2026 Rangers Season Previews: Joonas Korpisalo

This article is part of an ongoing series of New York Rangers Season Previews, taking a close look at what we can, and should, expect from each member of the 2026-27 New York Rangers. To read other articles in this series, go here.

On most other NHL teams, the identity of your backup goaltender probably merits a fair amount of discussion—perhaps roughly the amount of discussion the backup role on the New York Rangers generated this offseason.

For most teams, they have a clear starting goaltender. But the odds that player either gets hurt or has a significant enough dip in their performance throughout the season are fairly high. Then for other teams—think the Washington Capitals—they have a clear 1A/1B goaltending tandem, where either goalie could be "the guy" for a while. For still other teams, like the Vegas Golden Knights, they see goaltenders as a series of plug-and-play options, just hoping one of several masked men is up to snuff when they need them to be.

But for a small handful of teams like the New York Rangers, who not only have a clear starting goaltending, but indeed have one of the best goaltenders in the entire National Hockey League, the way you think about the backup position is somewhat different. Certainly you want someone capable for the games Igor Shesterkin doesn't start. But also, you know that if Igor goes down with a long-term injury, your season is probably shot.

In Dylan Garand, who played exceptionally well in a three game trial with a very bad team at the end of last season, the Rangers have a young and seemingly very talented netminder who has both played well and struggled with an up-and-down-but-mostly-down Hartford team over the prior several seasons. The Rangers have had a recent history of success in elevating young goaltenders through their system and into the backup role behind an elite netminder, specifically with guys like Cam Talbot and Alexandar Georgiev. They've also gone the route of enlisting more experienced backup options, such as Martin Biron, Ondrej Pavelec, and Jaroslav Halak. For the past three seasons, they've benefited from having future Hall-of-Famer and multiple time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Quick in the backup role.

With Quick's retirement, the door was open for Dylan Garand to add his name to that first category list. Then, Chris Drury surprised many of us by trading for 31-year-old Joonas Korpisalo from the Boston Bruins in exchange for Kalle Vaisanen and a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft. On one hand, it gives the Rangers more experience in net, with Korpisalo having 11 seasons and 334 NHL games under his belt. But on the other hand, it raised an interesting question: Why? Doesn't moving Garand into the backup role this year make more sense than trading actual assets for a more experienced and more expensive backup netminder?

Let's get into it.

Previous Performance

After spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and then with stopovers in Los Angeles and Ottawa, Korpisalo played the last two seasons in Boston. The results were pretty mediocre. In 31 games (28 starts) with the Bruins, he posted a 14-9-6 line, but with only an .894 SV% and a 3.15 GAA. In the immortal words of former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, it's not what you want. Beyond that, he notched a -1.0 Goals Saved Above Expected, per MoneyPuck. That was an improvement on his previous season's mark of -1.7 GSAE, but it's now been four full seasons since he last posted a positive GSAE (12.7 in the 2022-23 season he split between Columbus and the the LA Kings).

But we need to ask, compared to what? Much as we loved having Jonathan Quick on the team, his performance last year was less than stellar. Quick's GSAE was -6.4, though it was admittedly on a very bad Rangers squad. (For what it's worth, in a very limted three game sample size, Garand posted a 3.9 GSAE.)

Korpisalo's advanced stats per HockeyStats.com aren't reassuring, either:

It's true that Korpisalo has had some good seasons in the NHL. It's just been a while since we've seen one.

Expectations

The assumption when Korpisalo was acquired from Boston was that he was being brought in to serve in the backup role. I'm not so sure about that.

The Rangers offered that they wanted some competition in camp for the role, someone to push Dylan Garand. That's all fine and fair. You can understand not necessarily wanting to just hand the backup job to a still largely untested young player. But why this player? And why at the cost both in terms of assets (a depth prospect and a middle round draft pick) but also in money, with Korpisalo's cap hit at $4 million in what is the last year of a five-year contract he signed with the Ottawa Senators in 2023?

If you want the answer, just follow the money.

The Rangers are in a pickle with Dylan Garand if he doesn't win the backup job in camp. He's no longer waiver exempt, and would need to clear in order to be assigned to Hartford again. As Joe and I have talked about frequently, there are a lot of players who are placed on waivers who we'd expect to see claimed who nonetheless make it through. Right now, the Rangers have three players without obvious spots on the roster who I don't think would make it down to Hartford: Scott Morrow, Vincent Iorio, and Garand. Goalies, after all, are voodoo. So, if you're an NHL GM, why wouldn't you want to take a shot on a young netminder who has shown potential, who is only 24-years-old, who is only owed $875,000 this year, and who will be an RFA when that contract expires after next season? I think the odds he clear waivers and make it to Hartford are slim.

That's where Korpisalo's sizable cap hit for the quality of goaltender he is at this point of his career is an asset. There probably aren't a lot of teams who would both be looking for a veteran backup goaltender and who would want to eat the $4 million cap hit on the waiver wire. There are likely other, better, cheaper options. If the odds Garand clears waivers are slim, the odds Korpisalo makes it through are considerably higher.

Additionally, in trading for him, Korpisalo doesn't have much of a say in these matters. Whereas someone like a Samuel Ersson or Daniil Tarasov or Vitek Vanecek would be able to weigh the likelihood they'd be signing not to play a backup role in the NHL, but instead a starting role in the AHL, Korposalo didn't have that luxury. For the cost of a mostly-nothing prospect, a draft pick, and $4 million, they bought a large amount of control.

In the worst case scenario, if Dylan Garand demonstrates that he's not up to the task of backing up Igor Shesterkin, Korpisalo is there in Hartford waiting. And, a poorly performing Garand would have an increased chance of clearing waivers to get back down to the AHL.

Predictions

AHL: 50 GP | 23-21-6 | 2.81 GAA | .907 SV%

In his Season Preview piece for Dylan Garand, Keegan predicted that Garand would win the backup job out of camp. I see no reason to disagree with that.

For all the reasons laid out above, I expect Korpisalo to be ticketed for Hartford, and barring any disasters with Garand, he'll spend the entire seasons there. He'll be there if the Rangers need him. I just don't expect that they will. In the event he does get claimed on waivers, well, then Hartford's goaltending is pretty questionable. They'd be left with just 22-year-old Callum Tung and 31-year-old journeyman (that's right, he's still around) Spencer Martin.

In the event that the Rangers need someone from the AHL just to ride the pine for a few games because of injury, I'd expect the call up to be Martin, because the chances he clears waivers are essentially 100 percent. Only if the Rangers expect to be without Garand or Igor for an extended period of time would I envision seeing Korpisalo in a blueshirt this season.

The Bottom Line

There's merit to having an experienced backup goaltender around. For a team like the Rangers, with arguably the best goaltender in the NHL in your net for the majority of the season, you can argue it either way. Have a veteran netminder in case of emergency and you need to break that glass? Or go with a younger, cheaper, inexperienced guy who has potential in a sheltered role, since Igor will soak up the majority of the starts? There's a case for both.

I'm personally more inclined to the latter. I think we've seen enough from Garand in the AHL (last season was a down year from him, but also, Hartford was terrible) and in limited NHL action (again, on a terrible team) that you give him a go as your backup this season.

If we find ourselves speaking the name Joonas Korpisalo a lot this year, something has likely gone very, very wrong.