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What’s next after Rangers place Garand, Raddysh on waivers
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- What’s next after Rangers place Garand, Raddysh on waivers
Barring any further moves, like claiming a player off waivers, the New York Rangers set their opening-night roster Sunday. The Rangers placed goalie Dylan Garand and veteran forward Taylor Raddysh on waivers.
The news was first reported by Mollie Walker of the New York Post.
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That leaves the Rangers with 25 player on their roster, but forward Adam Sykora will go on LTIR since he's out 4-5 months with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Vincent Iorio also remains out with a lower-body injury and could go on IR.
With those moves, the Rangers are down to the 23-man limit. The roster has 13 forwards, including Matt Rempe and Jaroslav Chmelar , who beat out Raddysh for the right wing spot on the fourth line, as well as the extra (13th) forward spot.
The Rangers will carry eight defensemen to begin the season, including 18-year-old Alberts Smits , who earned a spot on the third pair alongside Braden Schneider with a very poised a solid first training camp and preseason. Scott Morrow , who, like Garand, is no longer waivers exempt, remains on the roster for now as an extra defenseman, as does Matthew Robertson , who played 72 games as a rookie last season.
Joonas Korpisalo is Igor Shsterkin's backup, as the Rangers decided against carrying three goalies to begin the season.
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Since practice was canceled Sunday due to a power outage at their training facility in Westchester, coach Mike Sullivan won't address the roster decisions until Monday. The Rangers practice Monday morning before travelling to Boston that afternoon, ahead of their regular-season opener against the Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday.
What's next for Rangers after placing two on waivers to set opening-night roster
Dylan Garand
Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Now, the Rangers and Garand wait to see if the 24-year-old goalie gets claimed off waivers by another team. Interestingly, there's a chance that the two sides hope for different outcomes.
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The Rangers want Garand to clear so that they can assign him to Hartford of the American Hockey League and continue his development. Being the No. 1 in the AHL isn't a terrible thing for a goalie his age, though this would be his fifth season with the Wolf Pack. Plus, the Rangers are much deeper between the pipes with Garand in the system behind Shesterkin and Korpisalo, than if he gets claimed and journeyman Spencer Martin becomes next man up.
The flip side is that Garand might just prefer to be claimed and start over with a new organization. He's been the good soldier, saying and doing all the right things in training camp. But he cannot be happy with the acquisition this summer of Korpisalo, who clearly blocked his path to the NHL. Remember, Garand said last April that he never wanted to go back to Hartford again after making a splash in the NHL down the stretch with three terrific starts for the Rangers.
"Obviously, I expected competition coming into this year," Garand said earlier in camp . "[Korpisalo has] got a lot of experience. He's a guy I have a ton of respect for. I've been skating with him the past two weeks. He's an awesome guy, a great teammate.
"But it doesn't really change anything for me. It doesn't matter who's here or not, my job is stop the puck, and that's all I'm focused on."
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Starting the season in Hartford would be a bitter pill for Garand to swallow. Keep in mind that not many players are claimed off waivers at the end of training camp, so the odds of Garand clearing waivers are high. So far, five players were claimed off waivers by NHL teams during training camp — including defenseman William Trudeau, who was claimed by the Nashville Predators from the Rangers . Two goalies, each 24 years old, were claimed: Leevi Merilainen by the Vancouver Canucks from the Ottawa Senators , and Remi Poirier by the New Jersey Devils from the Dallas Stars .
Roll of the dice or calculated risk — call it what you will. But this moment seemed predestined ever since July 1, when the Rangers traded for Korpisalo.
Taylor Raddysh
Kyle Ross-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
As for Raddysh, the 28-year-old forward appeared on track to likely be the 13th forward to open the season. Even though he only played one preseason game — and scored a goal against the Islanders on Tuesday night — Raddysh felt like the safety net should Rempe or Chmelar stumble in camp.
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Instead, Rempe looked strong in three preseason games after an injury-ravaged 2025-26 season. Chmelar survived the cut despite Sullivan's comments this past week stating that the Rangers needed to see more assertiveness from the 23-year-old.
Raddysh hasn't played in the minors since 2020-21, when he skated for Syracuse of the AHL in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. He signed a two-year, $3 million contract with the Rangers in the summer of 2025, and had 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in 68 games with them last season.
The highlight for Raddysh was a hat trick against the San Jose Sharks in a wild 6-5 overtime loss at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 23. He scored five of his nine goals in the month of October, before a two-goal outing on Dec. 23 against one of his former teams, the Washington Capitals . Raddysh, whose father succumbed to cancer during the season after a long battle that weighed heavily on Taylor and his brother Darren, closed out the season without a goal in his final 13 games.
Radysh scored 20 goals for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23 and had 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists) with the Capitals the season prior to signing with the Rangers.
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He's a solid pro and quality teammate; but it'll be interesting to see how Raddysh accepts — or doesn't accept — his demotion to Hartford.
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