Brandon Halverson

Brandon Halverson grew up in Traverse City, Michigan, and came to goaltending early — his family began billeting players once he picked up the position, and they made a point of housing at least one goalie each year. The second billet they took in was Jeremy Kalnicky, a goaltender who became, in Halverson's words, "an old goalie coach, mentor, older brother, basically, mine." Because his family didn't have a lot of money, Kalnicky had him attend goalie camps for free and remained a figure Halverson could call for advice well into his professional career ^[1].

The New York Rangers selected Halverson in the second round, 29th pick of that round (59th overall), in the 2014 NHL Draft. He stands 6'5" and weighs 235 pounds, catches left. The early years of his professional career were marked by injuries — including three knee surgeries — and a stretch in the ECHL without the kind of organizational support that, by his own account, made the transition to pro hockey harder than it needed to be. Looking back, Halverson told the InGoal Radio Podcast that he felt he didn't have "the support and the help to kind of get me through that," and that at one point he tried to get extra work in before camp with the Rangers and was told no ^[1].

The path back ran through a series of coaches and collaborators. Kalnicky remained involved. Halverson also worked extensively with John Elkin, doing sessions where shooters would pass before shooting, training him to read sticks and get set before pucks arrived. He recalled being on the ice at those sessions alongside Marc-André Fleury-era peers including Matt Murray and Mackenzie Blackwood, watching how Blackwood in particular moved through the crease ^[1].

His rehabilitation from the last of his three knee surgeries took place in Florida, where he connected with a trainer named Theo at a facility called Optimal Athlete Collective in the Tampa/Clearwater area. The trainer's approach centered on what Halverson described as the "knees over toes" method, and the work they did together — rehab followed by a full season of training — he credited with ending his injury problems ^[1].

When Halverson arrived in Syracuse with the Crunch, working under goalie coach Max, the focus shifted to movement mechanics: stopping on his toes rather than his heels, keeping his head forward, tracking every rebound back to the post in a specific, repeatable way. He described doing drills where he would make the save, drive hard to the post, stop, take a head check, and reset — building from five or six repetitions to fifteen or sixteen in a row. The idea, he explained, was that the conditioning built in practice would be there in the third period of a game during a long power play or penalty kill ^[1].

Halverson also pointed to a shift in how he uses his head during play: snapping it first before moving his body, gathering information about where the puck is and what the shooter is likely to do. He described it as something the best goalies do — head turns ahead of the feet, allowing the body to rotate properly into position ^[1].

On the mental side, Halverson acknowledged that getting frustrated after allowing goals in practice had been something he worked through over the course of his career. "I'm always just mad at myself for letting goals," he said on the podcast, "and it's something I still struggle with today." The adjustment, he explained, was learning to reset rather than dwell — not eliminating the competitive edge but keeping it from compounding ^[1].

Now under contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Halverson splits time between the NHL level and the Syracuse Crunch. He has appeared in 4 NHL games in his career, going 0-2 with a 4.71 GAA and a .804 save percentage. In the 2025-26 season he has appeared in 2 games with Tampa Bay. InGoal Magazine has covered Brandon Halverson in one podcast appearance.