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MTPS: Free Agency Preview—The Goaltenders

The retirement of Jonathan Quick and the failure of a few goalie prospects to develop has left depth behind Igor Shesterkin an issue. Does the free agent market have any solutions?

Chip23

22 Jun 2026 — 4 min read

We are mere days away from July 1 and the start of NHL Free Agency. The pool of available talent is as shallow as a kiddie pool in Death Valley on an August day, but that doesn't mean it's completely empty.

So, let's start taking a closer look at who is available and what the New York Rangers could, and should, do there. First up:

The Goalies

This may seem like an odd place to start, but a quick look at the New York Rangers depth chart suggests it is definitely an area of need. Obviously there's Igor Shesterkin. But behind him, there's not much.

Jonathan Quick's retirement means that the only goaltenders currently under contract are AHL journeyman Spencer Martin and second-year man Callum Tung. Dylan Garand is a restricted free agent and will likely be re-signed. But even then, that being all there is is not great.

Martin was an in-season signing after he spent part of this year in the KHL, and he did get into a few games for the Rangers where he was, well, he was what you would expect from a player who started the year in the KHL. As for Tung, the 22-year old spent his first full professional season bouncing between the Bloomington Bison of the ECHL and the Hartford Wolf Pack while posting numbers that are fine, albeit not inspiring. The Rangers other two goalies last season, Talyn Boyko and Hugo Ollas, are both headed to Europe next season and, while the Rangers will retain their RFA rights, neither is expected to be re-signed.

So, needless to say that while Garand will have the inside track to being the backup goalie behind Igor, the Rangers could use some depth and that's where free agency can play a role.

First, a look at the players available (ages in parenthesis):

Frederik Andersen (36)
Sergei Bobrovsky (37)
Laurent Brossoit (33)
Eric Comrie (30)
Pheonix Copley (34)
Louis Domingue (34)
Ryan Fanti (26)
Ivan Fedotov (29)
Taylor Gauthier (25)
Alexandar Georgiev (30)
Brandon Halverson (30)
Connor Ingram (29)
Kaapo Kahkonen (29)
Amir Miftakhov (26)
Petr Mrazek (34)
Matt Murray (32)
Jiri Patera (27)
Cal Petersen (31)
Calvin Pickard (34)
Ivan Prosvetov (27)
James Reimer (38)
David Rittich (33)
Olivier Rodrigue (25)
Zachary Sawchenko (28)
Hunter Shepard (30)
Jakub Skarek (26)
Stuart Skinner (27)
Mads Sogaard (25)
Cam Talbot (38)
Daniil Tarasov (27)
Vitek Vanecek (30)
Matt Villalta (27)
Vadim Zherenko (25)

That's a solid list if you're looking for an NHL backup goaltender or even a guy who can share a starting role in a tandem situation: Stuart Skinner, Sergei Bobrovski, Daniil Tarasov, Vitek Vanecek, David Rittich, Cam Talbot, and Frederik Andersen would all be fine for that. But that's not what the Rangers are looking for.

The Rangers, presumably, will be in the market for someone who would be willing to come in and understand that they're likely ticketed for Hartford unless either Shesterkin or Garand are injured, or Garand proves that his performance in limitd time last year was a blip and that he's not a suitable NHL backup.