Photo: Andreas Hillergren/AFP/Getty Images)
With the news that SKA were eliminated on Monday and thus Pavel Buchnevich’s season in Russia being officially over, excitement began about the prospect of the über-prospect hot-stepping it to New York. I was also twitter guilty of a little bit of Buch-hysteria. But not so fast.
The Rangers are a cap team and they’ll be tight to the cap for (at least) the foreseeable future. Take a look at the current Rangers roster and the ‘problems’ that Alain Vigneault is having with finding appropriate roles, ice time and combinations for all his presumptive top nine forwards. Is there really enough room to squeeze Buchnevich into the top nine – in a meaningful role?
Who comes out if you do bring Buchnevich over and put him in the Rangers line-up immediately? Eric Staal sure as hell didn’t come to NY to be sidelined and if you think the Rangers will marginalise(?) any of Nash, Kreider, Zuccarello, Stepan or Derick Brassard for a ridiculously talented yet ultimately unproven player at the most critical time of year then you’re mistaken. This may be a franchise that takes chances and rolls the dice on players but it’s also not cavalier in its approach.
With all the line juggling Vigneault is having to do, to get his best combinations for the playoff push, unless the Rangers think Buchnevich can truly – for certain – come in and make an immediate impact and help ignite a Stanley Cup run then this team cannot afford to ‘burn’ a year off of Buchnevich’s entry level deal. It doesn’t make cap sense and, unless he’s playing and playing a lot, it doesn’t make practical sense either.
The Rangers will have more room for manoeuvre in the summer. With major surgery required to keep the team competitive there figures to be a few new faces both up front and on the blueline (we hope). Salaries will be moved, roster spots cleared. Players such as Brady Skjei and Pavel Buchnevich figure to have a much greater chance at making the Rangers next autumn.
With the Rangers announcing the entry level signings of Boo Nieves and Steven Fogarty this week, the team is around the limit of their allowed NHL contracts (50). Again, the likely extra flexibility the team will have in this regard in the summer will also impact how the Rangers approach Buchnevich in the coming weeks.
Unless the Rangers are about to scratch Kevin Hayes (who just happened to have his best game in weeks) and keep not one but two building blocks of their future in street clothes for the foreseeable future (don’t forget Oscar Lindberg) then the Rangers aren’t likely to rush Buchnevich over any time soon. Unless he really is really ready? Who knows…
It’s good fun for the fan-base that Buchnevich-watch has started and let’s hope that he’s in New York making a positive impact sooner rather than later but circumstances suggest that we probably won’t be seeing him in New York until next season at the earliest. So temper your excitement and hope the current crop can get it done this spring. In an Eastern conference full of mediocrity even a flawed Rangers team sans Buchnevich has a chance.
Share:
More About:Prospects