Rangers sign goalie Dylan Garand to two-year extension
New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand looks on against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Friday, March 27. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Jonathan Quick’s retirement at the end of the season has opened the door for Dylan Garand to have a chance to make it as a full-time NHL goalie, and the Rangers on Sunday announced they’ve signed the 24-year-old to a two-year contract extension, which presumably makes him the first choice to replace Quick in the role of backup to No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin.
An NHL source said the first year of the deal is a two-way contract, with an NHL minimum $850,000 salary at the NHL level. Puckpedia reports Garand would earn $400,000 if he is playing in the minor leagues. The NHL source said the second year of the contract is a one-way deal – meaning Garand would get the same salary whether he is in the NHL or the minors – worth an NHL minimum $900,000. So his salary cap hit would be $875,000.
Of course, signing Garand, who was scheduled to be a restricted free agent, doesn’t preclude the Rangers from signing a veteran in free agency to compete with him for the backup job. There are some big name goalies who will be free agents this summer, including two-time Stanley Cup winner Sergei Bobrovsky and Frederik Andersen who just won the Cup a week ago with Carolina. Former Edmonton Oiler Stuart Skinner, 27, is among those available, as is former Ranger Cam Talbot.
Garand, though, showed enough in his late-season audition that he is ready to at least compete for the job. After struggling in the first half of last season with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford – so much so that when Shesterkin was injured in January, the Rangers recalled the well-traveled 30-year-old veteran Spencer Martin instead of him to take Shesterkin’s spot – Garand was called up in March when the team started taking looks at some of its younger players late in the season.
He made his NHL debut March 22, making 35 saves in a shootout loss to Winnipeg at the Garden, and spent the rest of the season with the parent club. He started three games the rest of the way, going 2-0-1, with a 1.62 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage.
At the team’s breakup day in April, Garand said he was hungry to make it as an everyday NHLer, and confident that he would.
“I have a lot of belief in myself. I know what I'm capable of, and I know how hard I work, day in and day out,’’ he said. “I'm hungry to be here, and it's an exciting opportunity to move forward.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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