​New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury has been unusually active in recent weeks as he attempts to assemble a team capable of returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after two straight seasons without a postseason berth. The squad that will gather at training camp in Tarrytown, New York, in about two months will look markedly different from the club that finished the 2025-26 season in last place in the Eastern Conference. But the crucial question remains: will this “new” Rangers team be better? That concern follows a 34-39-9 record in which they missed the playoffs by 21 points. The only NHL stat they led in was times shut out, a league-high 10 times, seven of those at Madison Square Garden.
As the league pauses to digest recent moves, here’s where the Rangers stand. Igor Shesterkin remains among the league’s elite goaltenders, entering the second season of his eight-year contract carrying an average annual value near $11.6 million. An injury that sidelined him for the final month before the Olympic break proved pivotal to the team’s downturn, as neither the since-retired Jonathan Quick nor journeyman Spencer Martin was able to adequately fill the gap.
Dylan Garand, drafted in 2020, impressed head coach Mike Sullivan and teammates — including Shesterkin — after he went 2-0-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage in three late-season starts following a call-up. Those performances earned the 24-year-old a two-year, $1.75 million contract and the expectation that he would serve as Shesterkin’s backup. But Drury had other plans, and on July 1 the Rangers traded a draft pick and a low-level prospect to the Boston Bruins for veteran backup Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo has logged 334 NHL games, but last season posted a 14-9-6 record with a 3.15 GAA and .894 save percentage across 31 appearances.
Korpisalo carries a $3 million cap hit through 2027-28, which is a substantial commitment for a backup goaltender. The Rangers are unlikely to carry three goaltenders, and both Garand and Korpisalo would need to clear waivers to be assigned to AHL Hartford. While it isn’t impossible for another team to claim Garand, Korpisalo’s contract makes a waiver claim unlikely. If the Rangers choose to bury Korpisalo to the minors, they would be able to hide only $1.225 million of his salary, leaving them on the hook for $1.775 million.
From a goaltending perspective, the ceiling remains high as long as Shesterkin stays healthy. The real question as training camp approaches is which backup will receive the call for the 25-30 games Shesterkin does not play. That decision will be a focal point of camp, especially with only four preseason games on the slate this year.
Drury has also reworked the team’s defensive structure, remodeling the second and third pairs while preserving the top pairing of Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad for the long term. The changes signal a shift toward more balance and depth, even as the core remains anchored by Fox and the rest of the top unit. With camp looming, fans will watch closely to see how the new pieces gel, how the goaltending rotation shakes out, and whether this revamped roster can translate into a playoff run after a year of underachievement.