{"id":22049,"date":"2026-04-27T21:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/22049\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T21:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:11:21","slug":"snapshots-garand-team-canada-poirier-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/22049\/","title":{"rendered":"Snapshots: Garand, Team Canada, Poirier \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Rangers are likely to give young goaltender Dylan Garand<\/a> the inside track to become the team\u2019s backup netminder next season, reports Vincent Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic<\/a>. Veteran Jonathan Quick<\/a> has been the No. 2 on Broadway for the last three seasons, but has played his final NHL game. Garand, 23, has been waiting in the wings, and it appears he\u2019ll be given a strong chance to win the role at training camp next fall. The former CHL Goalie of the Year has been the No. 1 goalie for the AHL\u2019s Hartford Wolf Pack for the last three years, and went 2-0-1 with a .948 save percentage in his first three NHL games this year. Garand was an AHL All-Star in 2024-25 and his playoff performances have been especially impressive, as he has a .927 save percentage in 17 games across two runs.<\/p>\n

While Garand does seem ready for the NHL, Mercogliano did also say that Rangers GM Chris Drury will most likely add \u201csome level of veteran competition\u201d for Garand. The Rangers already have veteran Spencer Martin<\/a> (72 career NHL games played) under contract at a one-way, league-minimum rate for next season. But Martin struggled this season (.864 save percentage in six NHL games, .873 in 22 AHL games) and isn\u2019t likely to be a part of their long-term plans. According to Mercogliano, Drury could add another veteran beyond just Martin, \u201ceither on a cheap, short-term deal or a professional tryout contract,\u201d to compete with Garand.<\/p>\n

Other notes from around the hockey world:<\/p>\n

Hockey Canada has secured some significant commitments for its roster for the upcoming IIHF Men\u2019s World Championship tournament, reports Darren Dreger of TSN<\/a>. According to Dreger, Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, Mark Scheifele<\/a>, Mathew Barzal<\/a>, and Morgan Rielly<\/a> have all committed, landing the team some significant names from the NHL. Additionally, potential 2026 No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna<\/a> will be on the roster as well. McKenna isn\u2019t the first top prospect to play for Canada at Worlds in his draft year. Porter Martone<\/a> played for Canada at last year\u2019s tournament before he was selected No. 6 overall, while Adam Fantilli<\/a> won the tournament in 2023 just shortly before he was selected No. 3 overall. Joining the team will give McKenna the chance to compete against men, something his main rival to be picked No. 1, Sweden\u2019s Ivar Stenberg<\/a>, has been able to do all year playing for Frolunda in the SHL.
\nCarolina Hurricanes prospect Justin Poirier<\/a> has transferred from the University of Maine to Penn State, reports Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald<\/a>. The 19-year-old ranks as the No. 7 prospect in the Hurricanes\u2019 system, according to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic<\/a>. The Hurricanes selected Poirier in the fifth round, No. 156 overall, at the 2024 draft. That was a somewhat surprising result for a player who scored 69 goals across 85 regular season and playoff contests in his draft year. Poirier was able to translate his QMJHL scoring to the college level, posting 18 goals and 29 points in 27 games for Maine. There will be big shoes for him to fill in the Nittany Lions attack, as the team\u2019s top three scorers from last season will all be playing pro hockey in the fall. Additionally, Penn State\u2019s fourth-highest scorer, J.J. Wiebusch<\/a>, transferred to Wisconsin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Rangers are likely to give young goaltender Dylan Garand the inside track to become the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,3300,10971,4912,2023,10972,2729,2498,4922,2019],"class_list":{"0":"post-22049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","10":"tag-dylan-garand","11":"tag-hockey-canada","12":"tag-iihf","13":"tag-justin-poirier","14":"tag-ncaa","15":"tag-new-york-rangers","16":"tag-snapshots","17":"tag-team-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}