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Pavel Buchnevich Suspended One Game

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The Department of Player Safety has decided that New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich will have to sit out, giving him a one-game suspension today after his high stick on Washington Capitals forward Anthony Mantha. The incident occurred last night in the brawling rematch between the two clubs and earned Buchnevich a five-minute major and game misconduct. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that while we agree that Buchnevich’s actions are defensive in nature, players are not excused from following league rules because of the actions of their opponent. While Mantha’s actions may have been provacative, Buchnevich is not permitted to respond to that provacation with a reckless and forceful strike directly to the face of an opponent.

As the league notes, Buchnevich has never been suspended or fined in his 300-game NHL career. Mantha also did not suffer a serious injury on the play. Both of those things would have factored into the decision to hand out the one-game suspension.

The Rangers of course will not be happy with this decision, given how publicly they called out DoPS head George Parros earlier this week for his decision to not suspend Washington forward Tom Wilson. The team called that a “horrifying act of violence” that went basically unpunished (Wilson did receive a $5,000 fine for his punch on Buchnevich). At his introductory press conference today, new Rangers president and GM Chris Drury said he expected Buchnevich to be gone for the rest of the season. The Rangers have two games left, meaning he could actually play in the season finale against Boston on Saturday.

New York Rangers Issued $250,000 Fine

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The New York Rangers have received a $250,000 fine from the NHL for their public comments on Tuesday, following the decision from the Department of Player Safety to not suspend Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson. The team called for the dismissal of DoPS head George Parros and will now pay a fine 50 times greater than the one they issued to Wilson in the first place.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman released this statement:

Public comments of the nature issued by the Rangers that were personal in nature and demeaning of a League executive will not be tolerated. While we don’t expect our Clubs to agree with every decision rendered by the Department of Player Safety, the extent to which the Rangers expressed their disagreement was unacceptable. It is terribly unfair to question George Parros’ professionalism and dedication to his role and the Department of Player Safety.

The Rangers have been a whirlwind of chaos since Wilson punched Pavel Buchnevich and threw Artemi Panarin to the ground on Monday night. They followed the statement by firing president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton, though senior advisor Glenn Sather told reporters again today that the two incidents had nothing to do with each other. Last night, the Rangers tried to take matters into their own hands by responding physically in a rematch with the Capitals, taking more than 80 minutes in penalties. Buchnevich also is expected to receive a suspension after high-sticking Capitals forward Anthony Mantha.

The league has issued fines like this in the past. During the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs the San Jose Sharks were fined $100,000 for GM Doug Wilson’s comments on the suspension given to Raffi Torres. In that case, it was a manager defending the actions of one of his players, but the two situations are still very similar when it comes to the punishment handed down by the league.

At the very least, this indicates that the league is standing behind Parros and his department leadership (though that should come as no surprise).

Pavel Buchnevich To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The rematch between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers was started by three simultaneous fights off the opening faceoff and ended with 141 penalty minutes handed out. Today, even more supplementary discipline will be determined. Pavel Buchnevich will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety for his incident with Anthony Mantha.

The two came together early in the second period and Buchnevich got his stick up into the face of Mantha, delivering a forceful cross-check to the head. The Rangers forward was given a five-minute major and game misconduct, taking his penalty minute total to 19 for the game. He now appears to be heading for a suspension as well.

Of course, Buchnevich was right in the middle of the incident that preceded last night’s melee, when he was struck Monday night by Washington forward Tom Wilson. Wilson received a $5,000 fine for the punch, which led to the Rangers releasing a statement calling for the removal of George Parros from the DoPS. Many believed Wilson should receive a suspension, but as so often it is in hockey, the reaction—even days later—will be given the stronger punishment.

Mantha did not suffer a serious injury on the play, but cross-checks to the head area almost always rise to the level of supplemental discipline. Buchenevich’s season could very well be done as the Rangers have just two games left.

New York Rangers Fire John Davidson, Jeff Gorton

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4:35pm: The Rangers have made it official, announcing that Davidson and Gorton are “leaving the organization” effective immediately. Drury has taken over as president and general manager, while senior advisor Glen Sather will help him during the transition. Dolan has released a statement:

We want to thank JD and Jeff for their contributions to the organization. They are both great hockey professionals who worked hard for the Rangers, however, in order for the team to succeed in the manner our fans deserve, there needs to be a change in leadership. Chris is a very sought-after executive and a strong leader, who has proven himself to be one of the top young minds in hockey. We are confident he will effectively guide the team to ensure the long-term success we promised Rangers fans.

1:50pm: In a stunning development, the New York Rangers have fired team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. This comes less than 24 hours after the team issued a harsh statement critiquing the league and Department of Player Safety head George Parros. Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the two men “scurried to distance themselves” from the statement, telling other executives that they did not know it was in the works until after it was released. Larry Brooks of the New York Post tweets that associate GM Chris Drury will remain with the organization in a prominent role and Friedman reports that it will be as president and GM.

Darren Dreger of TSN has been told that the firings are not related to the statement and Friedman adds that James Dolan, the team owner, was unhappy with the team this season and wanted a change. Dolan was also behind the statement, reports Friedman.

While the Rangers are going to miss the playoffs again this season, the rebuild is going pretty much exactly as planned. Three years ago, the team issued a letter to fans telling them that they would be trading franchise icons in order to amass a new young core to put them back in contention for the Stanley Cup. Names like Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Brady Skjei, and Marc Staal were all shown the door, while Gorton and his staff compiled prospects and picks to build for the future. The team went out and signed Artemi Panarin to a huge contract in free agency to move things along and even took part in the postseason last year, losing to a much more experienced Carolina Hurricanes team in the qualification round.

This season they will miss the playoffs thanks to a brutal East Division, sitting ten points behind the New York Islanders but holding a 26-21-6 record. The Rangers would hold a playoff position in two of the other divisions with the same record and have the 13th-best goal differential in the NHL.

Apparently, that rebuild has not gone the way ownership envisioned. Davidson and Gorton are out, adding two respected and experienced executives to the market for teams to go after this summer. It was less than two years ago when Davidson resigned his role with the Columbus Blue Jackets to take a similar job with the Rangers, noting that it was a homecoming of sorts for the former player and broadcaster. That homecoming is now over, but it seems very unlikely that Davidson is without work for long if he wants to continue in an NHL front office.

Of course, even though they are moving on from two experienced executives, the Rangers have a ready-made replacement in Drury. An Olympic medalist as a player, Drury has been one of the most sought-after young managers in the league the last several years but has continued to commit himself to the Rangers whenever a new opportunity presented itself. He joined the team as its director of player development in 2015 and has worked his way up the ranks, also serving as GM for Team USA at the World Championships. There’s no doubting Drury’s ability in the role, though his appointment does come suddenly and with plenty of surprise.

New York Rangers Issue Statement On Tom Wilson Situation

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The New York Rangers were not pleased with the decision from the Department of Player Safety this morning. The league decided not to suspend Tom Wilson after the incident in last night’s game, and the Rangers have released a statement in response:

The New York Rangers are extremely disappointed that Capitals’ forward Tom Wilson was not suspended for his horrifying act of violence last night at Madison Square Garden. Wilson is a repeat offender with a long history of these type of acts and we find it shocking that the NHL and their Department of Player Safety failed to take the appropriate action and suspend him indefinitely. Wilson’s dangerous and reckless actions caused an injury to Artemi Panarin that will prevent him from playing again this season. We view this as a dereliction of duty by NHL head of player safety, George Parros, and believe he is unfit to continue in his current role. 

Parros has been with the DoPS since 2016 and took over as head of it in 2017. He has been routinely criticized for an inconsistent approach, but this is the first time a team has publicly called for his dismissal.

Wilson, who was suspended earlier this season for seven games, was given a $5,000 fine for roughing Rangers’ forward Pavel Buchnevich. The league has still not released any information or decision about the rest of the incident, which resulted in Panarin’s injury. Emily Kaplan of ESPN reported that the league saw everything after the Bunchnevich punch as “two guys wrestling, which happens every night.”

The Rangers announced this morning that Panarin would not play again this season after suffering a lower-body injury in the melee. The team has three games remaining and will finish their regular season schedule on Saturday. Tomorrow night, the Rangers and Capitals are set to face off again.

Injury Notes: Rangers, Kukan, Pacioretty

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The New York Rangers will be without several key players for their last few games of the season, as Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba, and Ryan Lindgren were all ruled out today. Head coach David Quinn confirmed that the lower-body injury that will end Panarin’s season early was suffered on last night’s Tom Wilson incident, but didn’t give any specifics on what the ailment was.

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Rangers, who were one of the youngest teams in the league and look poised to take another step forward in 2021-22. They won’t be making the playoffs, but can certainly be pleased with the development of several young players and know that in any other division their 26-21-6 record (with a +25 goal differential) would be right in the mix.

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets are another team out of the playoff race, so many of their players are likely being targeted as potential options for the upcoming IIHF World Championship. According to a report out of Switzerland, the tournament isn’t an option for Dean Kukan, who will need surgery instead. The Swiss-born Kukan played over 15 minutes last night for Columbus and it is not clear if the report means that he will get surgery after the season, or that he suffered an injury recently and will have to miss the last few games. The Blue Jackets have three matches left and will finish their regular season schedule on Saturday. (UPDATE: Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch spoke to Kukan’s agent, who denied that his client needs surgery.)
  • Max Pacioretty was forced from the action over the weekend for the Vegas Golden Knights and missed last night’s game, but head coach Peter DeBoer doesn’t believe it will be a long-term injury according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic. Pacioretty is listed as day-to-day. It’s been another excellent season for the 32-year-old forward, who has rediscovered his game in Vegas and has 51 points in 48 appearances this season. The Golden Knights have five games remaining and currently sit just two points ahead in the race for the West Division crown.

Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov Benched For Disciplinary Reasons

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It isn’t unheard of for NHL teams to bench players due to internal disciplinary reasons and this isn’t even the first publicized case of the season, but when the Washington Capitals took the ice on Monday night without two of their biggest names, people took notice. The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell was the first to report that starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov and top-six forward Evgeny Kuznetsov would not be in the lineup against the New York Rangers due to a disciplinary decision made by the coaching staff. As it turns out, the pair were late to a team function – a mistake of minutes that cost them an entire game.

This isn’t the first time that Samsonov and Kuznetsov have been at the center of an issue in Washington this season either. The duo were among the group that broke COVID protocol earlier this season, costing the team a $100K fine. It could be that this earlier incidence of rule-breaking came into play with the roster decision tonight, with the team choosing not to go easy on the pair.

The decision to bench Samsonov and Kuznetsov was surely not an easy one as well. While the Capitals have clinched a playoff berth already, the team has lost ground in the East Division standings of late. Washington has slipped behind the Pittsburgh Penguins by two points for the division lead, albeit with a game in hand, but perhaps more concerning are the Boston Bruins just three points behind with a game on the Caps. Washington is also facing the most competitive of the North’s non-playoff teams in the Rangers. Without Samsonov, who has only allowed two goals per game in his last five starts, and Kuznetsov’s .71 points per game, the Capitals were risking missing out on precious points on Monday night in order to reach the two key players a lesson in accountability.

KHL Off-Season Opening Day Round-Up

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The KHL off-season opened today and the league did not waste any time in making moves that have meaning to NHL fans. A number of familiar names have hit free agency today and some are already agreeing to new deals. Meanwhile, others are being traded on the first day to do so, including the rights to some players currently in North America. Keep up with all of today’s action as the KHL’s clubs get their summers started early with significant moves:

  •  One of the first players to sign with a new team early this morning was former NHL forward Teemu Pulkkinen. A Detroit Red Wings draft pick who also spent time with the Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes, and most recently the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-18, Pulkkinen will be entering his fourth season in the KHL and is already on to his fourth different team. After splitting this season between Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, collecting 30 points in 46 games, Pulkkinen has signed a two-year deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk. The 29-year-old has scored at a .67 per-game clip in his KHL career and shows no signs of slowing down.
  • SKA St. Petersberg and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod have made an interesting futures swap, trading the rights of two current NHLers. Torpedo received the rights to Edmonton Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi (as well as minor league forward Danil Voyevodin) while SKA landed the rights to young San Jose Sharks goalie Alexei Melnichuk. The deal is tricky on a number of levels; while Puljujarvi is undoubtedly the biggest name in the trade, it is Melnichuk who commanded the larger side of the return. It was also KHL powerhouse SKA who received the prospect netminder and gave up the established scorer. This could be a simple case of different likelihoods of those player rights having any value. While Puljujarvi previously left the Oilers for Europe, he has finally found his NHL stride in his return this season and is unlikely to leave again. Even if he does, Puljujarvi may just return home to the Finnish Liiga as well. On the other hand, Melnichuk was born and bred in the SKA system and the team may have some insight into his future plans. The 22-year-old keeper is valued by the Sharks and even made his NHL debut this year in his first season in North America, however his AHL play has underwhelmed and he doesn’t look like a realistic full-time NHL option for San Jose next season. If the young goalie grows tired of playing in the minors in North America, he would probably be happy to jump back to his old team and take on a starting role in the KHL.
  • Former Boston Bruins forward Joonas Kemppainen has signed a one-year extension to remain with SKA. The Finnish power forward didn’t work out in his lone NHL season back in 2015-16, recording five points in eleven games with Boston, but has been a productive player in the KHL for five years now. That includes a 15-goal, 29-point campaign with St. Petersberg this year that earned him an extension. The 33-year-old veteran is not a candidate to ever return to North America, but still has plenty to offer in Russia.
  • Vladimir Zharkov feels like ancient New Jersey Devils history at this point, but the former top prospect continues to produce in the KHL. Zharkov, 33, spent four seasons with the Devils early in his career and was a nice fringe piece, but lacked starting upside. In the KHL since 2012-13, Zharkov has become a reliable two-way forward and locker room leader, spending many years with top programs like CSKA Moscow and Salavat Yulaev Ufa. Now he’s off to the top team in the league, signing a two-year deal with recently-crowned Gagarin Cup champions Avangard Omsk, replacing the veteran presence of the departed Ilya Kovalchuk.
  • Torpedo jumped right back into the action, signing an exciting forward to a one-year deal. Marek Hrivik gave his all to a career in North America, developing in the QMJHL and spending six seasons primarily in the AHL for the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. However, he never could earn a full-time opportunity and returned home to Europe in 2018. Even then, his first go-round in the KHL did not go all that well. However, after back-to-back stellar season in Sweden, he is ready to give it another try with Torpedo. Hrivik totaled 81 points in 90 games with the SHL’s Leksands IF these past two years and if that can translate to the KHL then the 29-year-old could become a star in Russia.
  • Another trade involving NHL property has landed, but this one could have more immediate dividends. Defending champions Omsk have acquired the rights to Boston Bruins prospect forward Peter Cehlarik from Yaroslavl in exchange for the rights to Anaheim Ducks defenseman Kodie Curran. Cehlarik, 25, is already in Europe, having left Boston this past off-season to join Leksands IF in Sweden. Cehlarik always showed great promise in the AHL, but couldn’t translate it to the NHL for the Bruins. After recording 20 goals and 40 points in 45 SHL games this season, Cehlarik may want to return to Boston, who continues to hold his rights, in an attempt to prove himself once more. However, the talented winger could be tempted to join the KHL’s current kings this off-season instead. As for Curran, 31, he already did his stint in Europe and made his return to North America. The Calgary native spent the previous four seasons in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden before earning his first NHL contract with the Ducks this past off-season. While he hasn’t see any action in Anaheim just yet, he has 11 points in 17 AHL games this season and his one-way, $1MM contract still has another year remaining. However, if Curran is still not being utilized by the Ducks after next season and doesn’t draw any other NHL offers as a result, he has a new home to return to in Europe in Yarolslavl.
  • After signing his entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, Pyotr Kochetkov has inked another deal – a one-year extension with Torpedo. The 21-year-old landed in Novgorod late in the season, but excelled down the stretch and in the postseason with save percentages of .931 and .932, respectively. Kochetkov could very well be in line for the starting role for Torpedo next season while playing on loan from Carolina.

Brett Howden Out For Season With Broken Foot

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If the New York Rangers are going to pull off a late-season miracle and make the playoffs, it’ll be without Brett Howden. The young forward suffered a broken foot last night and will be out for the rest of the season. The team also announced that Chris Kreider and Ryan Lindgren are out on a day-to-day basis, and have recalled Morgan Barron and Tarmo Reunanen from the AHL.

It’s not really like Howden was helping the cause anyway, as the 23-year-old has had a brutal season. Through 42 games he has scored just a single goal and has just seven points despite lots of early-season opportunities. As his play has declined so has his ice time, with Howden averaging fewer than 12 minutes over the last 15 games. That’s a far cry from the 15 he got as a rookie, but it continues a downward trend as the Rangers add more offensive talent to the roster.

Originally selected 27th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016, Howden has struggled to score since entering the league. He has just 16 goals over a 178-game NHL career (plus three scoreless postseason contests last year), not nearly enough to be considered for the team’s top-nine. Always more of a playmaker first at the junior level, even that ability seems to have vanished from Howden’s game. Now as he deals with an injury, he’ll go into a contract negotiation with the Rangers without much leverage.

It will be interesting to see where New York takes things for the young forward. The team has many other young forwards pushing for playing time, including Barron who has been excellent at the minor league level. The 22-year-old was a sixth-round afterthought in 2017, but Barron developed his game at Cornell and has 21 points in 21 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack this season–his first in professional hockey. Standing an imposing 6’4″ 220-lbs, Barron provides all the size required to be a bottom-six while also adding some scoring touch around the net. Don’t expect him to reach point-per-game production to the NHL, but he doesn’t need much to pass the level Howden had been bringing this season.

Rangers Sign Lauri Pajuniemi

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The Rangers have agreed to terms on a two-year, entry-level deal with prospect winger Lauri Pajuniemi, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link).  The contract begins next season and carries an AAV of $925K.

The 21-year-old is coming off of his second straight strong offensive showing with TPS Turko of the Finnish SM-liiga.  This season, he was second on the team in goals with 22 and third in points with 38.  Those numbers were actually slightly lower than a year ago when Pajuniemi picked up 26 tallies along with 14 helpers in 49 games, finishing tied for third in the league in goals along the way.  Clearly, he has outperformed his fifth-round selection (132 overall in 2018) already.

With the winger depth that New York currently has, it’s hard to see Pajuniemi contending for a spot out of training camp in the fall despite playing at the professional level back home for each of the past three years.  However, with the scoring touch that he has had thus far in his career, he’s someone that seemingly could play his way into a recall relatively quickly.

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