Why next year will be breakout for Buchnevich
You ask, we answer. The Post is fielding questions from readers about New York’s biggest pro sports teams and getting our beat writers to answer them in a series of regularly published mailbags. In today’s installment: the Rangers.
Who do you think will have a breakout season next year? (Kaapo) Kakko, (Filip) Chytil, (Julien) Gauthier? Maybe a sneaky candidate like (K’Andre) Miller if he makes the team? — Max Khegay
Does the name Pavel Buchnevich ring a bell? The 25-year-old winger finished with a flourish, recording 21 points (9-12) in the final 21 games before play was stopped after posting 25 (7-18) in his first 47 contests. An obvious beneficiary of working on Mika Zibanejad’s right side, No. 89 elevated his all-around game after left wing Chris Kreider went down with a broken foot. Plus, there’s this: Buchnevich will be on the final year of his contract, working as a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
From the big-name RFAs that the Rangers have, who do you think will be the biggest challenge for the front office to get signed or, if it comes to it, trade? — Chris
At this point, teams are operating in the blind when it comes to projecting the cap for not only next year but the seasons to follow. I’d think that fewer long-term contracts would be signed this offseason so when it comes to the Rangers’ two prime RFAs, Tony DeAngelo and Ryan Strome, it would not surprise me if both come in on one-year deals even if that would usher Strome to 2021 unrestricted free agency.
Would the NHL require all players to wear face shields to minimize spray during close body contact and checking? Would the league completely outlaw fighting as a precaution, and might it carry over to the post-coronavirus world. — Richard
Excellent questions that would probably be best directed toward the NHLPA, which would have to approve of these changes. The union didn’t go for the mandatory face shield in the aftermath of gruesome eyes injuries such as Marc Staal’s in 2013, but it seems a worthy pursuit.
Do you feel it’s time the Rangers start drafting big rugged forwards from North America instead of finesse-oriented Europeans? Lias Andersson and Vitali Kravtsov appear to be prima donna types and the Rangers do not need any more pretty boys. — Joe Russo
The inappropriate insults aside, I’d like to see the Rangers add some more muscle up front. Talent drives the regular season, and no one should make the mistake that this Mr. Russo seems to have committed by implying that talent and grit are mutually exclusive properties. Case in point: How many one-on-one battles do Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin lose? But brawn is increasingly rewarded in the playoffs when the league perverts its rule book. So the Blueshirts could do with a bit more balance in the talent/muscle category. Then again, when Kakko fills out and adapts to the NHL, that’s a two-for-one right there.
In 1984, had the Rangers closed out the Islanders in Game 4 or in overtime of Game 5, how do think they would have fared the rest of the way? Do you think (Herb Brooks’) Smurfs could have given Edmonton a tussle? — Stromboli
You know what, if Barry Beck had been healthy, the Rangers would have had a darn good chance of getting to the finals and losing to the Oilers. And it could have been a fun series to watch with both teams’ accent on skating. But absent Beck, who missed Game 5 of the Islanders’ series with the left shoulder injury he sustained on that check from Pat Flatley in the left corner in Game 4 on the sequence that preceded Brent Sutter’s lead/winning goal at 11:04, or with him compromised, it would have been a challenge for the Blueshirts to defeat Washington and Montreal.
In 1975, why didn’t Emile Francis trade (Brad) Park and (Jean) Ratelle for younger players rather than for (Phil) Esposito and (Carol) Vadnais?” — Mark D’Avignon
The idea was not to rebuild but rather to shake up the team that had begun to fray. So it was star center for star center and star defenseman for projected-but-not-quite-star defenseman. By the way, Vadnais did score 20 goals for the Blueshirts in 1975-76 (22 overall). As painful as the deal was for just about everyone in New York, the fact is that the Rangers did go to the Cup finals in 1979 with Esposito and Vadnais as key ingredients of the mix.