Somewhat quietly, the New York Rangers have managed to retool the forward ranks, assembling an array of impressive young talent.
The latest to make his mark is Russian forward Pavel Buchnevich, who leads the club with an average of one point per game after recording his sixth goal of the season against Toronto to go along with eight assists.
In recent days, he's been rolling at an ever better clip.
Buchnevich extended his point streak to 4 games (2 G, 4 A), and has recorded a point in each of his last 8 games (6 G, 6 A). #NYR
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 20, 2017
Buchnevich, 21, was selected in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft (75th overall), but remained in the KHL up until this past offseason, wherein he signed his three-year, entry-level deal with the Rangers.
At present, he's skating on the second line with Mika Zibanejad and Rick Nash, and is the youngest among an impressive list of Rangers players age 25 and under:
- 25: Chris Kreider, Brandon Pirri, Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg
- 24: Kevin Hayes
- 23: J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey, Matt Puempel
- 22: Brady Skjei
- 21: Pavel Buchnevich
While New York's defense is suspect and Henrik Lundqvist has been struggling mightily of late, the Rangers do boast the NHL's most prolific offense.
Buchnevich's rookie season has been hampered by a back injury that forced him to miss a bunch of games, but since he's been back in the lineup, he's certainly been making his presence felt.
Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.