Battle Of Hudson covers the Rangers and Devils, who's intense rivalry heated up in the 90's. With fresh faces added, they battle for supremacy in NYC and NJ..
Today, the Rangers placed defenseman Matthew Robertson on waivers. What precipitated the move was a lower-body injury that center Joe Veleno sustained during last night’s game against the Mammoth. Due to a cap crunch, the Rangers can’t afford to recall a center without exposing a player to waivers.
Unfortunately, Robertson became the odd man out on the roster. With the organization deciding on who to call up from the Hartford Wolfpack, the well- respected 25-year-old had to go to create enough space for a corresponding move for tomorrow’s game against the Islanders.
It isn’t exactly fair to Robertson, who proved that he was capable of becoming a regular on the blue line last season. The 2019 second round pick took part in 74 games while posting six goals with 12 assists for 18 points in 2025-26. A solid skating stay at home left pair defenseman, he’s in the second season of a multi-year deal that pays him $850,000. If he goes unclaimed on Tuesday, he’ll be assigned to Hartford.
Criticism Warranted for Drury
Despite having a much better offseason, Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury deserved criticism for the current cap situation. Had he not doubled down by signing both Urho Vaakanainen and Juuso Parssinen for a combined $2.755 million, the Rangers wouldn’t be in this predicament.
It’s Drury’s fault that Robertson is on waivers. He’s also responsible for signing Taylor Raddysh, who didn’t make the team. It’s remarkable how bad he is at managing the salary cap.
At this point, I hope Robertson is claimed by an NHL team tomorrow. He deserves an opportunity to play elsewhere. He doesn’t belong in the American Hockey League. It would serve the Rangers right if he wound up on a rival that they might see later this season.
Entering the season, the Rangers decided not to sign Gabe Perreault to a contract extension. So far, Perreault is off to a fast start in his second season, which could lead to team president and general manager Chris Drury changing his mind.
Following a quiet season opener that saw the Rangers get shut down by the Bruins on Sept. 29, they’ve reeled off three straight wins to pull into first place in the Metropolitan Division.
The 21-year-old Perreault has been noticeable during the three-game winning streak by recording a point in each victory. It started against the Lightning when he scored his first goal on a nice deflection of an Adam Fox shot pass on Oct. 1.
A game that became known for Igor Shesterkin scoring the first goalie goal in franchise history. For an encore when the Rangers returned to MSG on Sunday and won 4-2 over the Mammoth, he picked up an assist on an Eeli Tolvanen empty netter.
It was last Friday, Oct. 2 that Perreault had one of his most impactful games against the Red Wings. He set up Sean Durzi for a power-play goal in the first period of a 2-0 win. After taking a feed from Will Cuylle, the game-breaking Perreault came in with speed before finding an open Durzi for his first as a Ranger.
Perreault did it again on a second straight power play. On a similar play in transition, he found Durzi for what looked like another goal. However, Detroit successfully challenged that the play was offside to negate the goal.
In the same game, it was the dangerous Perreault again who nearly created a goal for linemate Alexis Lafreniere. He dangled around a Red Wings defender into the slot and had his backdoor pass deflected away. It would’ve been a tap-in for Lafreniere, who remains without a goal through four games.
Despite a slow start, Lafreniere has been around the puck often over the last two games. He’s been very active during shifts by creating offense for his line at 5-on-5. The chemistry he has with Perreault is evident, with the two playing well together during offensive shifts. They seem to know where the other is, which can wreak havoc for opponents.
Lafreniere has been stronger on the puck by using his combination of skill and strength to generate scoring chances. In the win against Utah, he had four shots-on-goal and drew two penalties by continuing to move his feet.
With the game tied early in the third period, he took a feed from Mika Zibanejad and had his one-timer rebound out right to Perreault for an easy finish that put the Rangers back ahead. Lafreniere picked up his first point of the season with a primary assist. He also came close to scoring but had his turnaround shot hit the goalpost.
Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan showed confidence in Lafreniere, who was out late with them protecting the lead. After Tolvanen sealed it with an empty netter, Lafreniere drew a second penalty when he forced Mikhail Sergachev to take him down with a dozen seconds left.
For the game, he finished with 21:44 of ice time, which ranked second among Rangers forwards behind Zibanejad (24:32).
If they continue to play well, there’ll be no reason for Sullivan to consider making a change to the number one line. However, he did move up Tye Kartye into the top six last night. The very active Kartye played with goalscorer J.T. Miller and Pavel Dorofeyev on Sunday night.
Oliver Bjorkstrand was dropped to the fourth line. We’ll see if he returns to the second line for Tuesday’s game against the Islanders.
When you watch this team so far, they look very connected. It’s the total opposite of last year’s start. They’re forechecking effectively and defending well in front of Shesterkin and Dylan Garand, who recorded his first career shutout last Friday.
Veleno Being Monitored For Lower-Body Injury
The lineup could look different due to Joe Veleno leaving last night’s game with a lower-body injury. As usual, Sullivan didn’t provide an update. He’s being evaluated and didn’t practice on Monday.
It’s expected that the Rangers will recall a center from the Hartford Wolf Pack. Will they actually consider bringing up Cole Beaudoin? He had a strong start to his pro career with five points over the weekend. Only 20, it might be too soon for him to make his NHL debut in a rivalry game tomorrow night.
The safer bet is that either Justin Dowling or Anton Blidh gets the call. Either can serve as a placeholder for Veleno on the fourth line.
Unless they think Dylan Roobroeck can fill the void. He’s 22 and a former 2023 sixth round pick who projects as a checking center. We’ll see what the organization decides to do.
Rangers. Three days after becoming the first player in franchise history to score a goalie goal, he nearly had another one near the conclusion of a 4-2 win over the Mammoth at MSG.
With the Rangers on the verge of a third straight victory, the Mammoth pulled Karel Vejmelka again in hopes of a late comeback from two down.
Having already faked out the Mammoth by helping set up an empty netter for Eeli Tolvanen to earn an assist, Shesterkin had another chance to make history.
With over a minute left, he had enough time to gather the puck and fire it down towards the empty net. However, this time, Mikhail Sergachev was in the way to calmly prevent another potential goalie goal.
Of course, Sergachev was greeted with boos from the fans who had hoped to see history repeat itself.
Ultimately, it didn’t affect the outcome. Unlike last year, when they couldn’t buy a goal at home to start their centennial season poorly, the Rangers beat Vejmelka three times to improve to 2-0 at home this season.
Facing one of the league’s most improved teams, they got goals from Vladislav Gavrikov, Gabe Perreault, and J.T. Miller to earn a hard fought victory.
After Perreault put them ahead with his second goal in three games, Miller picked up his first of the season for what proved to be the game decider.
On a strong forecheck from Tye Kartye, who was elevated to the second line, he moved the puck back up for a Gavrikov shot that went in off Miller’s skate to make it 3-1 with 7:13 left in the third period.
That proved to be crucial due to the Mammoth coming right back over two minutes later on an Andrew Peeke goal that was set up from former Islander Anders Lee.
Despite playing for the second consecutive night, the Mammoth continued to press the attack for the equalizer. They outshot the Rangers 15-9 in the third.
It was the steady play of Shesterkin that prevented them from tying it. He finished the game with 28 saves and was named the game’s third star.
On a Utah shoot in, Shesterkin fielded the puck behind his own net and thought about going for it. Instead, he made the right decision by making a good outlet for Will Cuylle, who had his attempt blocked. However, the puck came to Tolvanen for his team-leading third to seal it with 75 seconds remaining.
For his part, Shesterkin earned a secondary assist that gave him a two-game point streak (goal, assist), which led to more cheers after Joe Tolleson announced the scoring of the goal.
Already off to a great start by stopping 71 of the first 76 shots he’s seen, Shesterkin is doing it all for the Blueshirts. When they return to MSG on Tuesday for the first of four meetings against the Islanders, what else will he have in store? Tune in and find out.
What a week for Dylan Garand. After passing through waivers on Monday to be assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack, he got the call from the Rangers to come back due to Joonas Korpisalo being placed on the injured reserve. He witnessed Igor Shesterkin making history by becoming the first Ranger to score a goalie goal in a win at the home opener.
A night later, Garand was perfect in his first start by making 22 saves to pick up his first career NHL shutout in a 2-0 win over the Red Wings on Friday night at Little Caesars Arena. He went from not knowing where he’d be to winning his first start of the season. It was well deserved for the 24-year-old from British Columbia, who’s now 3-0-1 in four starts with a sparkling .961 save percentage (5 GA on 118 shots).
“Awesome. So happy for him. He’s a great kid. He’s a good goalie. He showed it tonight. He’s got a calm demeanor in there. He made some big saves for us through the middle part of the game. Some of those saves that he made, they look a little bit easier than they actually are. He had to fight through traffic to find sight lines to make those saves, and I thought his rebound control was great. I couldn’t be happier for him,” Mike Sullivan said afterward on Garand, who became the eighth Rangers rookie goalie to record a shutout in four games or less.
Some notes on #NYR goalie Dylan Garand's first career shutout tonight:
– 8th Rangers rookie goalie in franchise history to register his first career shutout in 4 games or less – 1st Rangers goalie since Henrik Lundqvist (2005-06) to earn at least 1 point in each of his first…
Garand called it “the craziest week of my life.” He went from just getting an apartment in Hartford to getting recalled and picking up a shutout to spoil the Red Wings home opener.
When asked by reporters about what it meant, he told them, “Yeah. A lot. The team played really well. I just tried to battle and give them a win. Proud of the group. Whole D-corps was unbelievable tonight.”
Asked #NYR Dylan Garand what kind of validation tonight’s game gave him:
“Yeah, a lot. The team played really well. I just tried to battle and give them a chance to win. Proud of the group. Whole D-corps was unbelievable tonight.” pic.twitter.com/nM2hixGT4L
Playing for the third time in four nights with an earlier start due to it being a national game on the NHL on TNT, the Rangers bent but didn’t break. They got off to a good start thanks to an early penalty on Nate Danielson for a hold on Oliver Bjorkstrand.
It was the second unit that delivered the game’s first goal. On a play in transition started by Will Cuylle, Gabe Perreault had enough time to find a cutting Sean Durzi for a shot that beat John Gibson for a power-play goal at 5:12. It was Durzi’s first as a Ranger since coming over from Utah this past summer for Vincent Trocheck. He nearly had his second on another power play.
With Michael Rasmussen boxed for roughing Jaroslav Chmelar, it was again Perreault who created what looked like Durzi’s second power-play goal. However, Red Wings bench boss Todd McLellan successfully challenged for offside, with Cuylle just ahead on the entry to overturn it.
As the period went on, the fresher Red Wings began to take control. They tested Garand for the remainder to outshoot the Rangers 11-8. To his credit, Garand stood up to the challenge. He was particularly good late in the first and during most of the second period.
The Rangers got into penalty trouble at the start of the second when Durzi took down J.T. Compher to put Detroit on the power play. But the Rangers penalty kill was superb to remain perfect on the season.
In three games, they’ve successfully killed off 10 penalties. In particular, the additions of Marcus Pettersson, Durzi, Joe Veleno, and Eeli Tolvanen have solidified a unit that also includes Vladislav Gavrikov, Braden Schneider, Adam Fox, Noah Laba, Tye Kartye, Cuylle, Mika Zibanejad, and J.T. Miller. Sullivan now has more defensive oriented players to lean on. That improved depth has already made a difference in the first two wins.
With Garand continuing to repel Red Wing shots, Durzi was challenged by Marco Kasper with less than eight minutes left in the second. After Kasper got in the first shot, Durzi responded with some hey makers to win the tilt with a knockdown on a strong right. The amusing part was that Kasper got off the first punch as The Beastie Boys “Fight For Your Right To Party” played over the speakers. Perfect timing.
Despite the Red Wings pressing hard for the equalizer, it never came. When Garand wasn’t making timely stops, his team defense was making it difficult for the Red Wings to get clean looks.
The Rangers defended extremely well in a tight checking third period. Not only did they hold Detroit to only two shots, but they forechecked well enough to kill time. They outshot the Wings 6-2.
Sullivan made one change by moving up an effective Kartye onto the third line, which meant Oliver Bjorkstrand went down to the fourth line. It was a case of it being a low scoring, defensive game. Kartye was more noticeable and earned the promotion. For a player that was claimed on waivers last year, he’s a strong two-way forward who can be plugged anywhere. The line with Laba and Cuylle did a good job spending time in the offensive zone.
Miller also had a very good night defensively. He was double shifted a couple of times with Kartye and Tolvanen by Sullivan. Miller hasn’t gotten going yet offensively, but his overall game has been solid. He had a big hit on one shift to separate a player from the puck in the defensive zone. Hopefully, the Rangers captain can add more offense when the Rangers return home for a 6 PM game on Sunday against the Mammoth.
With McLellan pulling Gibson for a 6-on-5, the diligent checking from Kartye led to a Tolvanen empty netter that sealed it with 1:16 remaining.
Chmelar Replaces Rempe
For a second straight game, Chmelar replaced Matt Rempe in the lineup. Sullivan made the late change for the home opener. So far, so good. The Rangers improved to 2-0 with Chmelar, who adds a different element than Rempe. He’s a better skater. In 13 shifts, he recorded two hits with a shot over 9:11.
The Rangers have to be pleased with Veleno so far. The new fourth line center has been a factor due to his skating and checking. A strong player on the walls, he’s effective on the cycle. He’s also trusted on the penalty kill, which looks improved. Veleno went 7-and-6 on faceoffs in 13:34 last night.
Trocheck Returns to MSG
When the schedule was released this past summer, one of the first games circled was October 4 at The Garden. A few months after being traded, Trocheck makes his MSG return on Sunday.
A well respected player who was a good Ranger, the 33-year-old who signed with the team as a free agent on July 13, 2022 was instrumental to the team’s success in 2023-24.
After Filip Chytil went down to a concussion against Carolina, Trocheck became a permanent fixture as the number two center between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere under former Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette. The trio became the NHL’s best scoring line that season. While Panarin set career highs with 49 goals, 71 assists, and 120 points, Trocheck had 25 goals with personal bests in assists (52) and points (77). Lafreniere went 28-29-57 for his breakout.
Trocheck was front and center scoring and setting up goals while dominating in the dots with a 58.7 win percentage. A hard-nosed player who created room for Panarin by finishing checks, he finished second on the Rangers in scoring and ranked among the league leaders in faceoffs that season.
The Blueshirts finished with the league’s best record to capture the Presidents’ Trophy. Although they came up short in their bid to win a Stanley Cup, it was an exciting season that saw them return to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in three years. Trocheck was a big reason why they had success, leading them in postseason scoring with 20 points. Aside from Igor Shesterkin, he was their best skater.
Although they were never able to duplicate that success the last two seasons, Trocheck remained a consistent player for the Rangers. When his name was heavily rumored to be on the block last spring, he never let it affect him. He was finally moved to the Mammoth on July 1 for Durzi, prospect Cole Beaudoin and a conditional 2027 third round pick.
Despite returning tomorrow as an opponent, Trocheck will be warmly received and get a video tribute. In 313 games as a Ranger, he totaled 89 goals with 164 assists and 253 points. A popular former teammate, it should be fun to see him back.
In his first game with the Mammoth, he picked up an assist in a 6-0 win over the Blackhawks.
One of the things that makes Kenny Albert so great is that he has a feel for the dramatic. Aside from being one of the best broadcasters who doubles as the lead announcer for the NHL on TNT and works on the NFL on Fox, Albert usually can tell when something is about to happen.
Case in point, look no further than last night. With the Rangers comfortably in front of the Lightning in the home opener at The Garden, Jon Cooper lifted Andrei Vasilevskiy early with his team trailing 4-1. By taking the Vezina winner out with over four minutes to play, that meant the Rangers had more chances to score into a vacated net. While it was understandable why Cooper went for the 6-on-5 attack, the odds of a miraculous three-goal comeback were stacked against the Bolts.
Of course, when it comes to the NHL, anything’s possible. Crazy things have happened before when teams pulled the goalie. We’ve seen teams pull a magic rabbit out of the hat by scoring twice to come back from two goals down with less than three minutes remaining. However, it isn’t the norm. A lot has to go right for it to happen. The puck has to bounce your way.
While Albert was calling the game with Dave Maloney on MSG Networks, he called his own shot by accurately predicting that Igor Shesterkin could score due to the amount of time left. After both Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov came close to making it 4-2, the Rangers cleared the zone. As the Lightning were transitioning back up the ice, Albert said:
“This would be the perfect opportunity for Igor if he gets control of the puck.”
Several minutes later, Shesterkin took a puck that came right to him off the back boards and went for it. He made franchise history by becoming the first Rangers goalie to score a goalie goal. He’s the 18th different netminder in NHL history to score a goal. It’s the 21st time it’s happened. Albert’s call was perfect.
“Shesterkin will shoot for the empty net! He scores! He scores! Igor has done it! The first Ranger goaltender to score a goal.“
Of course, Albert had the insight that it could happen. Shesterkin has always been very aggressive when the opportunity has been there. A goalie who doesn’t mind coming out and handling the puck, he’s shot for the empty net before, but never scored before Thurday night.
He did it. For seven years, Igor Shesterkin kept trying to do it. It took him eight years to finally make history by scoring a goal to highlight an exciting 5-1 Rangers win over the Lightning to take the home opener at a boisterous Madison Square Garden.
With the game already decided, the magic moment came when Shesterkin took an errant Lightning shoot in and fired the puck down into an empty net at 17:26 of the third period to raucous cheers from the capacity crowd, who got their monies worth this time. What followed were excited teammates who poured off the bench to mob him after he celebrated becoming the 18th goalie in NHL history to score a goaltender goal.
When asked by MSG’s Michelle Gringas on the bench afterward what it felt like to become the first ever Rangers goalie to score a goal in franchise history, he said, “Actually, I don’t know. I thought I didn’t hear a whistle for icing. I thought I’ll keep trying to score and I did it.
“We did an awesome job, our penalty kill. Amazing. Everyone played the right way. Everyone played for the team. So, we’ll just try to get points for the team. We’ll keep doing that.”
Shesterkin also finished with 24 saves on 25 shots to earn the first star of the game. Unlike the season opener when the team didn’t play well in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Bruins, the Rangers were superb from start to finish. It was a total team effort in a convincing win over a disjointed Lightning, who were a couple of steps behind playing their first game of the season.
Their newest star had himself a special night. Pavel Dorofeyev scored his first goal and assisted on another to record his first two points as a Ranger. Playing for the second time in three nights, the 25-year-old forward was around the puck early and often. With the Rangers on the power play, Adam Fox set up Dorofeyev for a hard one-timer that caromed off Andrei Vasilevskiy right to Mika Zibanejad, who made no mistake burying his first of the season.
When they were at even strength, the Rangers played more like a five-man unit by attacking and defending with more purpose. There weren’t many gaps for the dangerous Lightning to exploit. That included the penalty kill, which was a big part of their success. They were a perfect 7-for-7 killing off a few too many unnecessary penalties.
That included one on Braden Schneider for a hold on Brandon Hagel. However, the normally potent Lightning attack found it difficult to break through. It was the same personnel except for one noticeable difference with John Carlson replacing former Bolt Darren Raddysh on the point. After Raddysh left for Toronto, Carlson signed with Tampa Bay.
The Rangers got plenty of work against a unit that features two-time Hart winner Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Hagel, and Carlson. They were up to the challenge. Instead of overusing Zibanejad and J.T. Miller on the kill, head coach Mike Sullivan leaned heavily on Joe Veleno (6:33) and Tye Kartye (5:51) while shorthanded. He worked in Noah Laba, Will Cuylle, and Eeli Tolvanen to give the veterans a breather with another game on Friday at Detroit.
Following a successful kill to bail out Schneider, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Dorofeyev combined on a nice goal that made it 2-0. An aggressive Bjorkstrand forced a turnover in the neutral zone. After he stole the puck, he pulled ahead and then dished across to Dorofeyev for a nice finish.
The Rangers killed off a chintzy Cuylle holding minor a few minutes later. To put it mildly, the officiating wasn’t good. There were some calls that left the coaches shaking their heads. The refs are probably still in preseason mode.
Less than two minutes into the second period, the third line struck thanks to some diligent work from all three forwards. Following a strong Laba forecheck, Tolvanen centered a pass in front for Cuylle, but it never reached him with it instead ricocheting off a Lightning player in front for a 3-0 lead. Tolvanen got credit for his first as a Ranger after Lightning head coach Jon Cooper burned a timeout to take a closer look at the replay.
During a scrum, Schneider didn’t take too kindly to Jeffrey Viel, who tried to be a nuisance with Shesterkin. They each went off for roughing minors. Unlike the nightmarish opener that saw him make a bad read on J.J. Peterka’s goal, he was sharper. As a pair with 18-year-old rookie Albert Smits, they had a good night combining to go plus-five. Aside from one coverage mistake, Smits was steady in his true MSG debut. He logged 14:09 to become just the second 18-year-old Rangers defenseman to play at that age since former captain Dave Maloney.
The Lightning were finally able to get on the scoreboard thanks to some puck wizardry from Kucherov, who banked in a shot off Laba past Shesterkin. Point started the play at center ice with a nice lead pass for Ilya Mikheyev, who got the puck over for Kucherov. He then wisely sent the puck towards the front for his first of the season.
With the Rangers nursing a two-goal lead, they had to kill off a Miller penalty for hooking Anthony Cirelli. He took a couple of undisciplined penalties in the contest. The Rangers captain has to make sure he moves his feet. Following another easy kill, Gabe Perreault restored order when he deflected in a Fox shot pass to make it 4-1. Zibanejad got it started by moving the puck over to Fox, who patiently waited before finding Perreault wide open in front for his first.
Perreault had a much better game along with Alexis Lafreniere, with the two playing well off each other. Although he didn’t get on the score sheet, Lafreniere was more assertive by using his strength to get a backhand off and draw an iffy tripping minor on J.J. Moser early in the third.
The game remained 4-1 until there was less than three minutes remaining. With Cooper lifting Vasilevskiy with over four minutes to go, the media and fans knew there was a chance for something to happen. Shesterkin took advantage of a wide shoot in and quickly got off an accurate shot that hit the net for an emphatic celebration.
Following a frustrating 2025-26, the Devils made the wise move to replace Tom Fitzgerald with Sunny Mehta as the new team president and general manager. Since he took over, Mehta has overhauled the roster more to his liking.
By subtracting Jacob Markstrom, who the Panthers were willing to gamble on as their starting goalie, Mehta was able to address the team’s forward depth. After being able to pry Evan Rodriguez and Jesper Boqvist away from Florida to offset Markstrom’s $6 million salary, he signed free agent Anthony Mantha for a two-year deal worth $4.75 million AAV without trade protection. If he can flourish with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt on the number one line, pencil Mantha in for at least 25 goals and 50 points.
In a move that had to be made, Mehta moved on from Simon Nemec by dealing him to the Flames with Max Tsyplakov for Etienna Morin, a 2026 second round pick (Ryan Roobroeck), a 2027 first round pick and conditional 2028 first. A trade that established the Devils top six on the blue line. He added Declan Chisholm from Washington in a trade. Due to Jonathan Kovacevic starting the season on the injured reserve, Chisholm will start the season on the third pair with Brenden Dillon.
The remainder of the back end remains the same. Dougie Hamilton will be counted on to supply offense and log key minutes while teamed up with Jonas Siegenthaler, who plays more of a stay at home defensive game. Luke Hughes will look to bounce back from a tough season that saw him struggle defensively. At this stage, he must be more consistent for the money the Devils are paying him. A gifted player with great acceleration and skill, Hughes must deliver in order for the team to be successful.
Brett Pesce will again work with Hughes. Back fully healthy, he remains the team’s best defensive defenseman. A human eraser who’s very good at preventing goals, the former Hurricane can’t have another injury-riddled year. The Devils are already thin to begin with due to the injury to Kovacevic, who when he returns should be slotted on the third pair with Dillon.
One of Mehta’s best moves was stealing Luke Evangelista from the Predators, who for some reason were unwilling to extend the playmaking forward. Evangelista is coming off a breakthrough season that saw him notch career bests in assists (44) and points (56). He had the advantage of setting up Steven Stamkos, who scored 42 goals for Nashville.
However, the 24-year-old Toronto native is an emerging player who should solidify the top six. After Mehta signed Evangelista to a five-year extension for $7.25 million, he’s slotted to play with captain Nico Hischier and Timo Meier. Perhaps he can be the key to unlocking Meier, who hasn’t fulfilled expectations despite making close to $9 million. At some point, Meier must hit the 30-goal mark. Maybe it comes this season.
Mehta also acquired Amadeus Lombardi from the Red Wings at the 2026 NHL Draft for a fourth round pick (Adam Levac). If he can continue to show off the speed and skill that he displayed in training camp, the Devils could have a steal. Lombardi made the team, beating out Boqvist and Stefan Noesen to start on the fourth line. Cody Glass will anchor one of the better checking lines. Noesen looks much healthier entering the year. He’ll play on that line with Lombardi and Boqvist due to Connor Brown placed on the injured reserve.
Once Brown gets back, he’ll play with Glass and either Lombardi or Boqvist. The Devils might have to waive a forward. Noesen has a higher salary. He makes the most sense.
In net is where it gets interesting. For now, Jake Allen is the starter. A solid 1B goalie, he put up respectable numbers last season. However, he isn’t someone that can play daily. The Devils are hoping Nico Daws can fulfill his potential. He’s never really been given an opportunity to run with it. He was a bit shaky in the preseason. If he isn’t up to the challenge, we could see Remi Poirer in net later this month.
A waiver pickup, the 24-year-old netminder has never played an NHL game. He won 27 games and posted a 2.61 goals-against-average with a .912 save percentage in the American Hockey League for the Texas Stars last season. We’ll see if Poirier becomes an x-factor with so much uncertainty surrounding the Devils goaltending.
Sheldon Keefe returns for another season behind the bench. He isn’t Mehta’s guy. Considering the upgrades that were made to the offense, there’s considerable pressure on Keefe. If for some reason the Devils struggle early on, Keefe could become a coaching casualty.
The Devils should be able to score goals. An area that became problematic when Hughes went down to the steakhouse incident, which derailed 2025-26. A healthy Hughes is capable of eclipsing 40 goals and 100 points. He’ll need more help from Bratt, who’s been in a decline the past couple of years. Expect Bratt to return to form with Hughes up and running.
The keys to the season are how well the defense plays and what happens in net. It can’t be a repeat of last year.
A few hours before they host the Lightning in the home opener at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers announced that Joonas Korpisalo was placed on the injured reserve due a lower-body injury.
#NYR putting Joonas Korpisalo on IR. He's week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
This came out of nowhere. After they traded for him in the off-season, Korpisalo was expected to be the backup goalie behind Igor Shesterkin. In two preseason games, he didn’t show any signs of being hurt. What happened? Did the injury occur during practice, or perhaps in warmups when the Rangers visited the Bruins on Tuesday night?
In any event, it’s puzzling. Even more so, Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury was willing to leave Dylan Garand unprotected this past Sunday. Luckily, he passed through waivers on Monday and cleared to be assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Three days later, Garand was recalled to back up Shesterkin for Thursday night. With the Rangers having a back-to-back tomorrow when they visit the Red Wings, he’ll likely make his first start of the season.
The Rangers will then return home for the Mammoth on Sunday and the Islanders next Tuesday.
Iorio Assigned to Wolf Pack
After being placed on injured reserve, defenseman Vincent Iorio passed through waivers unclaimed. The Rangers assigned him to the Wolf Pack.
Lineup Remains the Same
When the Rangers are introduced, head coach Mike Sullivan will go with the same lineup as the one that got shut out in Boston.
For the second straight year, the Rangers were shut out in a season opener on national TV. They might want to petition the league to start 2027-28 on MSG Network. This time, it was the Bruins who blanked the Rangers 3-0. Unlike last year when they lost at home to the Penguins by the identical score on Oct. 7, 2025, it came on the road in Boston.
Aside from being unable to score, the Rangers didn’t mount much of an attack against the Bruins, who had the better of the scoring chances throughout the game. They were sloppy defensively and committed 20 giveaways for the night. That made it hard on Igor Shesterkin, who as usual held up his end by denying the Bruins on four breakaways.
It took until there was less than four minutes left in regulation for the Bruins to beat him. He was blameless when the Rangers fell apart literally by allowing three consecutive goals in 75 seconds to turn a scoreless contest into a laugher late. If you saw the first two goals, you’d agree.
On a night that the Yankees took care of the Red Sox behind Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card, the collective thud in Boston probably wasn’t heard by many New York sports fans. It was game 1 of 84. There’ll be plenty of more time for the Rangers to recover.
Outside of those fighting for a roster spot, most of the regulars only played six full periods in the abbreviated preseason. With how out of sync they looked, it showed. In particular, the new second pair of Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi struggled with the Bruins speed through the neutral zone. They especially found gaps that frequently had Durzi chasing while Pettersson was back. It was a rough start for both.
Despite being outplayed badly, the Rangers trailed the Bruins by just one shot entering the deciding third. They were a little better in the second half. A quicker start to the final period saw the Blueshirts generate more offensive zone time. However, they weren’t able to take advantage of their stronger play.
When they tested Jeremy Swayman, he made the key stops. His best might’ve come on Braden Schneider off a Mika Zibanejad pass in front. But Schneider couldn’t bury it. That was one of the few shifts that Zibanejad created offense with Alexis Lafreniere, who was the most noticeable out of the trio that included Gabe Perreault. However, the top line only had two shots with both coming from Zibanejad. They can’t afford a repeat of last season.
Pavel Dorofeyev’s best chance came on an outlet thanks to some strong work done by Alberts Smits. After he rubbed out a player, Smits intercepted a shot pass and moved the puck out for Dorofeyev, who came in and forced Swayman into a tough pad save on a backhand. On the same play, he nearly had J.T Miller for the Rangers’ first goal. In his debut, Dorofeyev led the Blueshirts with five shots. He also nearly scored earlier in the contest thanks to some strong work down low from Oliver Bjorkstrand, who finished with four shots.
Overall, the top two lines didn’t establish enough on the forecheck. When they host the Lightning in the home opener on Thursday, they’ll need to be better. Instead, it was the fourth line that generated some of the best chances. That included Matt Rempe, who nearly got into it with Nikita Zadorov before the linesman separated them.
On a strong shift from the fourth line in the third period, Rempe got a shot on Swayman that he stopped. After the play was blown dead, Tye Kartye jarred in a loose puck in the crease. That’s as close as the Rangers came to scoring.
With the game looking like it might go to overtime, a bad read from Vladislav Gavrikov led to the Bruins’ first goal. He forced a pass that didn’t work, which Mason Lohrei intercepted before sending Fraser Minten back into the Ranger zone. Minten patiently waited before using Adam Fox as a screen to whip a snapshot past Shesterkin with 3:46 remaining. Fox made the mistake of getting in the way, which didn’t let Shesterkin pick it up in time.
Fraser Minten scores the first goal of the Bruins’ season.
Less than a minute later, Zibanejad turned the puck over and went for a line change. That allowed Hampus Lindholm and Elias Lindholm to transition up for J.J. Peterka, who then turned Schneider into a statue before deking Shesterkin for his first with 2:54 remaining. It was an embarrassing sequence for Schneider, whose poor defense got exposed. Unfortunately, his younger partner Smits was caught on for the backbreaking goal that finished the Rangers off.
Peterka goal with no audio is sick. Crowd was so good ESPN couldn’t even hide it pic.twitter.com/U1ufjaeLqo
Adding further insult to injury, Mike Sullivan pulled Shesterkin when the Rangers didn’t have clean possession. That mistake led to Minten feeding Mark Kastelic for an easy empty netter 23 seconds later.
Outside of Shesterkin playing well, Smits had a strong debut. Aside from a pair of giveaways early on, the 2026 first round pick made some superb defensive plays. The Latvian teenager used his size well to take pucks off Bruins. Before he scored the winner, Minten couldn’t get past Smits, who prevented him from getting in. Instead of wearing number 63 like he had in preseason, he wore number 12. He took 23 shifts and finished with two hits and a block in 16:54 of ice time.
If there was a surprising stat, Fox only played 18:25. The Rangers only had one power play, which didn’t generate much. Both Pettersson and Durzi each had over 23 minutes in the loss.
It’s officially NHL 27. When the defending champion Hurricanes roll out the mat to raise their Stanley Cup banner at the top of the hour, they’ll face the former two-time champion Panthers on ESPN as part of a tripleheader.
The Cats will look to claw their way back to contention after Aleksander Barkov missed last season. At their disposal will be the Tkachuk Brothers, featuring the skilled Matthew Tkachuk and more ornery Brady Tkachuk. Adding Brady to a core that includes Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Matthew, Anton Lundell, and Sam Bennett should make them formidable. Questions still remain in net with the Panthers making a questionable trade that subtracted Evan Rodriguez and Jesper Boqvist for Jacob Markstrom. Eventually, Brad Marchand will return. Are they good enough in goal and on defense?
Can the Canes repeat? They’ll start without Seth Jarvis. Meanwhile, Alexander Nikishin continues to hold out. He’ll likely be traded due to the salary cap. Can a tandem of Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov have success in net? Or will Carolina go shopping with Connor Hellebuyck suspended by the Jets for his trade request due most likely to his family being harassed by despicable Canadians online? That untenable situation will be worth following.
Is Mike Babcock the taskmaster to get Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl over the hump? Or will the continued questionable goaltending, which this time features Tristan Jarry and injured former Canes hero Frederik Andersen doom Edmonton? Might former Sabres prospect Devon Levi steal the net away? The Oilers remain the league’s most interesting team.
The Maple Leafs think acquiring moody former Blue Jacket Kirill Marchenko will dramatically improve them up front. They subtracted a good player in Matthew Knies, whose strong work ethic should be welcomed by Rick Bowness in Columbus. Toronto will still largely depend on a healthier Auston Matthews, who could return to being a 40-goal scorer. Is top pick Gavin McKenna ready for prime time in the biggest hockey media market? It’s a bit of a Panthers reunion with Sergei Bobrovsky rejoining former backup Anthony Stolarz.
Are the Uber talented Sharks ready to return to the playoffs? New captain Macklin Celebrini could overtake McDavid for the game’s best player. Second pick Ivar Stenberg is one of the frontrunners for the Calder. A very exciting team that also includes Will Smith, Michael Misa, and Collin Graf is ready to compete. Did Mike Grier add one too many veterans on the blue line by taking Darnell Nurse from the Oilers after signing Jacob Trouba? Yaroslav Askarov holds the key to the season.
The Wild find themselves in a precarious position. They’re already down key defenseman Brock Faber (skull fracture), who was set to team up with polarizing star Quinn Hughes. Hughes is still without a contract next season. Apparently, he can’t make up his mind or already has. The continued headache about playing with his brothers in New Jersey will become as annoying as Taylor Swift during an NFL game. Is the older Hughes just a selfish player who will quit on a second team if things go bad? He did in Vancouver as their captain.
The Stars are hoping this is the year and not another early exit. Jason Robertson could play out the season for a huge raise. Wyatt Johnston is a rising star who could hit 50 goals. Jake Oettinger doesn’t get the same criticism as Hellebuyck for not coming up big in the postseason. Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen hope to change the narrative in Dallas.
Up in Montreal, they’re already planning the parade. A talented squad that features Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, Ivan Demidov, and Juraj Slafkovsky could be poised to play for the Cup. Much depends on Jakub Dobes, who’s clearly the number one goalie over veteran Sam Montembeault. Jacob Fowler came up last season. Expect him to be up if Montembeault falters. Chris Kreider in a Canadiens jersey feels wrong. All is forgiven with Carey Price for 2014.
Do the Sabres have too many questions without Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram? They’re already without Mattias Samuelsson, Olen Zellweger, Jason Zucker, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to start the season. Even Alex Lyon is banged up, leaving Colten Ellis as the likely starter. The talent remains due to Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Zach Benson, and Josh Doan. It might be a tough start in Buffalo.
Who can surprise? Perhaps the Blues if Robert Thomas can stay healthy. Joel Hofer is a goalie to keep an eye on. Pittsburgh is banking on Sergei Murashov to take over in net and bring them back to the playoffs in what’s likely the final year of Evgeni Malkin’s legendary career. He might be joined by Alex Ovechkin, who has more weapons thanks to the additions of Jordan Kyrou and Tuch. Ovechkin left himself open to criticism for a puzzling ad in support of Vladimir Putin and Russia.
So, what should we expect? Let’s take a look at our division picks, rankings, playoff picks, and more!
ATLANTIC
Canadiens
Lightning
Panthers
Sabres
Bruins
Maple Leafs
Senators
Red Wings
METROPOLITAN
Hurricanes
Capitals
Devils
Rangers
Penguins
Blue Jackets
Flyers
Islanders
CENTRAL
Avalanche
Stars
Mammoth
Wild
Blues
Predators
Jets
Blackhawks
PACIFIC
Golden Knights
Sharks
Oilers
Ducks
Kings
Kraken
Canucks
Flames
PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(M1) Hurricanes over (WC2) Rangers
(M3) Devils over (M2) Capitals
(A1) Canadiens over (WC1) Sabres
(A3) Panthers over (A2) Lightning
Hurricanes over Devils
Canadiens over Panthers
Canadiens over Hurricanes
WESTERN CONFERENCE
(C1) Avalanche over (WC2) Ducks
(C3) Mammoth over (C2) Stars
(P1) Golden Knights over (WC1) Wild
(P3) Oilers over (P2) Sharks
Mammoth over Avalanche
Golden Knights over Oilers
Golden Knights over Mammoth
STANLEY CUP FINALS
Golden Knights over Canadiens
AWARDS
HART Macklin Celebrini
ROSS Connor McDavid
RICHARD Leon Draisaitl
NORRIS Lane Hutson
VEZINA Igor Shesterkin
CALDER Anton Frondell
BYNG Aleksander Barkov
SELKE Nick Suzuki
ADAMS Ryan Warsofsky
DISHONOR
FIRST COACH FIRED Sheldon Keefe
COACHING CASUALTIES John Hynes, Scott Arniel, Travis Green, Glen Gulutzan (after season), D.J. Smith
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Derek
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