Rangers waive James Reimer, Joonas Korpisalo wins debut

The goalie carousel on Broadway started spinning Wednesday, and Reimer was the first one thrown off.

Spittin' Chiclets

@spittinchiclets

After allowing three goals on just eight shots in his lone appearance, James Reimer hits waivers as the Rangers prepare for Korpisalo’s return.

The Reimer signing was always a patch job. The Rangers gave the 39-year-old a 1-year, $850,000 deal on October 25 because Igor Shesterkin and Korpisalo were both hurt. He got 1 start, against the Kings the next night, and was pulled after 1 period. Three goals on 8 shots will do that. He cleared waivers Friday and went to Hartford, which looked like the end of it.

It was not quite the end. On Saturday he went back on waivers, unconditional this time, for the purpose of terminating his contract. That's the polite NHL way of saying thanks for coming.

Elliotte Friedman

@FriedgeHNIC

Rathbone has cleared Leppanen (EDM) on waivers Reimer (NYR) on unconditional waivers for purposes of contract termination

The reason for all of it was confirmed a few hours later. Mike Sullivan said Korpisalo, acquired from Boston on July 1 and out all season with a lower-body injury, would make his Rangers debut that afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena. Dylan Garand had started 12 straight games while both of the real goalies were out. Sullivan's explanation for why this was the right game came down to workload: Korpisalo needed reps with traffic in front of him, and you can't fake that in practice.

There was a side plot too. Tye Kartye was facing the Kraken for the first time since Seattle waived him. They signed him as an undrafted free agent, let him go last season, and the Rangers have been quietly cashing in on that claim ever since.

Things got messy before puck drop. Alberts Šmits was a late scratch with an upper-body injury, so Matthew Robertson made his season debut on a blue line that was already missing Sean Durzi, who went on IR Wednesday. After that, the first 40 minutes were about as good as Rangers fans could have asked for. Korpisalo stopped Chandler Stephenson on a partial breakaway early. Kartye looked like he'd scored off a faceoff, but review showed the puck was kicked in. Less than a minute later he tipped an Adam Fox point shot over Joey Daccord's glove for the first power-play goal of his NHL career. Jaroslav Chmelař made it 3-0 on a Noah Laba rebound, Daccord got pulled for Philipp Grubauer, and it was 4-0 after 2 periods.

Then the third period happened. Kaapo Kakko ended the shutout with a wraparound, Jordan Eberle scored, and Vince Dunn's one-timer with 4:58 left made it 4-3. At one point Seattle was outshooting New York 14-1 in the period. The Rangers held on, mostly because Mika Zibanejad threw his body in front of pucks, and Korpisalo finished with 25 saves and the W. That's 3 straight wins, and New York is 10-7-1.

Korpisalo didn't make much of his own night afterward. He said he "felt alright," saw the puck well, and has things to clean up. The good news for the Rangers is the part he wasn't worried about.

Kartye spent his postgame denying that beating his old team meant anything extra. He said he couldn't care less about it and only wants to play well for the Rangers. His coach basically rolled his eyes.

Sullivan also explained how Kartye ended up on the second power-play unit at all. The logic is simple enough that it's a little embarrassing nobody got there sooner.

So with Reimer gone, Shesterkin still out and Durzi on IR, the crease belongs to Korpisalo and Garand. Two good periods and one bad one is a decent first day for a goalie who hadn't played all season. It's not a decent way to protect a 4-goal lead, though. Watch two things next: whether Korpisalo's tiny details get cleaned up as fast as he thinks, and whether Kartye keeps his PP2 spot. Seattle heads to Helsinki to play Carolina in the Global Series November 12-14.