Nov. 13: The Rangers announced that Martin has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Hartford.
Nov. 12: The Rangers have signed goaltender Spencer Martin and immediately placed him on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Hartford, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It’s a two-year contract, according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post.
Martin, 30, is a longtime AHL depth piece who’d seen NHL action as a backup/No. 3 option in four straight seasons leading into 2025-26. While the 6’3″ netminder has a strong minor-league track record, his NHL results have been highly underwhelming. He made his NHL debut with the Avalanche back in 2016-17 and didn’t get another look until getting called up to the Canucks in 2022, posting a .950 SV% in six appearances and positioning himself as Thatcher Demko’s backup to start 2022-23. He couldn’t sustain his hot streak from the previous year, though, posting a nearly unplayable .871 SV% and .296 quality start percentage in 29 appearances until landing on waivers midway through the season.
The following two seasons saw Martin serve as a stopgap for the Blue Jackets and Hurricanes while they dealt with injuries in the crease. Neither of those stints was much different than his time in Vancouver. He made 16 starts and 19 appearances for Columbus and Carolina in 2023-24, logging a 7-9-2 record with a .889 SV% and 3.30 GAA. Martin played just nine games for the Canes last year with an even further degraded SV% of .846 and a GAA of 3.89, although he did record his first career shutout in the process.
That decline led Martin to pursue an overseas opportunity for the first time. He signed a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League back in July. He was clearly positioned as their starter but was quickly usurped by Islanders prospect Dmitri Gamzin, who has a .933 SV% and 7-5-2 record through 13 games compared to Martin’s .905 SV% and 5-6-2 record in 14 games. With CSKA handing the reins to Gamzin and also having Blue Jackets 2025 first-rounder Pyotr Andreyanov as a recall option from the Russian minors, they terminated Martin’s contract on Monday.
Martin shouldn’t have much of any trouble clearing waivers on his way back to the NHL. The Rangers were looking for a veteran name to supplement their current AHL tandem of prospects Talyn Boyko and Dylan Garand, neither of whom has been particularly convincing to start the year. Martin’s .909 SV% in 30 appearances with AHL Chicago last season is better than what both of them have put on offer so far.