5 Realistic Goaltending Options for the New York Rangers

Losing Igor Shesterkin for the remainder of the season changes almost everything for the New York Rangers.

Shesterkin is the best player on the team, and losing your best player is a devastating blow, no matter how many good complementary pieces you have on the roster. Just ask the Florida Panthers, who suffered mightily last season after losing Aleksander Barkov for the year with a knee injury. (They narrowly avoided having to be asked about it again this year, as the lower-body injury that has Barkov out right now is apparently less severe.)

Chip is out with a piece this morning making the case for trading for Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets. This would replace one elite goaltender with another, and it would end the standoff between Hellebuyck and the Jets over his trade request.

There would be multiple hurdles to clear for this to even be a remote possibility. Hellebuyck has a full no-movement clause and would have to OK a trade to the Rangers. They'd have to assemble a trade package that Winnipeg would say yes to, and I don't think what Chip is proposing is enough to get it done, even in the difficult circumstances the Jets find themselves in with Hellebuyck.

And, finally, there's the little issue of the four years and $8.5 million AAV he has remaining on his contract after this year. In case you forgot, Igor is signed for another six years after this one, at $11.5 million AAV.

Chip has chosen to put the evil out into the world that Igor might never play again. Can I tell you the possibility is zero? Of course not. But even if his injury is worse than your average ligament tear or Achilles rupture or whatever specific lower-body injury he has, the odds are better that he'll be back at some point. Chip points to the freakishly similar injury that Mike Richter suffered. But we need to get the history right. Richter had knee injuries in 2000 and 2001. And it was a concussion suffered in 2002 (which also followed a fractured skull earlier that year) that finally ended his career.

I think Igor will be back at some point, and that net is his. What then do they do with Hellebuyck when Igor returns? I highly doubt they're both down for what would be the most elite goaltending tandem of all time. Nor do I think Hellebuyck wants to OK a trade to the Rangers only to be traded again in the offseason. I don't think that's a situation he says yes to.

Millions of pixels were spilled about Dylan Garand a few weeks ago. You have to acknowledge, even if you claimed to be absolutely certain that Garand wouldn't be claimed on waivers, that it's a damn good thing he cleared. I'm on the record as thinking highly enough of Garand to have wanted him to get the backup job this season. Now, he finds himself as the starting goaltender for the Rangers just weeks after being cut from training camp. What a wild ride. I hope he plays so well he makes me seriously debate buying his jersey.

The Rangers' goaltending situation is dicey even beyond that, though. After the Rangers traded for Joonas Korpisalo and his $3 million cap hit (the Ottawa Senators retained $1 million of his salary when they traded him to the Boston Bruins) and settled on the veteran for the backup role behind Igor, Korpisalo somehow injured himself. How, we're not quite sure, and the Rangers aren't saying. But he's out for another four weeks from now, at least.

That leaves Spencer Martin as the backup on the Rangers right now. Martin is, to borrow a term from social science, a crappy goaltender. The most he's played in a single NHL season was 29 games for the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23, when he posted an 11-15-1 record with an .871 save percentage and a 3.99 GAA. In six games with the Rangers last season, he was 1-3-0 with an .864 save percentage and a 4.13 GAA. That's not workable, even for an NHL backup. I was already unimpressed with Korpisalo's numbers as a backup the last few seasons, and Martin is far worse than that.

The Rangers are going to need to add another goaltender to their system. If you join me in presuming that Chip's wild fantasy about Hellebuyck, while kind of fun, is just not happening, then here are five realistic options for the Rangers to bolster their goaltending right now.

Jordan Binnington—St. Louis Blues

Look, I said these were realistic options. I didn't say they were all great or fun ones.

You can't deny that Binnington has pedigree. His being called up to the Blues in 2019 coincided with the wild run that team went on from worst in the NHL at the beginning of January to Stanley Cup champions. He's manned the net for Team Canada's win in the 4 Nations Face-Off and for its silver-medal finish at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. He has a history of showing up in big games.

His performance in recent seasons has been mediocre, however. Last season he posted an .873 save percentage and a 3.33 GAA, and was the worst in the league with -22.4 goals saved above expected (GSAE). Not great. He was better the prior season, with a .900 save percentage, a 2.69 GAA, and 5.3 GSAE.

This season he's moved into a backup role with the Blues, and Joel Hofer has taken over in net in St. Louis. He's in the last year of the six-year deal that pays him $6 million annually. St. Louis might prefer to keep the veteran presence around behind Hofer. But on the other hand, Hofer has increased his game share in each of the past three seasons and is clearly the top option in St. Louis, even if you want to classify it as more of a 1A/1B tandem situation. This would be an opportunity for the Blues to recoup some assets for a player they know they aren't bringing back after this year.

What it Would Mean

Binnington would have a chance to play well in his opportunities and start stealing starts. But this would still mean leaning heavily on Garand, just with a more accomplished veteran backup presence behind him.