Ex-Rangers goalie selected before Igor Shesterkin inks two-year contract with Lightning

Brandon Halverson, a goaltender who was selected by the New York Rangers two rounds before Igor Shesterkin in the 2014 NHL Draft but has not played in the League since his lone appearance with them seven years ago, signed a two-year NHL contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

The two-way deal is worth $775,000 annually at the NHL level, according to Puckpedia. It extends through the end of the 2025-26 season.

The 28-year-old is enjoying his best pro season. He has a 12-7-7 record with a .918 save percentage, 2.20 goals-against average and four shutouts in 26 games this season with the Syracuse Crunch, Tampa Bay’s American Hockey League affiliate, while playing under an AHL contract. Among all AHL goaltenders who have played at least 20 games, Halverson is tied for first in shutouts, tied for second in goals-against average and is sixth in save percentage.

Halverson is a member of the North Division team playing at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic in Palm Desert, California, on Monday.

The native of Traverse City, Michigan, has appeared in 92 AHL contests with Syracuse, the Tucson Roadrunners and the Hartford Wolf Pack. He is 37-39-14 with a .900 save percentage, 2.87 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, a two-time Stanley Cup winner who’s also won the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy, is locked in as the Lightning’s No. 1 goalie. But Tampa Bay has been dealing with some uncertainty because of an injury to backup goalie Jonas Johansson – and given Halverson’s impressive play, the Bolts might use him in the No. 2 role for the time being instead of Matt Tomkins.

If Halverson does make it back to the NHL, it would be a testimony to his perseverance.

Halverson was the Rangers’ first pick (second round, No. 59 overall) in 2014 and turned pro in 2016-17 after twice playing for the United States at the World Junior Championship — winning a bronze medal in 2016. Shesterkin was taken in the fourth round (No. 118) that year, but the Moscow native remained in Russia and became a star in the KHL until he signed with the Rangers on May 3, 2019, and arrived in North America for the 2019-20 season.

By then, Halverson was already well-traveled.

Ex-Rangers goalie Halverson signs NHL contract with Lightning

He split 2016-17, his first pro season, between the Rangers’ ECHL affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, and Hartford, then did the same in 2017-18 — with the exception of Feb. 17, 2018. That’s when Halverson backed up Henrik Lundqvist and made his NHL debut after “The King” was pulled in the third period of a game against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, having allowed five goals on 27 shots.

Halverson stopped five of six shots in 12:33 of playing time in a 6-3 loss. That appearance made him the eighth U.S.-born goaltender to play for the Rangers. Keith Kinkaid became No. 9 when he played in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and Jonathan Quick, who joined New York last season as Shesterkin’s backup, is the 10th. Quick became the first U.S.-born NHL goalie with 400 wins when the Rangers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Sunday.

But Halverson’s career since that night in Ottawa hasn’t gone the way he’d planned.

With Shesterkin having signed with the Rangers, Lundqvist still on hand and promising newcomer Alexandar Georgiev also seeking playing time, there was no place for Halverson after he split 2018-19 between Hartford and Maine of the ECHL. He became a free agent, spent most of 2019-20 with Norfolk of the ECHL and played four games for ECHL Wheeling in 2020-21 before a high ankle sprain ended his season. Halverson didn’t play at all in 2021-22 when he was recovering from knee and wrist surgery (instead, he worked on a farm), then returned to the ice in 2022-23 with Bayreuth in Germany’s second division.

Halverson went to camp in the fall of 2023 on a PTO with Syracuse, Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, and won four of five decisions before earning a two-year AHL contract from the Crunch in late November.

He ended up splitting time between Syracuse and Orlando, the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, but excelled at the AHL level, where he was 7-3-3 in 14 games with a 2.18 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. It was the best showing of his professional career to that point. He was named Syracuse’s starter in the Calder Cup Playoffs, when he was 3-4 but finished with a 2.19 GAA and .916 save percentage.