Tuesday night was another reminder that the Rangers are leaning hard on Dylan Garand, maybe harder than they should be. He made his 11th straight start, a workload that would wear down just about anybody, and the situation only looks stranger when you zoom out and see how the season has unfolded in goal.
There have been multiple goaltender injuries along the way, some more serious than others, but the bigger issue is that the Rangers have backed themselves into a spot where Garand has to carry this much of the load. That’s not exactly a sign of a clean plan.
The same kind of frustration hangs over the Will Cuylle experiment. Head coach Mike Sullivan has said the right things about Cuylle’s upside - that he has all the tools, yadda yadda yadda - and there’s truth in that. But the Rangers have also burned through a number of questionable attempts to solve their depth-center problem, spending assets and cap space and using contract slots while trying to make it work.
Cuylle took five faceoffs in the game and lost every one of them. Still, that’s not the whole story.
Center is about more than just the dot, and Cuylle had some real moments. He blocked a shot, and his forecheck helped create a goal.
The real question is whether those plays are enough to justify the role, or whether he’d have given the same value from the wing anyway.
And if the Rangers were looking for another center option, there’s the Brad Lambert angle to think about. The Winnipeg Jets got him with the first-round pick that came from the Rangers after a condition in the Andrew Copp trade was met. That’s another decision that sits awkwardly in the background of all this.
Then there’s Pavel Buchnevich. Yes, it’s dramatic to say it, but the feeling lingers: trading him may have sent the Rangers down the darkest timeline.
Pavel Buchnevich trying to mess with Mika Zibanejad pic.twitter.com/0tv49RZiEa
- Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) November 3, 2026
For all the talk about Garand carrying too much, he was excellent against the Blues. St.
Louis tested him early and often, and he answered nearly every time. The shutout bid ending with less than a minute left was a brutal finish for a strong night.
The Rangers’ special teams looked improved, too. Just keep in mind the opponent was the St. Louis Blues.
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