Pavel Buchnevich scoring his way to a new contract with Rangers
The young career of Pavel Buchnevich can be best described as a rollercoaster. The soon-to-be restricted free agent has shown flashes of what the Rangers had hoped for, but then on the other side have seen him seemingly disappear and be a healthy scratch. Over his last 15 games however, Buchnevich has caught fire, scoring 12 points while having four multi-point games over that span. At just 23, the answer on what the Rangers should do with Buchnevich going forward is quite clear, as I believe there’s only one real option.
Re-signing Pavel Buchnevich is the only option that truly makes sense for the Rangers. He’s just 23 and has shown that he is capable of being a difference maker for this Rangers team when given a chance. Up until this point, it feels like Buchnevich has underperformed since coming into the league in 2016, tallying 91 points in 165 career games. However, Buchnevich is ranked highly out of the players drafted in 2013, as shown by our very own Stat Boy Steven here:
When viewing Buchnevich through the lens of him being an effective forward for the Rangers, especially since the Rangers will have a roster full of inexperienced NHL players, Buchnevich can only thrive throughout the next few years. Buchnevich has the experience that not a lot of Ranger players will possess throughout this rebuild. As stated before, playing in 165 games up until this point, Buchnevich can only go forward, especially when David Quinn rewards him with more minutes and a spot on the Rangers’ first power play unit.
As far as a new contract goes, I’d expect the Rangers to offer Buchnevich a bridge deal at around 2 to 3 million for 2 to 3 years. That gives him some time to really come into his own, as he’s shown he’s capable of over the past month, and become a consistent scoring threat for the Rangers.
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