NY Rangers Select High Upside Goalie With 67th Pick in 2026 NHL Draft

The New York Rangers picked a goaltender with the No. 67 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; The video board shows the 20th overall pick for the Columbus Blue Jackets is about to be announced in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers have been one of the biggest winners thus far of the 2026 NHL Draft.

They continued that success, selecting goalie Danai Shaiikov with the third pick in the third round, No. 67 overall. He was very active while playing with the Gatineau Olympiques during his rookie year, playing 50 games this past season.

While his selection will be viewed as a bit of a reach, as he was ranked No. 235 by NHL Network and went No. 67, this is a smart selection with a long-term outlook. He is only 19 years old and won’t be contributing at the NHL level in the near future, but he is certainly an intriguing prospect to watch develop over the next few years.

Currently, the Rangers have an all-world goaltender in Igor Shesterkin. The face of the franchise, he is continuing to play at an incredibly high level after a productive 2025-26 campaign and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Rangers select Danai Shaiikov with No. 67 pick

NY Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury speaks during a press conference to introduce new head coach Mike Sullivan at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown, New York May 8, 2025. / Peter Carr/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

However, he did show that he was human this past campaign, missing some time because of injury. New York was a completely different team without him between the pipes, struggling with Jonathan Quick and Spencer Martin handling most of the action while Shesterkin was sidelined.

With Quick's retirement, Dylan Garand is going to have a shot to lock down the backup goalie spot. Shaiikov is worth taking a shot on as a long-term project, and could be well ahead of the curve based on how much experience he already has.

Gatineau is in a rebuild, giving him as much playing time as possible. He played 50 games this past season with a .903 save percentage and 2.78 goals against average, recording one shutout. His team went 18-26-2 with him in net.

Along with all that regular-season experience, Shaiikov also played in seven postseason games this past season, going 3-3-1 with a .897 save percentage and 2.86 goals against average with one shutout.

With the 6️⃣7️⃣th pick....

🗣️ DANAI SHAIIKOV pic.twitter.com/Tj1SmPBbZd

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) June 27, 2026

Blessed with excellent quickness and athleticism, once he starts developing his goaltending skills and anticipation to put himself in the best position to make saves, his game will go to another level.

Thus far in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Rangers have placed all their focus on the backend. With the No. 5 overall pick, they selected defenseman Albert Smits. With their second round pick, No. 64 overall, it was another defenseman, Benjamin MacBeath.

Their biggest move was a blockbuster trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. They acquired Pavel Dorofeyev and signed him to a massive extension, trading the Nos. 26 and 92 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft along with a conditional top-10 protected 2028 first-round pick to get the deal done.