This Rangers team isn’t lacking thoughts and opinions through the preseason. The Rangers are a difficult team to predict because of how many players have uncertain presents and futures. That said, the Rangers goalies do feel like the easiest group to analyze. Igor Shesterkin is among the best goalies in the world (if not the best), Jonathan Quick is a historically excellent goalie hanging on to his final days in the NHL, and Dylan Garand is an up-and-comer looking to ensure his spot in the Rangers future. 

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Igor Shesterkin headlines the Rangers goalies

If there were ever a goalie who should be named captain of his team, it’s Igor Shesterkin. He’s by far the most valuable player on the team (sorry Panarin, Fox), and he’s the Rangers biggest advantage every night he plays. That the Rangers essentially went from Henrik Lundqvist to Igor Shesterkin is one of the coolest things I’ve experienced as a hockey fan. That’s going to be close to three decades of never worrying about the Rangers goalies.

Still, the Rangers haven’t done too much with Shesterkin in net. Two Eastern Conference Finals appearances is nothing to roll your eyes at, but the goal is to win it all. By all accounts Shesterkin is as motivated as ever, and the Rangers defensive play can’t possibly get worse.

One thing I will be looking out for in the upcoming season is how Shesterkin responds if the Rangers defensive play is genuinely improved. It might sound like a silly thought, but when a goalie is used to overcompensating for horrific play, it becomes his norm. We may see Shesterkin trying to do too much early on.

Still, the expectation is and always will be an awesome season from Shesterkin. I’ll be disappointed if he’s not in the top 3 for the Vezina.

What does Jonathan Quick have left?

I don’t believe in this current iteration of Jonathan Quick. At all. Zero percent. He is slow, out of position, and just looks completely lost night in and night out. At the time the Rangers extended Quick he was still playing well, but his game completely fell off a cliff last season and based on his preseason play, it doesn’t look like it’s gotten any better.

Both of the Rangers goalies will be adapting to hopefully improved defensive play. My hope is that helps Quick play average hockey, but quite honestly I don’t believe in his ability to do that at this point. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, as he’s had a phenomenal career and deserves every accolade he’s received. 

My guess is Quick is the backup for the full season, but if the team moved to Garand by February, you sure wouldn’t get any argument from me.

Future backup Dylan Garand?

There’s no player I was more disappointed in the preseason of than Garand, which says a lot because the Rangers goalies weren’t the focus. There was a 0% chance he was making the Rangers (and a 0% chance of surpassing Jonathan Quick), but he had a great chance to say “hey, I’m ready for the NHL whenever the time comes,” and he didn’t do it.

Given that the Rangers didn’t replace Louis Domingue, Garand will be the first goalie promoted if one of the Rangers goalies get hurt, but with less confidence. I strongly believe watching Garand that he will have a long NHL career. My career projection for him is a slightly less successful Cam Talbot. Nothing exciting, but gets the job done.

Still, for Garand to earn that opportunity, he will have to play better when given opportunities.

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