Less than two weeks ago, the New York Rangers placed Dylan Garand on waivers as the young goaltender’s future in the organization was completely up in the air.
Now, with Igor Shesterkin out for the remainder of the 2026-27 season, Garand has suddenly been thrust into the starting goaltending role.
From being placed on waivers to becoming the Rangers’ starter in less than two weeks, how did we get to this point?
Since the Rangers selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Garand has spent most of his time with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League, appearing in 150 AHL games.
He finally got his NHL opportunity toward the tail end of the 2025-26 season, starting three games and posting a 2-0-1 record, a 1.62 goals-against average, and a .948 save percentage.
Things were looking promising for Garand, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Rangers at the beginning of the offseason and was in line to replace the retired Jonathan Quick as Igor Shesterkin’s backup.
However, the Rangers acquired veteran goaltender Joonas Korpisalo from the Boston Bruins on July 1, and he ultimately beat out Garand for the backup spot.
The 24-year-old was placed on waivers before the regular season began. After clearing waivers and being assigned to the Wolf Pack, Garand was prepared to settle back into Hartford, where he had even bought himself an apartment.
Things changed quickly when Garand was recalled by the Rangers on October 1 after Korpisalo was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
Shesterkin’s season-ending injury has now opened the door for Garand to take over as the Rangers’ starter for the foreseeable future, with Korpisalo expected to remain sidelined for another month.
“You never want to see guys get injured, especially your best player in Igor,” Garand said on Saturday. “He means a lot to the guys in this room and a lot to me personally. At the same time, it’s just next man up, and that’s kind of my approach here. I’m excited for the opportunity, I’m gonna put my heart and soul on the line for these guys and this city every night.”
Garand recorded a shutout in the Rangers’ 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings last week. He also entered Friday night’s game against the Washington Capitals in relief of Shesterkin, stopping 11 of 12 shots in a 2-1 loss.
The Rangers are expected to call up goaltender Spencer Martin from the AHL, but Mike Sullivan confirmed that Garand will likely handle the bulk of the workload until Korpisalo returns.
“Dylan is a great kid,” Sullivan said. “He’s another fierce competitor, he loves hockey, and he has aspirations to play in the NHL. He’s a good goalie. Everytime we’ve put him in the net, certainly since I've been here, he's made timely saves. He's given our team a chance to win each and every time he's been in the net. We think he's very capable, and he's going to get an opportunity here.”
Although Garand has limited NHL experience, he has spent the past several seasons as Hartford’s starting goaltender, starting more than 35 games in each of the past three seasons.
“Very ready,” Garand said when asked whether he’s ready to take on the Rangers’ starting role. “I think I have a chip on my shoulder for how my past has been. I’m really excited for this opportunity and ready to battle for these guys.”
While expressing their empathy for Shesterkin during this difficult time, Rangers players have emphasized their belief in Garand and their readiness to “rally” around him.
New York has started the season strong, posting a 4-2 record, but Garand’s performance could play a significant role in determining the team’s trajectory.
After going from the waiver wire to the starting crease in less than two weeks, Garand has a unique opportunity to establish himself in the NHL and become a hero in New York.
“I'm excited,” Garand said. “Obviously it's a dream to play in the NHL. I'm just trying to embrace that mentality and have a lot of gratitude for this opportunity. I love being part of this group and I love the guys in this room. So I really just want to work my nuts off and battle for these guys and help the team keep winning.”
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 10: Pavel Zacha #18 of the Boston Bruins celebrates his first-period goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on October 10, 2026, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
The Bruins got points from 11 different skaters on Saturday afternoon, extending Philly’s season-opening misery with a 5-1 win at TD Garden.
Fraser Minten led the way for the B’s, with the youngster recording a goal and two assists.
Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Mason Lohrei recorded the other Bruin goals.
Jeremy Swayman didn’t have a ton to do in this one, as he made just 14 saves in the win.
In spite of outshooting the Flyers 22-8 through two periods, the B’s kind of let Philly hang around at just 2-0 down; however, they outscored the Flyers 3-1 in the third period to salt this one away.
The loss extended the Flyers’ season-opening losing streak to six games, giving Rick Tocchet one of the hotter seats in the hockey world at the moment.
Zacha’s goal, his first of the season, kind of epitomized Philly’s start to the season: the play only came about because Owen Tippett knocked the puck back into his own zone, directly to David Pastrnak.
Zacha’s shot somehow trickled past Dan Vladar, and it was 1-0 Bruins early in the first.
The score would remain the same until the final three minutes of the second period, when Lohrei cashed in on a well-executed 4-on-2 rush to make it 2-0 Bruins.
Porter Martone got one back for Philly five minutes later, as the B’s gave the young forward too much space on the power play, and he didn’t miss. 3-1 Bruins.
However, Mittelstadt would reestablish the three-goal lead just three minutes later, tucking home a great pass from Elias Lindholm to make it 4-1 Bruins.
After an afternoon spent dishing the puck out, Minten got a goal of his own late in the third, speeding past multiple Flyers before getting a bit of a fortuitous bounce to beat Vladar five-hole and make it 5-1 Bruins.
By my count, Minten has had three three-point games as a Bruin, and two of them have been against the Flyers. Along with today’s effort, Minten had a 1G-2A game against Philly on January 29; his other three-pointer was a 2G-1A outing in the B’s 10-2 blowout win over the Rangers on January 10.
On a day when the scoring was spread around, the only other Bruin with a multi-point day was JJ Peterka. The forward was credited with primary assists on both Lohrei’s and Minten’s goals.
Speaking of the Minten goal, that one will not be going on the Noel Acciari Highlight Reel. The former Bruin got caught getting back on defense in the neutral zone, and he barely got a sight of Minten as he sped past. Adios.
James Hagens, who ended up with an assist on the goal as well, made a great play at his own blue line prior to Mittelstadt’s goal. He was able to cleanly corral an outlet pass with his skate, then immediately turn the puck up ice and hit a teammate in stride. That started the clean zone entry, and the rest was history.
Unfortunately, the B’s did not, in fact, maintain power play momentum from the Utah game in this one, going 0-for-2 on the afternoon.
If you’re a Flyers fan, this game probably epitomizes your season thus far. The Flyers turn it over at the blue line and Zacha’s shot somehow trickles in, a blocked shot leads to a 4-on-2 the other way, Minten’s shot ends up banking five-hole and in instead of getting stuck, etc. One of those stretches for Philly, I guess.
Minten actually ended his afternoon shortly after his goal, as he was given 2-and-10 for tangling with Martone after a hit on Hampus Lindholm that Minten didn’t like. I’m not sure he was actively angling for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, but he came pretty close.
The B’s will now make their annual sojourn out to California, as they’ll play the Sharks, Ducks, and Kings on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.
The bad news is that the Rangers current backup goaltender is 31-year-old Spencer Martin, who has a career 87.5 percent save percentage through 72 games played in the NHL, and was only recently cleared from a lower-body injury of his own.
Behind Martin is emergency backup goaltender (EBUG) Remmington Keopple, a 24-year-old who played 19 NCAA games across four seasons at Cornell between 2022 and 2026.
With this in mind -- assuming that the Blueshirts can't convince Jonathan Quick or Connor Ingram to come out of retirement, and don't have the leverage to swing a trade for an established NHL goaltender such as Connor Hellebuyck -- let's take a look at three realistic options the Rangers could bring in to serve as Garand's backup, including two third-string goalies under one-year contracts with other NHL teams and one current free agent.
Matt Murray
32-year-old Canadian Matt Murray is very familiar with Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan. As a rookie with Sully's Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015-16, he replaced legendary veteran Marc-André Fleury in the first round of the playoffs, posting a .923 save percentage and 2.08 GAA across 15 games as the Pens emerged as 2016 Stanley Cup Champions.
Murray spent five years in Pittsburgh, two seasons in Ottawa, and three seasons in Toronto, which included a 21-month absence due to bilateral hip surgery. Last season, he started four games for the Seattle Kraken as the third-choice goaltender behind Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer. A small sample size, yes, but Murray recorded strong marks in both save percentage (.922) and goals against average (2.21).
That serious hip injury could be the reason why Murray remains an unrestricted free agent, but with proven NHL experience and familiarity with the Rangers' head honcho, he could be worth a flier.
Remi Poirier
25-year-old Remi Poirier has yet to make his NHL debut, but in my opinion, that's no fault of his own. A sixth-round pick in 2020 by the Dallas Stars, Poirier was unsurprisingly unable to dislodge either of the members of a premier goaltender tandem in the form of Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith, who have been the team's unquestioned starter and backup for three seasons running. Last season with the AHL's Texas Stars, Poirier was something of a bell cow, starting 52 games and recoding a .912 save percentage alongside a 2.61 GAA.
Similar in many ways to Garand, Poirier was waived by the Stars in late September, but unlike Garand, Poirier was claimed by another team. Now the third-choice for the New Jersey Devils behind Jake Allen and Nico Daws, Poirier's $850,000 contract expires at season's end, when he's set to become a restricted free agent.
With Poirier yet to make a start for the Devils, a crosstown trade to the Rangers could give him the chance to prove he's got what it takes to be a full-time NHL backup.
Brandon Halverson
Drafted by the Rangers at the tail end of the 2014 NHL Draft's second round, 6'5" American netminder Brandon Halverson has made just two NHL starts since. And yet, the 30-year-old's stock is seemingly on the rise.
Halverson struggled mightily during his time in the Rangers organization following the draft, bouncing around from the OHL to the AHL and even the ECHL (one tier below the AHL). After a brief stint in Germany's second-tier, he was signed by the Tampa Bay Lightning and dominated the AHL during the last three seasons, saving 91 percent of the 2421 shots on goal he faced with the Lightning's AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.
A free agent this past offseason, Halverson earned the third-choice gig in Dallas with the AHL's Texas Stars, and as I mentioned earlier, Dallas's AHL starter is merely an insurance policy for Oettinger and DeSmith.
On a one-year, $850,000 contract, trading for Halverson to serve as Garand's backup could be a low-risk, high-reward reclamation project for the Rangers.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 10: Jake Allen #34 of the New Jersey Devils is congratulated by teammate Jack Hughes #86 after the win over the Vancouver Canucks at Prudential Center on October 10, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. The New Jersey Devils defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-1. This game was Allen's 500th NHL game. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
First Period
After putting together four good shifts to start the game, the New Jersey Devils took a bad penalty when Anthony Mantha went to the box for hooking in the neutral zone four and a half minutes in. Cody Glass won the first draw on the penalty kill, allowing the Devils to clear the puck. The forwards did well early on, but Dougie Hamilton was screening Jake Allen a bit when Linus Karlsson took a shot from the side of the high slot near halfway into the kill, as the Canucks went up 1-0.
The Devils went to the power play when Jonathan Lekkerimaki was called for high sticking Brett Pesce a couple minutes later. Hischier won the draw, but Bratt’s weak pass to the point was immediately picked off and cleared. The Devils took three turns to get full possession back in the offensive zone, wasting most of the first unit’s time. But when they did get back in, completing passes, Nico Hischier took a pass in the bumper and scored his 200th NHL goal to tie the game!
After a hard Luke Hughes slap shot, Kevin Lankinen had to replace Leevi Merliainen due to Merlialinen’s skate blade being broken. With the equipment crew unable to fix the skate, Lankinen was forced to enter. This would prove costly to the Canucks. Filip Hronek was skating backwards with the puck in their defensive zone and fanned on a pass, allowing Amadeus Lombardi to shoot on Lankinen. Lankinen allowed the shot to leak through, and Jesper Boqvist smacked the puck into the net! The Devils went up 2-1 as Lombardi picked up his first career point.
Second Period
The Canucks gained Leevi Merliainen back in their net to start the second period. Yet again, the Devils looked like they were outclassing the Canucks at five-on-five to start this period. Thankfully, they didn’t take a back-breaking penalty. But Brock Boeser would take a hooking penalty for Vancouver, sending the Devils back to the power play a few minutes into the period.
Nico Hischier won the draw, but the Devils were forced back. When they regained possession, Jesper Bratt cut across for a backhand, but Merliainen made the save. The Devils were forced back again, but the first unit stayed on. Jack Hughes made a nice feed to Nico Hischier, but Merliainen blocked it with his pad. Nico poked at it, and Jesper Bratt came in from behind to shoot the puck through Filip Hronek to give the Devils a 3-1 lead!
This power play did not look very good early on, but the last minute of the period featured a lot of in-zone time for them. Here, they broke the Canucks down as Dougie Hamilton was quarterbacking the power play. With 9.6 seconds to play, Nico Hischier scored at the side of the net when Jack Hughes feathered a pass across the crease after Bratt drew defenders to the slot and sent the puck down low.
After the goal, at center ice, Evan Rodrigues knocked Marco Rossi down with his stick when Rossi hit him with his glove. Rodrigues was reviewed for a spearing major. He was gifted a four-minute double minor instead of the major, but it looked to me like he deserved a game misconduct.
Evan Rodrigues has been assessed a double-minor for "high-sticking" on Marco Rossi 😬 pic.twitter.com/r8RzBZ0Khv
The Devils set out to kill the remaining 3:51 of the Rodrigues penalty to start the second period, sending out Cody Glass, Dawson Mercer, Brett Pesce, and Brenden Dillon. Glass won the draw, and Dillon cleared down to Vancouver. Glass was strong on Vancouver’s entry, allowing Mercer to force them back to center. After another entry, Glass cleared down the ice and went off for Hischier and Bratt. Siegenthaler and Hamilton came on for Dillon and Pesce. Hamilton got the next clear to allow the Devils more breathing room before disrupting Vancouver’s next entry, allowing Hischier to clear the puck and change. Gritsyuk and Meier went on with Dillon and Pesce as the Devils ramped the pressure up on Vancouver, drawing a penalty to negate the remaining 1:51 of the Canucks penalty. Brock Boeser went off for hooking Timo Meier.
At four-on-four, Luke Hughes stripped the puck on the wall and sent his brother Jack ahead. He did not get his best shot on goal, but it still went forced Merliainen to smother it under his arm. Declan Chisholm later picked off a pass to Filip Hronek right in front of Allen on the other end. A couple shifts after the penalties expired, Paul Cotter threw a big hit on Evan Rodrigues, but the two did not fight despite exchanging words at several points.
The Canucks fittingly showed little fight throughout the rest of the game, as the Devils just missed on several chances to extend their lead as Jake Allen’s workload calmed down over the last 20.
Giving up just one screened goal in his 500th NHL game, Jake Allen faced just over 2 expected goals from the Vancouver Canucks this afternoon and came up big with some strong saves and steady positional play in the crease. Allen goes up to 2-1-0 this season, 38-40-4 as a Devil, and 227-206-45 in his total career with today’s win. Through the first four games of the season, Allen has been stronger than not in his three appearances, though I suspect that things are going to slow down for him a bit from here. The Devils have been able to play him in these three out of four because of how many rest days they’ve had, as he had four and then three rest days between starts. He will have to settle for just one or two to the next game, as the Devils play four games in six days from Monday to next Saturday.
Nico 200
Jake Allen turned out to be only one of the Devils to reach a career milestone today, as Nico Hischier scored his 200th and 201st career goals in a three-point game. In Devils franchise history, Hischier ranks fifth on the all-time scoring list, though he will tie Bobby Holik and Travis Zajac for tied-third all-time with his next goal. Meanwhile, with a secondary assist on Nico’s second goal, Jesper Bratt passed Travis Zajac to take sole possession of fifth place all-time on the Devils’ assist leaderboard at 349.
The Devils have needed Nico to get going with the goal scoring, as he was held scoreless through the team’s first three games. Two of those goals helped the Devils go three-for-four on the power play today, though it was practically a three-for-three considering their last power play spanned 11 seconds. So, after the power play started 1-for-14 (7.14%), they are now officially 4-for-18 (22.22%). That’s a world of difference.
Better Penalty Kill?
The Devils went two-for-three on the penalty kill today. Technically, that isn’t great, but it is better than their 62.5% kill rate over the first three games. What I found encouraging, though, was how well they approached the penalty kill after the Rodrigues penalty. They were able to pressure the puck on entries and along the wall, forcing the Canucks to try and make good passes. The frustration they inflicted on Vancouver led to Brock Boeser’s second penalty of the game, and they did it by rolling three forward units on the kill who were able to change frequently due to the number of times they cleared the defensive zone. More of that in the future will lead to better results.
Two Games, Two Goals for Boqvist
While I am still not convinced that the right players are centering the third and fourth lines, I am really encouraged by the chemistry that Amadeus Lombardi and Jesper Boqvist have built over two games together so far. Boqvist had four shots on goal today, including the game-winning goal, while Lombardi and Rodrigues had a shot each. Lombardi’s, of course, led to Boqvist’s goal in the first period as Lombardi got his first career point. But just like that, this is already the hottest start to a season Boqvist has ever had. He’s never scored two goals in the first five games played of a season, and his career-best was two assists in the first three games he played for Florida in 2024-25. In the two seasons Boqvist had 10 goals for the Devils, it took him 17 and nine games to get on the scoresheet for the team. Hopefully, by getting on the board early and often, Boqvist can get going on a big year, as he has historically been a high-percentage shooter when he actually gets shots on goal.
Keep Your Stick Down
I was incensed by Evan Rodrigues’s spearing penalty on Marco Rossi at the end of the second period. I was sure it was going to be called a five-minute major, as Rodrigues made direct contact with Rossi during the incident. I was angry for three reasons. First and foremost, Evan Rodrigues is 33 years old. He should know better. Second, the Devils had just gone up three goals. Putting his team at risk of having to kill a five-minute major penalty was incredibly thoughtless of Rodrigues. Third, I would hate to see a team take runs at the Devils’ stars because a bottom six player made a really bad decision.
Thankfully, for the Devils, the Canucks looked like they wanted no part of making the Devils pay for what Rodrigues did. And for that matter, the only Canuck who really gave it to Rodrigues was Paul Cotter, who threw a big check on him and seemed ready to get going with a fight. If this incident were flipped, where a Devils player was speared and the team did not fight afterwards for him, I could not imagine how upset this board would be at the lack of toughness on display by the team. So, I am not sure how Canucks fans are feeling right now, but I was shocked that nobody even tried to drop the gloves on Rodrigues or really rough him up after a whistle. He got away with it this time, but I would hope that this never repeats as long as he’s a Devil.
Your Thoughts
But what did you think of this afternoon’s game? Did you think the Devils missed some opportunities? What did you think of the late-second period lull before the power play? What did you think of the spearing penalty? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and thanks for reading.
The Vancouver Canucks’ penalty killing woes continued in their 4–1 loss to the New Jersey Devils today. All but one of the Devils’ goals today came while Vancouver was on the penalty kill. Linus Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Canucks while on the power play, while Leevi Meriläinen made 31 stops on 34 shots faced in today’s effort.
Vancouver opted to make some changes to their lineup after Thursday’s loss, taking Aatu Räty and Victor Mancini out of the lineup in exchange for Brendan Gallagher and Luke Schenn respectively. With Räty being taken out of the lineup, Vancouver was down to three natural centres. Drew O’Connor skated down the middle on Vancouver’s third line as a result.
The biggest component to today’s game was Vancouver’s struggling penalty kill. The Canucks allowed a goal on almost every single penalty they took today (3), bringing their season’s PK total down to 52.2%.
A couple of minutes after Vancouver opened the game’s scoring with Karlsson’s power-play goal, Jonathan Lekkerimäki took a high-sticking penalty that put the Canucks on the penalty-kill. Still appearing to be experimenting with their penalty-killing units, a duo of Brock Boeser and Liam Öhgren came onto the ice for Vancouver on the Devils’ first goal.
Later, during the second period, Vancouver surrendered yet another power-play goal on a hooking penalty taken by Boeser, this time with a unit of Gallagher and Max Sasson on the ice for the goal-against. This was followed-up by a third power-play goal-against scored by Nico Hischier after a dominant, possession-filled power play for New Jersey.
Today’s game also featured an odd occurrence that resulted in both Canucks goaltenders being in net for the second-consecutive game. While Meriläinen started today, with around five minutes left in the first period, a shot from Luke Hughes hit the Canucks goaltender’s skate and knocked the blade out. After a TV time-out, Kevin Lankinen came into the game in Meriläinen’s place. Despite his skate blade coming out yet another time, Meriläinen came out for the second period and played out the remainder of the game.
New Jersey’s lone even-strength goal came at the end of the first period. Filip Hronek boggled the puck while attempting to re-set, allowing Jesper Boqvist and Amadeus Lombardi to pounce on the opportunity. While Lankinen made the initial stop, Boqvist was able to jump on the rebound to give his team the lead.
Because of the fact that Lankinen allowed the goal that ultimately won New Jersey the game, today’s loss is credited to him instead of Meriläinen, despite Meriläinen starting the game and playing in nearly the entire matchup. Lankinen played in a total of 5:27 minutes today.
Towards the end of the second period, Marco Rossi made a move to push Devils forward Evan Rodrigues out of the faceoff dot, prompting Rodrigues to spear the Canucks centre in the throat. Vancouver was given a four-minute power play for the sequence. While they had a little more than two minutes on the man-advantage to start the third period, another hooking call taken by Boeser cancelled out the power play. Because of the slight overlap at the end of Rodrigues’ double-minor, the Canucks spent nine seconds on the penalty kill. This technically gave Vancouver their first successful penalty kill of the game.
As a whole, Vancouver wasn’t quite able to establish genuine offence in today’s game. New Jersey played the Canucks well, jumping on their opportunities and smothering Vancouver when they could. On the flip side, however, Vancouver gave the Devils ample opportunities to seize the puck by giving it away or turning it over.
Oct 10, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, USA; New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier (13) takes a shot against the Vancouver Canucks during the second period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Salus-Imagn Images
Stats and Facts:
• Vancouver allows a power-play goal-against in six consecutive penalty kills
• None of the Canucks’ four centres recorded a faceoff win rate higher than 50%
• Leevi Meriläinen plays in his first career game against the New Jersey Devils
• Brock Boeser ties Andre Boudrias for 16th all-time in Canucks history in power-play assists (89)
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
5:27 - VAN: Linus Karlsson (1) from Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk (PPG)
8:03 - NJD: Nico Hischier (1) from Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes
16:24 - NJD: Jesper Boqvist (2) from Amadeus Lombardi
2nd Period:
4:36 - NJD: Jesper Bratt (1) from Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes (PPG)
19:50 - NJD: Nico Hischier (2) from Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt (PPG)
3rd Period:
No Scoring.
Up Next:
Vancouver Canucks @ New York Rangers, October 11, 3:30 pm PT
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TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 25: Brock Nelson #11 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates a goal during the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on January 25, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After coming home with a split on the road, the Colorado Avalanche are back on home ice for another Saturday night showdown!
Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs make their only regular season visit to Denver, with a few new faces in their lineup!
Colorado Avalanche (3-1-0)
The Opponent: Toronto Maple Leafs (2-2-1)
Time: 5:00 P.M. MDT/7:00 P.M. EDT
Watch: ALT, ALT+ (Avalanche Local Broadcast Area), NHL Network, NHL Center Ice (Outside Regional Broadcast Areas – US), SN+ (Canadian National Broadcast)
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
The Avs return home after splitting their first pair of back-to-back road games. They lost 3-2 on a (literal) last minute goal this past Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, but rebounded with a strong showing against the Calgary Flames in a 7-3 victory this past Thursday. The loss in Winnipeg was the first for Mackenzie Blackwood this season, while Scott Wedgewood earned his first win in his season debut against Calgary.
Jaden Schwartz scored three goals across both contests. Fedor Svechkov scored his first goal in an Avalanche sweater against Winnipeg. Zachary L’Heureux, acquired with Svechkov from Nashville in the offseason, made his Avalanche debut against Winnipeg and recorded his first assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s eventual game-winning goal in Calgary. L’Heureux also had his first fight for the Avs in a short bout with Calgary’s Matt Coronato.
Devon Toews, who had a career-low three goals last season, scored a pair of goals against Calgary. His defensive partner in Cale Makar also scored a pair of goals against his hometown team.
T.J. Hughes also recorded his first point of his NHL career, assisting on Schwartz’s first goal on against Calgary.
While the Avs remain perfect on the penalty kill, the power play has gone three games without a goal since going 4/5 in the season opener against Los Angeles on September 30.
MacKinnon leads all skaters in points (8) and assists (5), while also sharing the team lead in penalty minutes (5) with L’Heureux. He also leads the team in goals (3), along with Makar, Schwartz, and Artturi Lehkonen.
The Avs have split every season series against Toronto going back to the 2017-2018 season. Their last victory on home ice came against Toronto was in a 7-3 victory on March 05, 2025.
Projected Lineup
Forwards: Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Nazem Kadri Jaden Schwartz – Fedor Svechkov – T.J. Hughes Parker Kelly – Nicolas Roy – Zachary L’Heureux
Defense: Devon Toews – Cale Makar Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Between the Pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood Scott Wedgewood
Toronto Maple Leafs
The lottery balls finally bounced Toronto’s way this offseason, giving them the first overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft. At the draft in June, they selected left-wing Gavin McKenna, whom many projected to be the top pick of the draft.
The move was one of many offseason transactions for Toronto. They sent a fifth round pick in this year’s draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Darren Raddysh on June 19; Raddysh signed an eight-year, $68 million dollar contract with Toronto as part of the transaction. Toronto also acquired center Nick Paul from Tampa in exchange for goaltender Dennis Hildeby and a pair of draft picks in 2027 & 2028 on July 01.
Free agent goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky signed a three-year, $21 million dollar contract (more on him later). That same day, noted Avalanche killer Colton Sissons also signed to a two-year, $8.5 million dollar contract, and former Avalanche forward Brandon Duhaime also signed a three-year $7.8 million dollar contract.
Shortly before the start of the season, Toronto made their biggest move: they acquired right-wing Kirill Marchenko, goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, and former Avalanche forward Miles Wood from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for left-wings Matthew Knies and Steven Lorentz, defenseman Emil Andrei, and a 2027 second round pick.
Toronto 2-2-1 to start the season, and are coming into tonight’s game off a 4-3 defeat against the Vegas Golden Knights this past Thursday. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, Toronto did the Leafiest thing possible in allowing Vegas to score three unanswered goals to tie the game and lose in the shootout round.
Hiller also mentioned that he does not expect John Tavares to play against Colorado tonight due to the birth of his son Tucker on Friday.
Toronto’s last victory over Colorado came on January 12th, a 4-3 overtime victory at Ball Arena last season.
Projected Lineup
Forwards: Kirill Marchenko – Auston Matthews – Jack Roslovic Easton Cowan – Nick Paul – William Nylander Gavin McKenna – Teddy Blueger – Colton Sissons Brandon Duhaime – Zack MacEwen – Bo Groulx
Defense: Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev Morgan Reilly – Darren Raddysh Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Troy Stecher
Between the Pipes: Sergei Bobrovsky Anthony Stolarz
NOTE: Don’t forget to download the new SB Nation app for a more mobile-friendly way to follow tonight’s action and engage with Mile High Hockey’s match threads. Commenting and interacting with your communities is easier than ever before with the Game Chat feature. The app is currently available in the U.S. and Canada on iOS and Android devices.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 08: José Ramírez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians reacts during the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox in game four of the American League Division Series at Rate Field on October 08, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Dodgers, Brewers, and Rays are all into the league championship round. On Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. ET on TBS, the final team will be decided in Cleveland in an AL Central matchup as the White Sox square off with the Guardians in a decisive Game 5.
Like any Game 5 scenario, this is a real toss-up as RHP Gavin Williams (14-8, 3.76 ERA) takes on the White Sox’s RHP Sean Burke (11-7, 3.34 ERA). Williams boasts one of the highest strikeout rates of any starter in the game, but he is a little more home run prone than Burke. Things aren’t as flashy on Burke’s side of the equation, but he had a really good season as well and has tended to keep the ball in the park more effectively. Like most games, there’s a good chance this comes down to who gives up homers and who doesn’t.
The White Sox offense is theoretically much better, as the Guardians were one of the worst scoring teams in baseball this season. However, with Jose Ramirez perking up after a rough season in which he dealt with a hook hamate fracture and surgery at mid-season, the Guardians lineup is probably better than it looks on paper.
Everyone is getting gassed this time of year, but the White Sox have also had to lean really hard on their bullpen in this series, and it hasn’t gone well for them after taking a 2-0 series lead. They’ll need to build a lead and keep it, as coming back in the late innings against the Guardians bullpen is no easy task.
The NLCS will get underway on Sunday with a heck of a pitching matchup as Tarik Skubal squares off against Jacob Misiorowski and the Brewers.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 04: Didier Fuentes #72 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game two of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 04, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Just because the Atlanta Braves are done for the year here in 2026, that doesn’t mean that the rumor mill needs to stop. In fact, apparently we’re still learning new details about trades that didn’t happen all the way back in August around the Trade Deadline.
We learned a while back that the Braves were reportedly willing to send Spencer Strider out to Texas in exchange for Jacob deGrom and now we’re learning about a player who they were willing to keep when trying to swing a deal for the biggest name of the deadline, Tarik Skubal.
According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Braves refused to include Didier Fuentes in any trade talks with the Tigers for Skubal. The words that Abraham used is that the Braves “wouldn’t part” with Fuentes. I’d imagine that if Alex Anthopoulos is unwilling to move the 21-year-old hurler for a pitcher the caliber of Skubal then that means that Fuentes is likely set to be here for the long haul and could be an important part of the team going forward.
The good news for the Braves is that it’s not like pitching was the issue for them – especially during their Postseason run. Sure, Fuentes had an up-and-down experience in October, himself, but that’s to be expected from someone as young as he was. Plus, the “up” was a massive flash of brilliance in Game 2 of the NLDS which is when Fuentes retired 11 batters in a row during a crucial part of the contest. Walt Weiss repeatedly contended that Fuentes was his “best” reliever and the faith that was placed in him during the playoffs was proof of that belief.
It also seems to indicate that the Braves have bigger plans for Fuentes. After all, he did initially start life as a big leaguer in 2025 as a starter and this appears to be an indication that Fuentes could return to that role in some point. I don’t think they’d be willing to hold on to him if they figured that he was simply going to be a high-leverage reliever going forward.
There’s also no telling as to who all else was involved in the trade talks – though MLB Trade Rumors did name JR Ritchie and AJ Smith-Shawver as prospects who were deemed to be available. We’re likely not going to hear Anthopoulos lay out the whole trade discussion between the Braves and the Tigers unless he decides to randomly drop a bombshell during some random appearance on the radio (similarly to how he sort of randomly revealed earlier this Summer that the Braves were close to acquiring Kyle Schwarber a few years ago) so we likely won’t get to know whether or not Fuentes was the difference between Skubal wearing navy blue-and-red instead of Dodger blue any time soon.
Either way, it seems like everyone involved got their way. The Braves held on to a very talented hurler with a bright future, the Dodgers added to their constellation of stars and the Tigers got a return that they’re happy with. It’s a very interesting story and all we can do is wait to see how the long-term situation plays out.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 05: Giancarlo Stanton #27 and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees look on from the dugout during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in game two of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field on October 05, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Remember the line from “The Great Gatsby” in which the protagonist fights the notion of being unable to repeat the past? Although it is a slippery slope, the Yankees, more than any other team in baseball, must—in the first step towards a journey to the top spot in the sport—look to their past. It isn’t about trying to recreate exactly what we once saw because that can never be done; it’s a necessary effort to understand the disconnect between the fan base and management as to what exactly dictates desired success and how far off they are from each other.
Before the late ’90s dynasty, the Yankees had lean years as a trigger-happy team in the hands of George Steinbrenner. Winning it all was all that mattered, and the inability to see certain moves through created plenty of turmoil. That is not what we want, but nearly as disappointing is the current feeling that the front office is content with a ticket to the dance and let it be what it will once it arrives.
The Yankees are now coming up on nearly two decades without a World Series title. And with a winning club for the entirety of this run plus resources second to none in the American League, it is unfathomable that not only have they not won a title, but they also haven’t come close to one—going down 3-0 before losing the World Series in five in misery back in 2024, their sole appearance to the Fall Classic since 2009.
Plenty of the Yankee teams in this period have been good, even very good, but have any of them been great enough long enough that you could justify management’s conformism with just running it back enough times until they eventually pull through? There are tough breaks here and there, but if we look through the list of the most dominant teams in the sport over the past 10 years or so, how many Yankee teams could make the list? How many times did it truly feel like an injustice that they came up short? It has routinely seemed like the 2018 Red Sox, the 2020 Dodgers, and the 2022 Astros have been more well-rounded, naming a few.
So much of the focus is on Aaron Boone for continuously dropping playoff series against teams with a better record. Obviously he has a lot of blame there, but can we stop to figure out why the Yankees keep coming up against superior opposition in the postseason in the first place? Take these last two seasons, for instance: the Yankees couldn’t even be the best team in their division. And it’s not as if, outside of Aaron Judge’s missed time, you could point to a high level of underperformance in the regular season that’s a factor among other sustained contenders. In fact, several of the key players performed well above expectations, such as the likes of Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler.
Disappointment comes in different shapes and sizes. The one from the last two seasons is much more about the built-up frustration of a long drought than the letdown of a team you truly believed would win it all. The here we go again feeling has gotten a little too familiar.
That said, the Yankees don’t have a talent issue, but you can count on one hand the number of times during this run that they fell short of a title, and you truly felt like they got the short end of the stick as the top team. That should be the goal—not to build just one of the very good teams, but to be the absolute best, and then if you are, eventually the breaks are going to go your way—eventually you’ll make your own breaks.
The Kings are looking for their 1st win of the 2026-27 NHL season as they set their sights on Vegas in tonight's matchup. The Kings are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, and in that game, Alex Laferriere was the Kings' lone goal scorer. The Kings have had a slow start to the season, with a 0-2-1 record. The Kings are looking to change that tonight against Vegas.
Projected Kings Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:
Artemi Panarin - Quinton Byfield - Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore - Erik Haula - Alex Laferriere
Joel Armia - Scott Laughton - Jared Wright
Andre Lee - Samuel Helenius - Corey Perry
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin - Drew Doughty
Mikey Anderson - Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Projected Golden Knights Lines
Here are the projected lines for the Golden Knights tonight:
Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone
Brett Howden - William Karlsson - Mitch Marner
Trevor Connelly - Tomas Hertl - Raphael Lavoie
Marc Gatcomb - Nic Dowd - Braeden Bowman
Shea Theodore - Brayden McNabb
Parker Wotherspoon - Rasmus Andersson
Jeremy Lauzon - Noah Hanifin
Carter Hart
Adin Hill
Game Notes
The Kings will miss Mats Zuccarello (upper-body injury), Alex Turcotte (undisclosed), and Kevin Fiala (leg surgery) tonight. They also scratched Erik Gustafsson. The Golden Knights are without Victor Olofsson (undisclosed), and they have scratched Dylan Coghlan.
Tonight's matchup pits Darcy Kuemper of the Kings against Carter Hart of the Golden Knights. The Kings need to be at their best, as the Golden Knights are coming off a 4-3 shootout win over the Maple Leafs, including a comeback from a 3-0 deficit. The Kings take on the Golden Knights tonight at 10:00 PM EST as they look for their first win of the season.
Oct 9, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) is helped off the ice after being injured against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
NEW YORK — New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is out for the season after injuring his right knee Friday night in a game at Washington, the team announced Saturday.
Shesterkin did not put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice by teammates after an awkward fall into his own net against the Capitals.
Shesterkin came well out of his crease to challenge a shooter midway through the second period and fell as he scrambled back to the net. The 30-year-old Russian jammed his right skate into the right post as he slid back into the crease and collapsed into the net in pain.
“It’s awful, you know? He’s a pillar of this team. It stinks,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said following the 3-1 loss to the Capitals.
Coach Mike Sullivan said after his team’s four-game winning streak was snapped: “He’s an elite goaltender and you never want to see anyone get hurt. Obviously, he’s an important player for us.”
The 2022 Vezina Trophy winner missed a month last season with a lower-body injury, contributing to the Rangers finishing last in the Eastern Conference.
Shesterkin was off to a strong start this season with a 3-1 record and 1.76 goals-against average. Last week, he became the first Rangers goalie to score a goal when he lofted the puck the length of the ice into an empty net late in New York’s home opener against Tampa Bay.
“We’re not going to let that take the wind out of our sails,” Miller said about Shesterkin’s injury. “We love the way we’re playing most of the time.”
Shesterkin stopped 13 of 14 shots and left with the score tied 1-all. He was replaced by 24-year-old backup Dylan Garand, who gave up the go-ahead goal late in the second but finished with 11 saves on 12 shots.
It was the fifth NHL appearance and second this season for Garand, recalled last week from Hartford of the American Hockey League after clearing waivers. Garand made 22 saves in a 2-0 shutout at Detroit last Friday with the Rangers playing their second game in two nights.
Garand went 2-0-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in three starts for the Rangers last season.
New York acquired veteran goaltender Joonas Korpisalo from the Boston Bruins last summer to be Shesterkin’s backup. But the 32-year-old Finn was placed on injured reserve last week and was week to week with a lower-body injury.
Anthony Gordon scored his first goal for Barcelona as the Spanish champions extended their perfect start in La Liga with a 3-0 home win over Getafe. The England international opened the scoring in the second minute and Gabriel Jesus added another after half an hour for the league leaders, who have won every match they have played this season.
Jules Koundé tucked home the third from Lamine Yamal’s cross to cap Barça’s solid win at the Camp Nou. Barça moved five points clear of second-placed Atlético Madrid, who won 2-1 at Alavés earlier, and lead Real Madrid, fourth, by nine points before Los Blancos host Villarreal later on.
There’s little prospect of the model changing in a country that welcomes wealthy international owners with open arms
Football, the world’s most popular sport, played by laws drawn up in London in 1863. The Premier League is the UK’s greatest soft power export. Premier League clubs are owned by a deputy prime minister of Abu Dhabi, the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, a billionaire based in Monaco for tax reasons and a disappointing assortment of investors and private equity funds. And what, really, could be more British than that? Football truly is the national game.
What the Manchester City case has exposed is just how difficult it is to regulate some of the richest and most powerful bodies in the world. While the wait for the verdict was frustrating, it’s perhaps unavoidable given the possibility of legal objection at every turn when a leaked email from City’s in-house lawyer during Uefa’s action against the club had threatened to “spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years”. You didn’t get that with Albert Alexander Sr or Peter Swales.
There’s a school of thought which suggests that the Diamondbacks “broke” the Dodgers, by beating them in the 2023 National League Division Series. Not just by the defeat, but by the manner of it. It was a sweep, with Arizona outscoring Los Angeles 19-6, never trailing in any game at any point, and leading by two runs or more, at the end of 25 of the 27 innings played. That winter, the Dodgers engaged beast mode, giving contracts worth over a billion dollars in total to Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto alone, and haven’t stopped spending since. Including a staggering $183 million in luxury tax penalties – more than a dozen teams paid in payroll – their 2026 salary bill was over $616 million.
I can’t argue they have not spent effectively, winning three division titles, and averaging 97 wins. But it has been in the post-season where their dominance has become near-total. Remember, in the playoffs, you’re facing the best teams the rest of baseball has to offer. But since the Diamondbacks gave them the bum’s rush out of the 2023 post-season, the Dodgers have won eight consecutive playoff series, and are 27-10, a .730 win percentage. Again, this is not facing the Colorado Rockies, but other division winners and wild-card teams. If the Brewers or (probably) Rays can’t stop them, they’ll become the first team to three-peat since 2000.
Under normal circumstances, I would be cheering wholeheartedly for their opponents, as has been the case in the last two seasons. #TeamAnyoneButLA. But this year, there’s a concern that might over-ride this. Specifically, that if anyone except the Los Angeles Dodgers wins the World Series – especially a relatively small-market team like the Brewers or the Rays – it might mute demands for a salary cap in the upcoming CBA negotiations. That’s something I feel is essential to the basic survival of major-league baseball, in terms of competitive balance. But a Rays/Brewers victory could potentially be used by the players as proof everything is fine. “See? You can’t buy success!”
It’s not really the case. The problem has never been the post-season, where randomness plays a significant factor. Let’s be honest. The 2023 Diamondbacks who won 83 games were not a “better” team, by any objective measure, than the 92-win Brewers, 100-win Dodgers or 90-win Phillies. But Arizona went 9-3 against that trio, including 6-2 on the road, on their way to the World Series. This is baseball. Get “hot” at the right time, and who knows what can happen. The issue is the regular season. The NL West has turned into six months of grinding and irrelevant tedium, a procession where non-Dodger fans look at the Central and East standings more than their own division.
This predates the 2023 NLDS. The Dodgers have taken 13 of the last 14 division titles – and won 106 games the sole season they didn’t come first. It’s only when you look at the standings since 2013, that the degree of Los Angeles’s domination becomes clear. Over the roughly 13 1/3 seasons in that time (2020 being the one-third), they have won over a hundred games more than any other team. Not “any other NL West team”, any other team. The second-placed Yankees are closer to the tenth-placed Cubs, than they are to the Dodgers. Here’s the average standings in the NL West, from 2013-2026.
Los Angeles Dodgers: 99-63
San Francisco Giants: 80-82
San Diego Padres: 80-82
Arizona Diamondbacks: 78-84
Colorado Rockies: 69-93
Over a fourteen-year period – bold font, please – the Dodgers have averaged 99 wins per season, while every other team in the division is below .500. Their win percentage of .610 over that time is the best in the integrated era. To find anything higher, you need to go back to the 1947-1960 Yankees, who had a .622 win percentage in the regular season, and won eight World Series during that span, including five in a row. In other words, the Dodgers under their current ownership are the most powerful major-league team in over sixty years. Arguably more: that Yankees dynasty failed to win their division twice, in 1954 and 1959; the Dodgers only once.
That’s what “competitive balance” looks like, according to the players’ union. The Brewers winning the World Series is not going to change this, or the fact that the Dodgers’ current television deal alone [$8.35 billion over 25 years, an AAV of $334 million] is worth more, according to Forbes, than every revenue stream the D-backs possess. The LA Times reports, “By the time the deal ends in 2038, the Dodgers will be getting more than $500 million per year” – and making things worse, it’s largely exempt from revenue sharing.
It’s simply impossible for anyone else in the NL West to compete under the current system, A third consecutive Dodgers’ World Series win would underscore this, and hopefully make it almost impossible for any eventual agreement between the owners and players not to include a salary cap (and floor, of course). Would LA coming up short make a difference? Hard to say. ESPN recently had an interesting article looking at this very topic, asking executives and players what impact (if any) the results of the World Series would have on negotiations. The general opinion: a three-peat for LA would entrench positions. To quote an NL player:
It’ll be bad. The league is going to dig in a lot more. And we know the union isn’t going to go for a cap, so it’s going to get really bad. Nobody wants to see the Dodgers win. No owner does. None of the fans do. But I think it’s going to make this all worse.
Conversely, an NL executive said, “A small-market club [with a strong front office] winning the World Series going into an adversarial offseason would likely allow players to make the argument that the game is in a healthy place from a parity standpoint.” Personally, I’ve already reached acceptance that, if it’s necessary for us to lose games next year – or even the entire season – in order to get significant change, then so be it. It’s a price I’m willing to pay. I’m beginning to feel that, if the Dodgers winning the World Series helps achieve the necessary change, then I might be forced to suck it up, hold my nose and – in a thoroughly non-political sense – “Vote blue, no matter who.”
Manchester United are on six points – their poorest start since 1986 – and Tottenham have three less and remain stuck in the relegation zone: testing times for Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi, who must somehow revive their teams following a contest that was lit up by a moment of quality in the 73rd minute.
Matheus Cunha was fed by Luke Shaw down the left and the Brazilian crossed to Bryan Mbeumo, who spun and finished for United. It drew delirious chants of “You’re going down with the City”: Spurs, at this stage, were rock-bottom, and Manchester City’s long-term future in the division is in the balance.
