Rangers place Joonas Korpisalo on injured reserve

Not ideal news for a team looking to have a better performance this season.

On Thursday, the New York Rangers placed goaltender Joonas Korpisalo on injured reserve. He is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Goaltender Dylan Garand has been called up from the Rangers’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.

It isn’t quite clear when or where Korpisalo suffered the injury. He backed up Igor Shesterkin for the team’s season opener on Tuesday night, a 3-0 loss at the hands of the rival Boston Bruins. He did appear in one preseason game for the Blueshirts, making 20 saves in a shootout win over the New Jersey Devils last Thursday.

Per the league’s IR rules, the Finnish backstop won’t be able to return to the lineup until Oct. 9, when the Rangers take on the Washington Capitals.

Korpisalo came to Manhattan over the summer, as the Bruins traded the 32-year-old to the Blueshirts for prospect Kalle Vaisanen and a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft. Korpisalo had spent the past two seasons with the Bruins, mainly serving as a backup to Jeremy Swayman. In 2025-26, he posted a record of 14-9-6, with a 3.15 goals-against average, a .894 save percentage and one shutout.

In 334 regular-season appearances in his NHL career, Korpisalo is 140-126-38, with a 3.06 GAA, a .900 SV% and eight shutouts. He’s in the fourth season of a five-year contract, which he signed with the Ottawa Senators in July 2023.

Garand saw action in one preseason game as well, making 28 stops in a 3-2 loss to the Devils on Sept. 21. With the Rangers playing on both Thursday and Friday, there’s a chance the 24-year-old could make his season debut. Garand made his NHL debut last March, going 2-0-1 in three starts, registering a 1.62 GAA and a. 948 SV%.

The Rangers are set to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday before visiting the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.