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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Cam Talbot doesn’t know much about Dylan Garand, other than seeing the speculation about whether he’d get claimed off waivers at the end of training camp and knowing — from the Rangers’ standpoint — that “luckily he didn’t.”
But after Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending injury, Talbot had some déjà vu, with the pair now connected in Rangers history as goaltenders tasked with replacing franchise cornerstones at the most valuable position in the sport.
For Talbot, it was 12 seasons ago, back in 2014-15 when Henrik Lundqvist missed two months after taking a puck to the neck in February of that year and spraining a blood vessel.
He took over for a Rangers team in the playoff race and went 17-5-3 the rest of the year to officially launch a career that has reached the Blue Jackets this year in his 14th season.
For Garand, that opportunity occurred much earlier in his career and much earlier in the season, with the 24-year-old making just the eighth start of his NHL career — and fourth since the injury at the post that ended Shesterkin’s season — Saturday in Game 10 of the Rangers’ season.
“You’re never gonna replace Igor,” Talbot told a pair of reporters, including The Post, of his advice to Garand after Columbus’ morning skate at Nationwide Arena. “Nobody really can in this league. You just have to go out there and be you, and the rest takes care of itself.”
Talbot had already appeared in 11 games in 2014-15 — and 21 the previous year — to secure his spot as the Rangers’ backup before Lundqvist’s injury. That was never in question.
But after taking over as the starter, he didn’t have his best games, Talbot said. He felt like he needed to replace Lundqvist, which, looking back, was the wrong mentality. Benoît Allaire, the Blueshirts’ former goaltending coach, pulled him aside after Talbot’s early stretch of games and reminded him of that, too, helping reset his mentality and settle him into a rhythm.
“We don’t need you to be Henrik Lundqvist,” Talbot said of Allaire’s message. “We need you to be Cam Talbot, the same guy that’s been here for the last two years, and that’s good enough.”
Talbot finished with a .926 save percentage and a 2.20 goals against average the rest of the regular season, with Lundqvist returning for the postseason run that reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final. But the Rangers didn’t acquire a goaltender at the trade deadline.
Talbot shut out the Blackhawks — the eventual Stanley Cup champions — at the United Center, and when the Blueshirts had a chance to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy in April after Lundqvist was healthy, then-head coach Alain Vigneault gave the start to Talbot and told him he’d earned it.
Garand, who had impressed in his first three starts of 2025-26 before getting pulled Thursday, isn’t close to reaching Talbot’s level of contributions yet.
But with Shesterkin done for the year and Joonas Korpisalo still on long-term injured reserve, he has some runway to audition for the starting role, to carve out his place as an NHL goaltender — with the Rangers or another team — in the future.
And, in a way, Talbot, now 39 years old and in his first season with the Blue Jackets and just days removed from picking up a win with a ninth different NHL franchise, created the blueprint.
“I take a lot of pride in a lot of the things that I’ve done over the course of my career,” Talbot said, “but obviously that was a big one that jump-started it. Gave the other teams around the league an opportunity to see that I was able to perform as a starting goalie and carry the load for an extended period of time.
“Obviously never wanted to leave New York, but there’s no room to move up there when the King’s in front of you.”