SYSTEM COMMAND
As the Rangers fled snowy New York for vacations during their newly mandated five-day “bye week” that started Sunday and ends with a late-afternoon practice Thursday, the minor-league affiliate in Hartford was doing steadfast work.
And the good news is that both organizations are pulling at the same end of the rope, something that they hope pays off as much in the long-term as it has so far this season.
“We try to do the same systems,” forward Nicklas Jensen told The Post last week, before he was sent back down after Saturday’s thrilling 5-4 comeback win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus, the final game before this break. “That obviously helps a little bit when you get the call-up that it’s not a totally new system and everything.”
Jensen had played three in a row and seven overall this season, but went down in anticipation of Rick Nash’s return from a groin injury when the schedule resumes with Friday’s Garden match against the Maple Leafs. Going down, Jensen joined Pavel Buchnevich, who was recently assigned to Hartford as he recovers from a back injury.
Buchnevich had been out since Nov. 12, and played his first AHL game Friday, scoring a power-play goal for the Wolf Pack in a 2-1 win over Lehigh Valley. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said he had “no pain” after the game, yet he was still held out of the second leg of the team’s back-to-back, a 2-1 loss to the Islanders’ affiliate, Bridgeport, on Saturday. Buchnevich then went without a point in the Wolf Pack’s 3-0 loss at Providence on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Russian winger is in his first year of North American hockey and scored four goals with eight points in playing 10 of the first 15 games of the season. He is likely to play Wednesday at Rochester, the first of three straight road games for the Wolf Pack that includes two in a row at St. John’s, way up in Newfoundland on Friday and Saturday, an unlikely trip if he is close to ready.
Vigneault had described Buchnevich’s status as “day-to-day and game-to-game,” so it’s to be seen if he will be ready for Friday.
The good news is that while Buchnevich is down with Hartford, he is playing in a system that is as similar as it can be, despite the large differences in the two leagues.
“Most of the stuff is similar, but obviously it’s a little different because the league is different,” said Jensen, who has played 71 games for the Wolf Pack since coming over in a trade early last season. “It’s not as proper, in a way, if you can say it in that way.”
If anybody knows the AHL well, it’s Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander. The 47-year-old has his number hanging from the rafters in Hartford, having played the most games and scored the second-most goals in franchise history. Gernander took over behind the bench in July 2007, when Jim Schoenfeld switched roles to be the Rangers’ assistant general manager (and GM of the Wolf Pack).
And although the system is similar, the style of coaching differs, as Gernander and his staff are obliged to think about individual development as much — if not more — than winning games.
“It’s so different, because you coach grown-ups that are mature that have played in the NHL for a while up here,” Jensen said. “And down there, you’re coaching from 19-year-olds to young-20s.”
Just as the return of Nash necessitated Jensen being sent back down, soon after the break, center Mika Zibanejad will begin practic- ing with the team as he readies to come back from his broken leg suffered Nov. 20. When he’s ready, the most likely candidate to go back down would be forward Marek Hrivik, who has played 16 games in a row since being called up in early December. And then when Buchnevich comes back, Vigneault will once again have 13 forwards, with the most likely candidates as the odd-man-out scratch being Matt Puempel and Brandon Pirri.
For Pirri, the lack of offense — especially on the power play — has negated his value. Pirri was scratched for consecutive games Dec. 17 and 18, and he has one goal and three assists in the past 23 games he played. Both he and Puempel would have to clear waivers to be sent to Hartford.
Surely, there will be more moving pieces to the second half of the season, as the Rangers try to build on their solid (if not surprising) 2813-1 start to the season. And they will surely need to dip back into the well of their minor-league system.
At least it’s good for them to know that what will be waiting is a player with a general idea of how they do things.
“For sure it makes it a lot easier,” Jensen said. “If we had a fully different system down there and then you come up here and you have to learn it in a day without even practicing, it’s tough. So it definitely helps that they try to do the same stuff down there that they do up here.”