Ex-Rangers goalie drafted before Igor Shesterkin in 2014 loses first NHL start with Lightning
Brandon Halverson, a goaltender who was selected by the New York Rangers two rounds ahead of Igor Shesterkin in the 2014 NHL Draft but hadn’t played in the League since his lone appearance with them eight years ago, lost in his first NHL start when the Tampa Bay Lightning were beaten 6-4 by the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Saturday.
The 28-year-old got the start hours after a long trip following his recall from Syracuse of the American Hockey League. He finished with 19 saves on 24 shots before Utah hit the empty net in the final minute to seal the win.
Halverson signed a two-year, two-way NHL contract carrying an average annual value of $775,000 with the Lightning on Feb. 3, 2025. He backed up Andrei Vasilevskiy for Tampa Bay’s final four games before the 4 Nations Face-Off, after which he was returned to Syracuse.
The Lightning recalled him Saturday after Jonas Johansson, their regular backup, had to return to Tampa for a family matter.
“Richly deserved, a long time coming for him,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of giving Halverson the start. “He’s really battled to get to this spot. (Johansson) has had a family matter he’s going to take care of, so he’s gone home for the rest of the road trip and Halvy will be with us.”
Cooper also said afterward that the loss “was not on (Halverson) at all. He had to take multiple planes, got in well after midnight. We didn’t play nearly well enough in front of him.”
Halverson was 16-9-11 with a .913 save percentage, 2.32 goals-against average and four shutouts in 34 games this season with Syracuse before being recalled. He’s tied for fourth in the AHL in shutouts, is eighth in GAA, had an assist on March 15 — his first since the 2016-17 season — and was selected for the North Division team at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic in Palm Desert, California, last month.
The native of Traverse City, Michigan, has appeared in 100 AHL contests with Syracuse, the Tucson Roadrunners and the Hartford Wolf Pack. He is 41-41-15 with a .900 save percentage, 2.86 goals-against average and five shutouts.
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. The Lightning opted to use Halverson in the first of back-to-back road games, with Vasilevskiy in line to play against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, with Halverson dressing as his backup.
Halverson loses in first NHL start, 11 years after being drafted by Rangers
Halverson’s first NHL start is a testimony to his perseverance.
He 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 opted to remain in Russia and became a star in the KHL until he signed with the Rangers on May 3, 2019, and came to North America for the 2019-20 season.
By then, Halverson was already well-traveled.
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 Feb. 2.
But Halverson’s career since that night in Ottawa hasn’t gone the way he’d planned.
With Shesterkin under contract with the Rangers, Lundqvist still on hand and promising newcomer Alexandar Georgiev also battling for playing time, there was no place for Halverson after he split 2018-19 between Hartford and Maine of the ECHL. Instead, 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.
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