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Pavel Buchnevich

Metropolitan Notes: Flyers, Sorokin, Rangers Injuries

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While the expectation in Philadelphia is for them to push for the playoffs this season, TSN’s Bob McKenzie notes in the latest TSN Insider Trading (video link) that their plan isn’t to start trading away high draft picks or top prospects to get the short-term help to put them over the hump.  Instead, he reports that the two items on new Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher’s list are to look for an upgrade between the pipes and evaluate head coach Dave Hakstol to see if he should have a long-term future with the team still.

Goaltending has been an issue for Philly all season long and for quite a few years before this one.  Brian Elliott has been passable but has had injury troubles while veteran backup Michal Neuvirth has battled numerous injuries.  Veteran Calvin Pickard struggled and is now gone after being waived so Anthony Stolarz is currently up in a number two role.  None of these players project to be long-term starters for the team so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Flyers target someone who can serve as a reliable starter for a couple of years and serve as a bridge to top prospect Carter Hart.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • While the Islanders would like to bring top goalie prospect Ilya Sorokin to North America as soon as possible, it doesn’t appear that his KHL team is open to letting him go. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express (Twitter link) spoke with Sorokin’s agent who indicated that CSKA Moscow has no intention of letting him go until the expiration of his current contract in 2020.  The 23-year-old is once again one of the top goalies in the KHL, posting a stellar 1.19 GAA with a .941 SV% through 22 games but it appears he’ll have to wait a while yet to join the Islanders, even if he’d like to come over after this season as Arthur Staple of The Athletic reported (subscription required) earlier today.
  • The Rangers appear to be set to get some help up front in time for Saturday’s game against Florida. Newsday’s Colin Stephenson reports that wingers Pavel Buchnevich, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Mats Zuccarello could all play in that game.  Buchnevich has missed the better part of a month due to a broken thumb, Namestnikov has missed three straight with a concussion, while Zuccarello has played just twice in the last month due to recurring groin issues.

Pavel Buchnevich Out Four To Six Weeks With Broken Thumb

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The New York Rangers are trying to use this season as a development year, giving young players lots of ice time to see what they can do. Unfortunately, one of those young players is going to lose a huge chunk of the season to injury, as the team announced Pavel Buchnevich will be out for four to six weeks after breaking his thumb this weekend.

Buchnevich, 23, is coming off an impressive season which showed he could be a key player for the Rangers going forward. With 14 goals and 43 points in 2017-18, he actually finished fourth on the team in scoring and set himself up for a pretty substantial raise at the end of his entry-level contract. That was dependent on him taking another step forward this season, but it looked like he had early on as Buchnevich already has nine points in 14 games. Unfortunately that 43 point total now seems in doubt given he’ll miss up to 18 games with this latest injury.

The Rangers are off to a better start than many expected, as their 8-7-2 record has them tied for third in the Metropolitan Division. That’s in part thanks to Buchnevich’s strong play to start the year, something they’ll have to find a replacement for now that he’s sidelined. An increased opportunity may present itself for some of the Rangers other prized young players like Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil, something they’ll have to take advantage of quickly if the team has any hope of competing for the playoffs this year.

Metropolitan Notes: Buchnevich, Nieves, Murray, Rask, Pickard

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After sitting in the press box for the last two games of their road trip, New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich is expected to be in Sunday’s lineup against the Sabres. This is just another example of the coaching demeanor of David Quinn who isn’t hesitant to make clear what he demands from his players, both physically and mentally. Regardless, Quinn expects Buchnevich to respond in only one way about the scratches.

“I hope he’s pissed, and I think he is,” Quinn said after Saturday’s practice up in Westchester (via the New York Post’s Brett Cyrgalis). “I want everybody to be pissed when they don’t play. Now do something about it.”

Buchnevich so far has kept his feelings about his benching quiet and prefers to keep his conversations with Quinn to himself. However, the general belief is that Quinn needs to see more consistency from Buchnevich, who has scored points in five games, but has also disappeared in the other five games this season. Quinn can only hope that Buchnevich is ready to buy in.

  • Staying with the Rangers, Newsday’s Anthony Rieber writes that forward Boo Nieves practiced with the team after suffering a concussion that he sustained in the preseason opener on Sept. 17. Nieves practiced with the Hartford Wolf Pack while the team was on their four-game road trip. While there is no timetable for the 24-year-old to be activated off of injured reserve, the 6-foot-3, 203-pounder is getting closer to providing the team with a big body in their lineup. Nieves played 28 games for the Rangers last year, putting up a goal and eight assists.
  • Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray is getting tired of being hit during games. The 24-year-old has been hit incidentally with no penalties being called all season, including it happening three times on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. With three concussions in his young career, this new trend is alarming to the goalie. “I’m out there to stop the puck,” Murray said. “That’s got to be my main focus. If I have to do take a hit to do so, it is what it is. I hope that the refs will do something.”
  • In a Q&A with Carolina Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell, NHL.com’s Michael Smith learned that the team is expecting to get back winger Victor Rask in the first week of December. Rask injured his hand while slicing food in his kitchen and underwent hand surgery during the preseason and was listed as out indefinitely. Waddell said the team met with team doctors at the last home game who confirmed that week was viable.
  • The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor (subscription required) writes that Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Calvin Pickard may have lost the game Saturday on two late goals by the San Jose Sharks, but the scribe writes that Pickard actually played a solid game and didn’t deserve to take the loss. The third-string goalie was called into action when injury-prone Michal Neuvirth returned to Philadelphia with an undisclosed injury. Despite struggling playing the puck on numerous occasions, the 26-year-old did play well in the net as two of the goals by Timo Meier and Joe Pavelski were unstoppable.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: New York Rangers

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

New York Rangers

Current Cap Hit: $73,823,569 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Pavel Buchnevich (one year remaining, $925K)
D Neal Pionk (one year remaining, $925K)
F Lias Andersson (three years remaining, $894K)
F Filip Chytil (three years remaining, $894K)
D Anthony DeAngelo (one year remaining, $863K)
G Alexandar Georgiev (two years remaining, $793K)

Potential Bonuses

Pionk: $850K
Andersson: $850K
Deangelo: $400K
Chytil: $350K

Total: $2.45MM

With the team in quick rebuild mode, there are some entry-level deals already and if the team continues to trend in that direction, they will have quite a bit more. The team’s most prominent player at the NHL level to date would be Buchnevich, who improved on his rookie campaign with a 14-goal, 43-point season last year. He saw more ice time as well, improving from 13:16 ATOI to 15:01 as well as saw significant time on the team’s power play, potting five goals and 11 assists with the man advantage and has earned himself a solid spot in the team’s top-six. Another improved season could see him being an expensive restricted free agent.

The team has high expectations for their two 2017 first-rounders in Andersson and Chytil. Both have shown excellent skills and have received some time playing for the NHL with Andersson seeing seven games, while saw nine games. Both are expected to earn time with the Rangers out of training camp, but both may find themselves on bottom-six lines unless they can prove that they can center the second or third lines in training camp.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Kevin Hayes ($5.18MM, UFA)
F Mats Zuccarello ($4.5MM, UFA)
D Rob O’Gara ($874K, RFA)
F Cody McLeod ($750K, UFA)
D Fredrik Claesson ($863K, RFA)
F Peter Holland ($675K, UFA)
D Steven Kampfer ($650K, UFA)
G Marek Mazanec ($650K, UFA)

The team agreed to a one-year deal with Hayes, avoiding arbitration, but now face the possibility that Hayes could walk away at the end of the season as he will be unrestricted, which will force the team into two possible directions, including attempting to work out a long-term deal with the team after Jan. 1, 2019, or trading him, possibly at the trading deadline if the two sides can’t agree on anything. Hayes, who has been a jack of all trades playing multiple positions, seems to have developed into a solid center as he produced his best season ever, which included 25 goals, eight more than any previous year. The question is, do the Rangers view him as a fixture in their lineup as they continue to rebuild?

At age 30, Zuccarrello still puts up solid numbers, but despite the high-end minutes that the veteran gets, he falls into a similar category to that of Hayes where you have to ask whether he is in the team’s long-term plans. The winger is penciled in to play on the team’s top line once again, but has only put up 31 goals over the past two seasons. He does produce quite a few assists (81 over the past two years), but what the Rangers need more than anything is goals. Zuccarello will also turn 32 before he begins his next contract and at that age, how long are the Rangers willing to commit to him?

Two Years Remaining

F Chris Kreider ($4.63MM, UFA)
F Ryan Spooner ($4MM, UFA)
F Vladislav Namestnikov ($4MM, UFA)
F Jimmy Vesey ($2.28MM, UFA)
F Matt Beleskey ($1.9MM, UFA)
F Jesper Fast ($1.85MM, UFA)

Kreider is coming off a tough year in which he had to deal with blood clots and had surgery to relieve the pressure and missed almost two months of time. The 27-year-old didn’t have as solid of a season as he tallied just 16 goals in 58 games, which is a far cry from the 28 goals he scored in 2016-17 although a lot of that is due to the fact that his playing time dipped as the team didn’t want to play him too many minutes due to the blood clot issue. Regardless with a full offseason to rest and recuperate, Kreider should be able to bounce back as one of the team’s top scorers.

The team also have high expectations from two other forwards that the team acquired through at the trade deadline a year ago in Namestnikov and Spooner. Namestnikov was the biggest name to arrive in New York in the Ryan McDonagh trade with Tampa Bay. He was a key player for the Lightning, posting 20 goals and 44 points with them, but he actually lost playing time once he arrived in New York and put up just two goals and four points in 19 games. The team hopes that a new coach and proper training camp with his new team will make quite a difference. Spooner came over in the Rick Nash trade with Boston and has posted solid numbers with the Bruins over the past few seasons and could turn out to be a top-six wing or third-line center in New York. Between the two teams, Spooner combined for 13 goals and 28 assists.

The team also expect big things from Vesey, who signed as a undrafted collegiate free agent a couple of years ago and if finally starting to show that he belongs in the NHL. The 25-year-old winger has put up solid numbers for two years, but could find himself getting more opportunities in the team’s rebuild. In two years, he’s combined for 33 goals and 55 points.

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Metropolitan Notes: Rangers, Grant, Guentzel, Ho-Sang

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The New York Rangers have made a few changes, but so far remain quiet this offseason as the real changes the team has made has been in their coaching staff. From new head coach David Quinn to assistant coaches Greg Brown and David Oliver, the team expects many of the changes to be within the organization as new coaches mean using players in different ways, which could see several players see big improvements.

Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription required) breaks down some of the changes the coaching staff intends to implement this season and suggests the team could get boosts in performance from multiple players, targeting Kevin Hayes, Pavel Buchnevich, Brady Skjei and Kevin Shattenkirk.  Assuming Hayes isn’t traded this offseason as has been rumored, the team could see him take another step in his development.

Shifted into a shutdown role more recently, Hayes has been successful, but he has the skills to be a top offensive forward if needed, which could happen this season. Buchnevich is another offensive force who has been slowed by injuries, while the team has high expectations for Skjei and Shattenkirk (finally healthy) to return to form as top-four defenders.

  • The Athletic’s Josh Yohe (subscription required) explains the reasoning behind the Pittsburgh Penguins’ recent signing of center Derek Grant. While there has been recent talk about the excessive amount of centers the team has, there have been even more after the team added Grant. Yet, Yohe writes that the Penguins feel the team needs as many centers as they can find for depth purposes and that Grant could find himself playing either center or wing, depending on how training camp shakes out. However, the possibility the team might still make a late offseason trade remains a legitimate possibility, suggesting that Derick Brassard could be moved still.
  • The Athletic’s Nick Kelly (subscription required) writes that Pittsburgh Penguins Jake Guentzel is enjoying his offseason this year, while playing in Da Beauty League, because he got some extra time off when the Penguins were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs this past year. While he has no wish to get that extra time off again, Guentzel has spent his time this offseason in the weight room in hopes of becoming a more well-rounded player. He hopes to take his game to the next level after a full season in which he tallied 22 goals and 48 points last year. However, he scored just two goals in his final 20 games, suggesting he needs to work on his strength and conditioning to take that next step.
  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross writes that the New York Islanders Joshua Ho-Sang should get a clean slate with a new coaching staff and management coming into the fold. Ho-Sang is expected to take on a full-time roll with the organization this year after he spent most of last season in the AHL due to issues with Ho-Sang’s attitude. The 22-year-old criticized management about how they were handling their development. He started the season in New York, posting solid numbers, including two goals and 12 points in 22 games, but was sent down to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to work on other parts of his game and played 50 games there, but struggled at times, finishing with just eight goals.

New York Rangers Fire Coach Alain Vigneault

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Hours after putting up an egg in their 5-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, the New York Rangers fired their head coach Alain Vigneault after five years. After four playoff appearances, the Rangers struggled, finishing 34-39-9 on the season. In all, however, Vigneault had quite a bit of success in his time in New York, which included taking the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013-14, his first season with the team. He led the team to a 226-147-37 record over the five years.

The firing also came after Vigneault himself stated in his post-game press conference that he deserved to stay and defended his record, according to Newsday’s Colin Stephenson.

“Yes, yes. Without a doubt,’’ he said when asked if he thought he would hold on to his job despite the Rangers’ 34-39-9 record, which caused them to miss the playoffs for only the second time since the NHL lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season. “I think my staff is the right staff for this job. I think — and this is just my opinion — but I think one of the strongest assets of this organization is its coaching staff and their experience.’’

Some of Vigneault’s struggles were not his doing as the Rangers decided to rebuild on the fly, sending out a letter on Feb. 7, telling fans about their decision to rebuild the team. The Rangers followed that by selling off several veterans including Michael Grabner, Rick Nash, Nick Holden, J.T. Miller and captain Ryan McDonah.

However, Stephenson also points out several issues that came up this season that forced the Rangers to head in that direction. After re-designing its defense with the acquisitions of star free agent Kevin Shattenkirk and re-signing Brendan Smith, the team was hoping to possess one of the best defenses in the league. Instead, the team started slowly at 1-6-2 in its first nine games and was 3-7-2 after 12 in which Vigneault almost lost his job. The team was able to right the ship after that, but only because of the impressive play of both the team’s goaltenders in Henrik Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec. Neither goalie was able to sustain their great play.

Injuries also played a part. Shattenkirk was playing hurt, while Smith came into camp out of shape and never returned to form before eventually being sent down to the AHL. Winger Chris Kreider missed 24 games due to a blood clot that led to surgery on his ribs. Center Mika Zibanejad missed nine games with a concussion, while Shattenkirk had knee surgery in January and never came back.

The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello writes (subscription required) that there were other reasons as well that stand out when it came to Vigneault. The coach’s lack of success at the blueline have been issues for years as his system had failed repeatedly. Vigneault had undergone three different defensive assistant coaches in three years, including Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Beukeboom and Lindy Ruff and replaced most of the defense and still failed to get them going. His tough love was also an issue as he butted heads with many players, especially Miller and Pavel Buchnevich. However, the most telling numbers is the team’s record from Jan. 7 to Feb. 25, when Vigneault led the team to just a 5-16-1 record.

Vigneault has a 648-435-98 overall record throughout his career with the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and the Rangers. He won the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year in 2007.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report the news.

Snapshots: Mrazek, Rangers Injuries, Hutton, Vegas

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The Flyers turned down a trade proposal from the Red Wings that saw Detroit request a third-round pick in exchange for goaltender Petr Mrazek, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.  This comes on the heels of Philadelphia losing Brian Elliott for more than a month which has them going with a current tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Alex Lyon between the pipes.  As a result, many have expected Philly to add another netminder at some point before the February 26th trade deadline but it appears GM Ron Hextall isn’t prepared to do so just yet or has more of a depth goalie in mind.

More news and notes from around the league:

  • It’s a case of good news and bad news on the injury front for the Rangers. Larry Brooks of the New York Post notes that winger Pavel Buchnevich will return to New York’s lineup tonight against the Senators after missing the past seven games with a concussion.  However, center Kevin Hayes is unlikely to play due to a lower-body issue that has been lingering since the All-Star Break.
  • The Canucks continue to receive trade interest in defenseman Ben Hutton, Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 reports (Twitter link). The blueliner has been a frequent healthy scratch of late and has another year left on his contract after this one at a $2.8MM cap hit which is a bit pricey for someone who is on the outside looking in at playing time.  In a separate tweet, Dhaliwal adds that Vancouver has inquired about the asking price for Coyotes center Max Domi and winger Tobias Rieder but notes that the price is quite high.
  • Vegas has been keeping tabs on the Sabres lately, notes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. David Conte, special advisor for hockey operations for the Golden Knights, has attended multiple Buffalo games over the past week while also watching their AHL affiliate in Rochester.  While they are probably not a likely suitor for winger Evander Kane, they could be interested in adding some of Buffalo’s depth players in an effort to shore up their roster before the deadline.

Rangers’ Ondrej Pavelec Out 2-3 Weeks

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The New York Rangers will be without their backup goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, who sprained his MCL and will be out for two to three weeks, according to Justin Tasch of the Daily News. The injury happened during Friday’s game against the Calgary Flames when the 30-year-old goaltender was forced to leave during the first period of the game.

The injury is just another one of many for the Rangers, who have been decimated by them. The team already is without winger Chris Kreider (rib resection), defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (meniscus surgery), Pavel Buchnevich (concussion), Marc Staal (cervical strain). Defenseman Ryan McDonagh is also out with an upper-body injury. Winger Jimmy Vesey has also missed some time, but is expected to play today.

Pavelec has struggled at times with the Rangers as he has a 3.01 GAA in 16 appearances and a .910 save percentage. He did, however, have a dominant streak between Oct. 26 and Jan. 7 in which he had a 2.27 GAA and a .937 save percentage. The recalled Alexander Georgiev from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL Saturday. The 22-year-old has been hot recently there with an 8-0-1 record and a 1.76 GAA in his last nine starts.

Morning Notes: Maple Leafs, Rangers, Prospects

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are comfortably in a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division, sitting fifteen points up on the Florida Panthers. As they try to catch Boston or Tampa Bay down the stretch for home ice advantage, head coach Mike Babcock clearly wants some help at the trade deadline. As Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports, Babcock has let “the people who need to know, know” what he’d like to see added.

In his latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, Elliotte Friedman mentions three names on the Maple Leafs that could easily be removed in the next few weeks instead. Josh Leivo, who has asked for a trade after being passed over again for playing time, Nikita Soshnikov, who will force the Maple Leafs into a roster move once he completes his conditioning stint, and Matt Martin. Martin has two more years on his contract at $2.5MM per season, but hasn’t been able to crack the lineup recently and could be moved to create some roster flexibility.

  • As the New York Rangers prepare to sell off some assets at the trade deadline, they got some good news on the injury front today. While Marc Staal was absent from practice due to a neck injury, Jimmy Vesey (concussion), Pavel Buchnevich (concussion) and Chris Kreider (blood clot) all skated. Kevin Shattenkirk, who underwent knee surgery a few weeks ago, is now off crutches. Amazingly, the Rangers are still just three points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and with some returning players and new blood there is no telling what could happen in the latter part of the season.
  • Craig Button and TSN have released their ranking of the top-50 prospects that have already been drafted, with Elias Pettersson coming in at the very top. The Vancouver Canucks first-round pick has been arguably the best player in the SHL this season with 45 points through 35 games and looks poised to make an impact in North America as soon as next season. Beyond that is Eeli Tolvanen at #2, despite falling nearly out of the first round entirely last June. Tolvanen turned a disappointing decision at Boston College into an opportunity, and has broken nearly every record for an 18-year old player in the KHL. The entire list is interesting, and is quite different than Corey Pronman’s ranking at The Athletic (subscription required) which had Casey Mittelstadt in the top spot.

Pavel Buchnevich Suffers Concussion, Out Indefinitely

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Not only did the New York Rangers limp out of Madison Square Garden after taking a 4-0 pummeling last night, but they’ll be without young forward Pavel Buchnevich for the immediate future. According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, Buchnevich suffered a concussion during the game and is out indefinitely.

Buchnevich, 22, was enjoying a breakout season as a sophomore with 32 points in 50 games, and was one of the bright young stars for the Rangers to build around. Yesterday, when we asked our readers whether the team should sell or not, the overwhelming response was to tear down the whole thing and rebuild. Buchnevich would be a part of that rebuild, after breaking into the league last season and proving he could be a contributor at this level.

The Rangers now head to Nashville to start a short two-game road trip, that will pit them against the Predators and Dallas Stars in a pair of tough matchups. After losing last night, they find themselves tied for last place in the Metropolitan Division with the New York Islanders, and now 3-7 in their last ten games.

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