Ten games into the season, the Rangers’ record looks tidy enough: 6-3-1, good for second in the Metropolitan Division and 13 points. But the tape tells a messier story. New York is winning enough to stay in the mix, yet it’s also juggling defensive injuries, uneven five-on-five play, and a goaltending situation that suddenly has Dylan Garand in the spotlight.
The blue line has been the clearest stress point. Mike Sullivan has had to reshuffle pairings on a near-nightly basis, with the top four taking the biggest hit from minor knocks and changing workloads.
Adam Fox is still carrying heavy minutes, while Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson have been leaned on for tough defensive-zone minutes to help stabilize the rest of the group. That instability has bled into the forward side too, where Alexis Lafrenière briefly took a mid-week maintenance breather before returning to top-six duty.
That lack of continuity has shown up in how the Rangers are playing. Instead of a team consistently controlling structure, they’ve leaned more on instinct and goaltending. That can carry you for a while, but it’s a risky way to live over an 84-game season.
The bigger concern may be what’s happening at five-on-five. Mika Zibanejad and J.T.
Miller are still driving results in transition and on the power play, and Lafreniere has had an outstanding start to the season. Even so, the Rangers have spent too many stretches getting pushed around when the game settles into longer, grinding possessions.
The issue showed up loudly in last week’s back-to-back split.
First came the 7-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils, where the Rangers were exposed by neutral-zone gaps that opened the door to high-speed entries all night. They responded with a better defensive effort in Columbus, but still came away with a 1-0 loss to the Blue Jackets after failing to create sustained inner-slot pressure. That’s the challenge in front of them now: turn isolated bursts of skill into a more stable five-on-five identity.
Amid all that, Garand gave the Rangers something real to hang onto. With Igor Shesterkin out for the season and Joonas Korpisalo expected to miss at least four more weeks, the young goalie got a major chance in Columbus and made the most of it. He stopped 28 of 29 shots in the 1-0 loss and finished with a .966 save percentage.
That kind of performance matters because it changes the math for everyone around him. If Garand can give the team a steady night in a tough road setting, it gives the coaching staff more flexibility as it tries to manage the workload across a demanding schedule.
And that schedule is a clean little test this week. The Rangers open at home Monday against the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden, then head to Ontario for games Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena and Saturday against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. Monday’s game offers a chance to get back on track at even strength before the trip through two loud, fast Canadian buildings.
For the Rangers, the task is simple to say and harder to solve: clean up the five-on-five coverage, steady the back end, and make sure the points they’ve banked so far don’t come with too much hidden damage.
In Other News...
Rangers May Have A New Goaltending Question After Brutal OT Loss
The Rangers got a needed point out of a 1-0 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena, but the bigger takeaway may have been the way Dylan Garand handled the net. Called into a tough spot, Garand looked steady throughout the night, stopping 28 of 29 shots and helping the Rangers survive on penalty kills for long stretches as the road struggles continued and the club slipped to 1-3-1 away from home.
Dylan Garand's performance also adds another layer to the goaltending picture for a team still trying to settle things down in goal. New York did not get the result it wanted, but it did get a glimpse of a young netminder who was forced to carry a heavy load in a tight, low-scoring game, and the way he responded should keep the conversation going as the Rangers look for stability on the road. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Could Trigger The Goalie Domino That Reshapes This Market
Connor Hellebuycks suspension is nearly over, and the Jets ongoing interest in moving him has already started to ripple through the goalie market. The Rangers are not considered a fit to acquire Hellebuyck directly because of his salary, but their goalie situation could still matter here if they decide to make a separate move that helps loosen the entire landscape. Around the league, clubs such as the Kings and Hurricanes have also been linked to Hellebuyck, which only adds to the sense that one move could set off several others.
For the Rangers, the bigger question is whether they choose to act before the market tightens further. If they do, they could end up shaping where Hellebuyck lands without ever entering that bidding themselves, and that is the kind of indirect leverage teams look for when a top goalie becomes available. Nothing has been finalized yet, but with multiple teams circling and Winnipeg still exploring options, New Yorks next step could wind up carrying more weight than it first appears. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Just Got Another Reminder About Jaroslav Chmelar
Jaroslav Chmelars latest turn with the Rangers did not produce a point, and his ice time was limited across seven games in New York. Back in Hartford with the Wolf Pack, though, the winger has at least given the organization a reminder of why it remains interested in his development, scoring a goal in a recent game while leading the team with six shots on goal.
The Rangers have now sent Chmelar back to Hartford to keep building his game and confidence, while veteran Taylor Raddysh has been recalled to fill the NHL roster spot. For Chmelar, the path is still about translating flashes in the AHL into something more consistent at the top level, and the organization will be watching closely to see how he responds after another reset. [Read more 🡒]