian will start the season, Sullivan said there will be some experimenting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of it\u2019s going to come down to what we think is the best fit based on the combinations that we put together,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to explore different options to figure out how we can create the balance that we think is necessary to win consistently, but also to set players up for success. Him included. I would anticipate probably seeing him on both sides throughout the course of the next couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cole Beaudoin is day to day and Aidan Thompson is week to week with undisclosed injuries.<\/p>\n
The new CBA that kicked in Wednesday notably reduces the maximum contract term to seven years for players re-signing with their current team (down from eight years) and six years for external free agent signings.<\/p>\n
Multiple teams locked down young talent to the maximum term late Tuesday night, such as the Capitals and Ryan Leonard (eight years, $84 million), the Sabres and Noah Ostlund (eight years, $52.8 million) and the Senators and Drake Batherson (eight years, $86 million).<\/p>\n
Asked if there was any inclination to approach, say, Gabe Perreault<\/a>, or any other of their youngsters for a maximum contract, Drury declined to reveal his stance on the matter.<\/p>\n\u201cAs you all know, I\u2019m not going to get into contract negotiations publicly,\u201d he said. \u201cAll or any conversations I have with players or agents, keep that private. We\u2019re happy with where we\u2019re at. We\u2019re happy with where our roster is at. We\u2019re happy with our cap projections going into this year and in the future. We\u2019re excited to see Gabe and other young players continue to grow, take on more responsibility, earn more responsibility here and have good productive years for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last season, Noah Laba proved that a strong training camp will be rewarded. The same rule still applies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4823,385,99],"class_list":["post-851225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}