Rangers Recall Garand, Berard From Wolf Pack Amid Roster Shuffle

New York Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury announced Thursday that the club recalled goaltender Dylan Garand and forward Brett Berard from the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, a move that pushed the Rangers' roster to 25 players and set up what could finally be a first NHL appearance for one of the organization's most decorated minor-league netminders.

The recall came packaged with several other roster moves announced in the same Wolf Pack release: defenseman Scott Morrow was assigned to Hartford, and goaltender Callum Tung was sent down to the Wolf Pack from the ECHL's Bloomington Bison. The Rangers also traded defenseman Derrick Pouliot to the Chicago Blackhawks in a separate transaction disclosed in the same announcement.

Garand, 23, is a Victoria, BC native who went 2020 fourth-round pick, 103rd overall, and has spent his entire professional career in Hartford. The Wolf Pack's press release lists him at 52-48-19 with a .902 save percentage, 2.93 goals-against average, and nine shutouts across 123 games over parts of five seasons, while The Hockey News and ProHockeyRumors report slightly different career totals of 65-57-18 in 148 games with a 2.90 GAA and .901 save percentage. The official AHL stats page would be the final arbiter on those numbers, but either way, the body of work is substantial. He was named to the 2025 AHL All-Star Game after a strong 2024-25 campaign in which he went 20-10-8 with a 2.73 GAA and .913 save percentage.

This season has been rockier. According to the Wolf Pack's press release, Garand appeared in 11 games and went 3-6-2 with a .897 save percentage and a 2.96 GAA; The Hockey News and ProHockeyRumors track a broader 36-game sample at 16-15-2 with a 2.83 GAA and .896 save percentage. But his recent form argues in his favor. Over his last 10 starts, Garand posted a .917 save percentage and capped that stretch with back-to-back 5-2 wins over the Charlotte Checkers, making 50 saves on 54 shots across those two games.

Despite all of it, Garand has never played an NHL game. The Wolf Pack's press release states it plainly: "He has yet to make his NHL debut." This is his second recall of the season, the first having come in late November, though he did not dress in either instance.

The timing makes sense in a couple of ways. The Rangers were carrying three goalies through a stretch that saw them play 12 games in 21 days between March 9 and March 29, a grind that left Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick heavily tested. The Rangers were outshot in each of their previous four games, including by double figures in three of those four. With no reported injuries to either Shesterkin or Quick, the recall functions less as emergency coverage and more as a late-season opportunity window. Hartford sits last in the Atlantic Division and is tracking toward a second straight non-playoff finish, which means Garand's meaningful AHL games may be winding down.

The Morrow assignment adds a complementary layer to the story. The defenseman was acquired from Carolina's pipeline and put up 39 points, including 13 goals, in 52 AHL games with the Chicago Wolves last season before appearing in 14 games with the Hurricanes. He was a second-round pick, 40th overall, in 2021 out of Darien, CT.