Blog Archives
AV spreading ice time and opportunities will be key to Rangers success
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers opened their season with a 5-3 win over the Islanders, showing signs of improvement in many aspects of their game that was expected of them following their offseason moves. The power play looked great, the defense and penalty kill looked structured, and all four forward lines were effective.
With the addition of players like Pavel Buchnevich, Jimmy Vesey, Brandon Pirri and Michael Grabner, the Rangers added a lot of speed and talent to their forward groups, which seemed to make Alain Vigneault structure his lines differently.
Rather than opting for a traditional structure, with a physical, checking fourth line and placing all of the talent on the top two lines, Vigneault had a balance of scoring, defense and skill across the four lines. Having four lines was something that many blogs, including my own, wrote about as a possibility. And last night, it worked extremely well. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers open their 90th season at the Garden against the Islanders; Pirri gets the start
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.
After an early exit in the playoffs and a lot of change on the team, the Rangers are finally back in action tonight when they take on the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden.
This marks the first time that the Rangers begin the season at home since 2007, which makes tonight’s game even more exciting.
There’s a chance that the team will have a total of seven players skating for the first time as Rangers, with two players, Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich, making their NHL debuts. The fourth line still has not been announced yet, but there’s a good chance it will be a completely different look. Read the rest of this entry
Buchnevich has earned a spot on the Rangers’ top line
Bobby Bevilacqua
Pavel Buchnevich, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad celebrate a goal in a preseason game against the Flyers. Photo courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.
The three best forwards during the Rangers preseason all happened to play on the same line. Mika Zibanejad looks like everything Derick Brassard was plus more while Chris Kreider has been playing like a man on a mission, aggressively skating and looking to expand on two consecutive 20 goal seasons. But the biggest surprise has been rookie Pavel Buchnevich.
Buchnevich looks like a lock for the opening night lineup, marking an NHL debut for the 21 year-old after spending parts of the last four seasons in the KHL. Despite the culture shock that comes from moving to North America, as well as adapting to the smaller ice, Buchnevich has looked like a poised NHL veteran and looks ready to contribute with the Rangers.
While it was Harvard grad Jimmy Vesey that won the Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award for the best Rookie at training camp, Buch had to be a close second. It took him until the final preseason game to score his first goal, but he could have had a lot more than that. In terms of creating chances, Buchnevich may have been one of the best at creating chances for others, putting himself in good positions, and getting shots on goal. If it wasn’t for the extraordinary play of some of the goalies that he faced, there probably would have been a few more goals on his stat sheet. He did finish with a goal and two assists in four games.
Boo Nieves might be more than just AHL depth
Bobby Bevilacqua
Cristoval “Boo” Nieves skates in his lone preseason game against the Flyers. Photo courtesy of Bruce Bennet/Getty Images.
The talk of the New York Rangers training camp and preseason has been the amount of talent in the forward group, as well as who will be playing on the fourth line? With the emergence of Brandon Pirri and Josh Jooris coming back for the last preseason game, everything is still a bit murky when it comes to the structure of the four lines.
However, one name that never seemed to be on anyone’s radar was Cristoval “Boo” Nieves, the Rangers’ 2012 second round pick who spent the last four years at the University of Michigan. He missed most of training camp with an injury suffered during the Traverse City Tournament, but suited up for the final preseason game against the Flyers. Nieves played over 14 minutes and was a -1 with three shots on goal and some time spent on the penalty kill.
In his senior season, Nieves scored 31 points (10-21-31) in 35 games, and in eight games with the Wolf Pack, he scored another five points (2-3-5). Nieves is a big, strong center at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds. He’s always been known as a good defensive player and excels on the penalty kill. Read the rest of this entry
BREAKING: Rangers make final cuts, seemingly set opening night roster
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers have announced what seems to be their final roster cuts this afternoon, trimming the roster down to a total of 24 players; consisting of 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies.
Here’s the current roster;
Forwards (14): Pavel Buchnevich, Jesper Fast, Michael Grabner, Kevin Hayes, Josh Jooris, Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg, JT Miller, Rick Nash, Brandon Pirri, Derek Stepan, Jimmy Vesey, Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello Read the rest of this entry
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