The New York Rangers closed out their Western Canada trip with a pair of victories, defeating the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Wednesday and the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Friday. New York finished the swing with a 3-1 mark and sits at 12-8-1 on the season at the quarter-pole. The Blueshirts are home Monday to face the Montreal Canadiens, then off until facing the Carolina Hurricanes at MSG next Sunday.
A few Rangers Thoughts
1) Goaltending: Joonas Korpisalo allowed just four goals on 58 shots against Seattle and Calgary, making key saves when needed. Dylan Garand, rebounding from a tough stretch of play, picked up his third win in his last four starts Friday versus Vancouver, and has allowed just six goals on 105 shots in that span. For now, the timeshare in net – and that’s what it looks like—is working,
Elliotte Friedman noted in his recent 32 Thoughts podcast that the Rangers are monitoring Jordan Binnington. The Rangers is in no rush to make a deal, and with Korpisalo and Garand playing well – or at least well enough – a panic move is not needed. Binnington has the pedigree, winning a Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and backstopping Canada to a 4 Nations Cup win and Olympics silver medal.
However, his play has tailed off, and he now is the clear #2 for the Blues with Joel Hofer the main man between the pipes.
The Blueshirts created additional cap room Sunday, moving Igor Shesterkin from Long-Term Injured Reserve to Season-Ending Injured Reserve. This means he is now ineligible to play this regular season and playoffs. Moving him to SELTIR increases their LTIR benefit from the $3.9M benefit limit to his full cap hit of $11.57M. Binnington is in the final season of a deal with a $6 million AAV.
The longer the Rangers wait, the less cap hit they assume if a trade is made, allowing them to pursue other options up front and on the backline.
2) Power play: Coach Mike Sullivan’s decision to utilize Adam Fox as the point man on the first and second units, along with additional tweaks, has paid dividends. New York’s man advantage went 4-for-15 on the road, improving their 2026-27 success rate to 20.6%, 18th in the league. Not great, but much better than the games prior to the team heading out West.
Four different players.- Mika Zibanejad, Tye Kartye, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Oliver Bjorkstrand – notched goals. , showing the balance up front from the changes. The main changes were the promotion of Gabe Perreault to the first unit, the drop of JT Miller to the second unit, and the addition of Tye Kartye – as seen below – with Sean Durzi slidelined. Fox remains on with the second grouping unless he has to chase clears down the ice.
If that happens, Scott Morrow has replaced Fox on the power play with Durzi out.
PP1: Fox-Perreault-Zibanejad-Dorofeyev-Lafrenière
PP2: Fox-Kartye-Miller-Bjorkstrand-Cuylle
3) Blueline: With Durzi out, joining Alberts Smits on the sideline, Morrow and Matthew Robertson entered the lineup. The road pairings were: Vladislav Gavrikov-Fox, Marcus Pettersson-Braden Schneider and Robertson-Morrow. Durzi has been practicing in a red, no-contact jersey. Following tomorrow’s game, as noted above, New York has six days off. My guess, and the view of most, is that Durzi sits and rejoins the lineup against Carolina.
When Durzi returns, Schneider should be the one who sits. Morrow and Robertson have played well as a pair. Morrow’s ability to create space and offense has enabled New York to transition quicker from defense to offense out of their zone. Robertson has built on what he showed last season and also deserves a spot in the top-six.
Whether Sullivan and GM Chris Drury have the guts to make the right move remains to be seen.
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