Rangers' youngsters are showing promise as they seek full-time jobs with big club

GREENBURGH — It was a moment that Dylan Garand had thought about all of his life.

The 23-year-old goaltender was standing in the Rangers’ dressing room Friday nightjust after recording his first National Hockey League win, a 6-1 throttling of Chicago at the Garden. Reporters were asking him about his emotions.

He could have talked about himself. He could have talked about accomplishing a lifelong goal.

Instead, Garand talked about Adam Sykora and Drew Fortescue and the opportunities that general manager Chris Drury and coach Mike Sullivan are affording the Rangers’ prospects.

“We’re all hungry. This is kind of — for some of us — our opportunity,” Garand said. “Guys like me and [Sykora], we’ve been playing in [AHL] Hartford for a long time and we finally get to play [NHL] games. We’re hungry and we’re excited to try and help this team win in any way we can. It’s a lot of fun right now.”

Garand stopped 27 of 28 shots and was named the first star of the night.

Sykora scored his first NHL goal — a shot between Arvid Soderblom’s right arm and right leg — and was selected the game’s second star.

Fortescue, in his first NHL game, finished with an assist and two blocked shots in 17 minutes, 23 seconds of ice time. The Boston College product was announced as the third star of the game.

According to the Rangers, the game marked the first time since Nov. 10, 1932, that three different players recorded their first NHL game, first NHL win and first NHL goal in the same contest.

“The guys played great,” Sullivan said.

For those in the franchise who are tasked with mapping out the future, the final nine games of a long-since-lost Rangers season (29-35-9, 67 points) are about education.

Can Garand serve as Igor Shesterkin’s backup as soon as next season? Can Fortescue slot into the second or third defensive pair? Can Sykora be a bottom-six forward?

The answer to those questions, Sullivan said in essence, will be determined by player performance.

“You never really know if a player is going to have success at the NHL level,” he said. “We can predict all we want whether a player is going to succeed, but you never really know. You put him in there and you see how he does.”

But that could be a double-edged sword. Players can show they are deserving of NHL jobs by their body of work. Or maybe they just had one good night but aren’t ready to become NHL regulars.

So Sullivan was asked after practice Saturday at the MSG Training Center if he and Drury have to be conservative in their analysis when the organizational decision-makers sit down after the season to determine whether there are roles for the Garands, the Sykoras and the Fortescues in 2026-27 and beyond.

“These players are building a body of work, and when we’re making decisions as an organization, we’ll make those decisions based on the body of work. It’s what we know,” Sullivan said. “If what you’re asking is, does performance matter? The answer to that is yes.”