Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand knows there's no room with the big club yet, but still believes 'my time will come'
Rangers goalie Dylan Garand makes a save during rookie camp at the MSG Training Facility in Greenburgh, N.Y., on Thursday. Credit: Neil Miller
GREENBURGH – Dylan Garand can’t kid himself. When you are a goaltender in the Rangers organization, and you go to training camp with Igor Shesterkin and future Hall of Famer Jonathan Quick ahead of you on the depth chart, you know that, odds are, you won’t be making the opening night roster.
“I mean, I'm not afraid to say that it's pretty set in stone,’’ Garand said Wednesday on the first day of rookie camp at the Rangers’ Westchester County training facility. “Those two (Shesterkin and Quick) are going to be here. So, like … of course, I want to play in the NHL, but my time will come.’’
Garand, 22, the Rangers’ fourth-round pick (No. 103 overall) in the 2020 draft, is prepared to go to Hartford after training camp and start his third season in the AHL. He served as a backup/1A goaltender to veteran Louis Domingue in his first two seasons with the Wolf Pack, posting save percentages of .894 and .898, and goals-against averages of 3.01 and 3.03 in the regular season.
In the playoffs, however, with Domingue called up to serve as the Rangers’ emergency No. 3 goaltender in the NHL playoffs, Garand’s save percentages as the Wolf Pack’s No. 1 were .935 and .922, and his GAA was 1.76 and 2.59.
Garand’s take on the discrepancy in his numbers is to say his regular season numbers were “almost frustrating,’’ though he said they were somewhat deceiving last season, skewed by a late season funk by the team. But, he said, he does “step up a little bit’’ in the playoffs.
“It's what you work for all year. It's the most fun,’’ he said. “And, you know, I'm a competitive guy. I love to win.’’
Robertson's goal is to make team out of camp
Defenseman Matthew Robertson, a second-round pick in the 2019 draft, said Thursday he wasn’t sure at the end of last season whether the Rangers would make him a qualifying offer after he finished his third season in Hartford. But after a strong playoff run in Hartford, and a stint with the Rangers’ “Black Aces’’ playoff taxi squad, the team signed him to a one-year deal.
Robertson has yet to play in an NHL game, but said his goal is to make the team out of training camp this year. He said he believes he has gotten closer to that objective each season, and this summer he worked with a mental coach in addition to his other on- and off-ice training.
“I think that was probably the biggest thing holding me back, is just my mental side, keeping confident and consistent each day,’’ he said.
Berard wearing full face mask
Forward Brett Berard, Hartford’s leading scorer last season, is wearing a full face mask in camp after taking a puck to the face three weeks ago.
“I wore a bubble in college and when I was with the US program, so I’m pretty used to it,’’ Berard said. He said his teeth were pushed back when he got hit, but he didn’t lose any, yet.
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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