James Reimer may already be set to jump right into the Rangers’ net.
Dan Rosen of NHL.com was at New York’s practice and saw the newly signed goaltender as the first one off the ice, a possible sign that he’ll make his season debut - and his debut for the Rangers - against the Kings. The team has not made an official call on its starter yet.
Reimer’s arrival came quickly. He signed a one-year, $850K deal after being released from his professional tryout contract with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack on Sunday morning.
The 38-year-old then played Friday in his first game with Hartford and turned aside 35 shots in a shutout win over the Providence Bruins. By two days later, he was set to enter his 17th NHL season.
The Rangers are Reimer’s ninth NHL team, tying the league record for the most teams played for by a goaltender, alongside Cam Talbot. New York is also looking to ease the burden on 24-year-old Dylan Garand, who has been carrying a heavy load since Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending injury. The rookie has gone 4-4-1 with a .900 Sv% in nine appearances this season.
At Capitals practice, Jack St. Ivany was on the ice after being claimed off waivers from Winnipeg.
St. Ivany has appeared in four games this season and is averaging a career-low 13:31 per game.
In 57 career NHL appearances across parts of four seasons, with the rest of that time coming in Pittsburgh, the 27-year-old has nine assists, 68 blocks and 122 hits in 15:30 of ice time per night.
Washington also had defenseman Jakob Chychrun leave practice. The reason wasn’t known, and Chychrun later returned in regular clothes to watch the rest.
In Carolina, Alexander Nikishin remains away from the NHL roster for now, according to Walt Ruff. Nikishin signed a one-year, $3MM deal to stay with the Hurricanes after requesting a trade over the summer, but he has not yet joined the club in practice.
Last season, the 24-year-old defenseman put up 11 goals and 33 points in his rookie NHL campaign, logging a little more than 18 minutes a night while helping the team win the Stanley Cup. With so much time missed during his holdout, a conditioning stint with AHL Chicago could be the safest route before he’s thrown into NHL action.
Taylor Hall was back on the ice with Carolina on Monday in a regular practice after missing time on the road trip because of an upper-body injury that sent him to injured reserve. He skated with Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis, who has two goals and three points in three games. Boston is set to visit the Lenovo Center tomorrow to play the Hurricanes.
In Other News...
Panarin Just Reopened A Brutal Rangers Reality At MSG
Artemi Panarins return to Madison Square Garden was always going to draw attention, and it gave the Rangers another reminder of how quickly a familiar face can become a problem in the wrong sweater. In his second visit back since being traded, Panarin was involved in the offense again, adding a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings kept rolling and the former Rangers winger continued to look comfortable early in his new setting.
For the Rangers, the larger issue is less about one night at MSG and more about what has unfolded since they moved on from Panarin. The player brought in to help fill that void, Pavel Dorofeyev, has managed only three goals in 14 games and was recently pushed down to the third line, a tough turn for a club still trying to make the post-Panarin fit work. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Prospect Pipeline Suddenly Has A Scoring Surge Worth Watching
A few Rangers prospects in the CHL and USHL are starting to look a lot more interesting at the same time, and that kind of synchronized surge is exactly the sort of thing front offices notice. Darian Anderson kept piling up offense for the Flint Firebirds, Spencer Bowes chipped in for the Ottawa 67s, and Danai Shaiikov continued to get meaningful work for Gatineau, giving New York a small but notable cluster of prospect updates in the same week.
Andersons recent run has been the loudest of the group, with multiple goals and assists across his latest games, while Bowes added goals and playmaking of his own for Ottawa. Shaiikovs week was more of a mixed bag in net, with one strong outing and another where he was asked to weather a tougher result, but the bigger picture for the Rangers is clear enough: several players in the pipeline are producing in different ways, and the kind of upward trend that can change how a prospect is viewed is starting to show up on more than one track. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Have One Unsettling Question In Net
The Rangers goaltending picture is still murky enough that it keeps coming up as a point of conversation around the league. Elliotte Friedman said on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio that the team did not go after Connor Hellebuyck, but the broader message was the same one fans have heard for a while: New York may still be looking for ways to shore up the position. Dylan Garand has shown promise, but the idea of handing him the starters job full time does not sound like something the organization is ready to do.
James Reimer and Joonas Korpisalo only add to the uncertainty, leaving the depth chart without a clearly settled answer. Friedman also pointed to the Rangers financial losses and the possibility of ownership changes as factors that could shape how aggressive the club is in addressing the net, which means this is a question that may linger well beyond one offseason discussion. [Read more 🡒]