Dylan Garand Pro Drills Part 6 — Why Stick Handling Is Key to End of Hour-Long Skate

New York Rangers goalie Dylan Garand didn’t face a single shot during the summer skating routine he shared with InGoal Magazine last offseason, but he did make time at the end of it to stop a few pucks behind the net and work purposefully on his puck handling.

Garand made his NHL debut with the Rangers on March 22 and finished his first big-league stint 2-0-1 with a .948 save percentage after that call-up, earning a two-year contract extension from New York this summer. The 23-year-old impressed in that stint with his control, efficiency and edge work, all of which were on display when InGoal Magazine got on the ice with him last summer to capture the routines that have gone into building those strengths during a visit to his hometown of Kamloops, British Columbia.

Garand said on Episode 320 of the InGoal Radio Podcast, which was recorded during that visit, that his offseason focus with long-time goalie coach Dan De Palma is almost exclusively on skating and movement. We got close to an hour of footage — and just as importantly, Garand reviewing it with us — from that session.