Dylan Garand Shut Out Detroit Days After Clearing Waivers and Owns the Rangers Backup Job for Now
By Verdexed NHL Desk
Dylan Garand was waived, cleared, sent to Hartford and recalled inside of five days, and on Friday night he shut out the Detroit Red Wings. The 24-year-old stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 2-0 Rangers win at Little Caesars Arena, per NHL.com, after Joonas Korpisalo was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury that the team called week to week. For fantasy managers, the question is not whether Garand is the new starter. It is how many starts the Rangers backup job is worth while Korpisalo is out, and whether Garand belongs on a roster.
How Garand got here
The Rangers cut Garand at the end of camp, put him on waivers and assigned him to the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack after he went unclaimed. He had two practices in Hartford before the call came back. Hours before Thursday's home opener against Tampa Bay, New York announced that Korpisalo was week to week with a lower-body injury, an odd timing given Korpisalo had not yet played a game this season, and recalled Garand to back up Igor Shesterkin.
Friday was the second half of a back-to-back, and Garand got the nod in Detroit. Sean Durzi and Eeli Tolvanen scored and Garand handled the rest. It was his first NHL shutout in his fourth NHL game, and he became the fourth goalie in Rangers history to post a shutout within his first four starts, joining Steve Baker, Mackenzie Skapski and Henrik Lundqvist, per NHL.com. Coach Mike Sullivan praised how Garand handled the week, pointing to his character after being sent down.
The Rangers' first week in net
New York is 2-1-0, and the goaltending has carried a team that has scored seven goals in three games.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Goalie | Saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep. 29 | at Boston | L 3-0 | Igor Shesterkin | 20 |
| Oct. 1 | vs. Tampa Bay | W 5-1 | Igor Shesterkin | 24 |
| Oct. 2 | at Detroit | W 2-0 | Dylan Garand | 22 |
Shesterkin has been sharp in both starts. Boston's three goals in the opener all came in the final minutes of the third period, including an empty-netter, and on Thursday he became the first goalie in Rangers history to score a goal, sending the puck the length of the ice into an empty net to cap the win over Tampa Bay. He was the 18th goalie in NHL history to score.
Fantasy fallout
Igor Shesterkin is the fantasy story that matters most here, and nothing about Friday changes it. He is an elite starter on a team that is defending well, and the Korpisalo injury removes a veteran backup who might otherwise have taken a slightly larger share of starts. If anything, Shesterkin's volume rises slightly while Korpisalo is out, because coaches tend to lean harder on a starter when the backup is a recent waiver clearance. Start him every time he is confirmed.
Dylan Garand is a streaming option, not a hold, in 12-team leagues. The Rangers have three games in five days to open this stretch, with Utah at Madison Square Garden on Sunday and another game Tuesday, per the team's schedule, and the clearest pattern for backup starts is back-to-backs. Garand started the back half of the first one. In deep leagues and two-goalie formats with a weekly start minimum, he is worth a speculative add because the Rangers' defense is suppressing shots and a backup on a good team can win you a ratio week. In shallow leagues, leave him on waivers and check Daily Faceoff on the morning of each back-to-back.
Joonas Korpisalo can be dropped in most formats. Week to week with an injury the team has not detailed, a backup who has not yet played does not justify a bench slot, and Garand has made the job his to lose for now.
Streaming strategy for backup goalies this week
The Garand start is a reminder of how to play goalie streaming in the first two weeks of the season. Backup starts cluster on the second night of back-to-backs, and the first week of the schedule is full of them. Washington, for example, is starting Charlie Lindgren in Tampa on Saturday after Logan Thompson made 31 saves in Friday's 5-2 win at Carolina, per the Capitals and local reports.
Three filters help sort backup streamers. First, the team in front of the goalie: a backup behind a defense allowing low shot totals, as the Rangers have been, is safer than a starter behind a porous one. Second, the opponent: target teams coming off flat performances or playing their own back-to-back. Third, confirmation: wait for Daily Faceoff or the team's morning skate before locking a backup into a lineup, because coaches change plans after morning skates more often than fans expect.
Utah fits the second filter on Sunday. The Mammoth play at Columbus on Saturday and then visit the Rangers on Sunday, so Utah is on the back half of a back-to-back at MSG. That makes Sunday a strong Shesterkin start and a reasonable spot for Rangers skaters in DFS.
Betting angle
The goalie confirmation is the swing factor for Sunday's market. With Garand having started Friday, Shesterkin is the logical starter against Utah, and the Rangers will be on two days of rest against an opponent on no rest. That combination generally pushes a moneyline toward the home side, so the value, if any, comes from getting a number before Shesterkin is confirmed and the schedule spot is fully priced in.
Under bettors have a case built on how the Rangers have played: seven goals scored and four allowed across three games, with two shutouts behind two different goalies. The counterpoint is Utah's power play, which scored twice in a 6-0 win over Chicago on Thursday. The Verdexed board for each day is posted at /blog/nhl-picks-2026-10-03 and the full set of game views is at /nhl/predictions; check both once the Sunday goalies are confirmed.
What's next
The next data point is Sunday's starter against Utah, followed by Tuesday's game, where a second Garand start would signal that Sullivan trusts him beyond back-to-backs. Korpisalo's timeline is the other piece. The team has not described the injury in detail, and a move off injured reserve would likely send Garand back to Hartford once more.
Until then, the playbook is straightforward. Keep starting Shesterkin, treat Garand as a deep-league streamer whose value depends on back-to-backs, and use the Rangers' structure as a reason to trust whichever goalie New York sends out. Garand has already shown he can win a game when the team needs him; the question for fantasy managers is simply how often he will get the chance.