Larry Brooks is providing player evaluations daily in the NY Post, an exercise that began Monday. The order is by last name, and while he is not giving a grade, he is giving a sort of high-level assessment. Since it's my hope that we will have hockey, I thought it might be interesting to take one or a few aspects of his daily column along with his closure - the latter in italics - and provide my view, then receive yours in the comments. I will try and do this daily, but to catch up, am covering Lias Andersson, Pavel Buchnevich and Filip Chytil below,
Andersson:
But back to our protagonist, Andersson, who was both culprit and victim in his 2019-20 demise as a Ranger. Culprit in so far as he was unable to beat out Brett Howden for ice time in the defining battle for the slot as third center behind Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome after Filip Chytil had been sent to the AHL to start the season. Andersson just never showed anywhere near enough creativity or vision. Plus, there are skating issues, the engaging Swede — well, at least until he disengaged — lacking first two-steps explosiveness off the mark. Andersson was never able to earn ice time and David Quinn’s trust.
But Andersson was a victim, too, of the coach’s intransigence. Perhaps Quinn had issues with Andersson’s practice habits. Maybe there was more below the surface. But the fact is, Andersson was locked in and on the fourth line for all 17 of his games. Brendan Smith was a linemate 16 times and Micheal Haley 11. Indeed, the Haley-Andersson-Smith combo was intact for 10 games. Good luck putting up numbers with that unit in 7:29 of even-strength ice time per game.
Alrighty then. Barring unforeseen developments, the Rangers project to have Zibanejad, Strome and Chytil 1-2-3 down the middle, with Howden likely posted on the wing. So where is the spot for Andersson, even if there is a full-blown reconciliation between him and the organization?
Andersson did play a handful of games at wing two years ago, and was reasonably competent, in fact, but the Rangers have Artemi Panarin and Kreider on the left side, with Howden, Brendan Lemieux and Phil DiGiuseppe all ahead of the Swede on the depth chart.
Fourth-line center instead of Greg McKegg? Isn’t this where we came in … and where Andersson went out?
We discussed Andersson a lot early in the season, then when he left Hartford and went back to Sweden. Plus all the drama that surrounded that move and his resumption of play with HV-71. The relationship between both sides - and yes, both sides, as Brooks noted above, are at fault - still needs to be repaired. But President John Davidson did well to repair some of the rift, resulting in Andersson seeing action again, raising his value, at least slightly.
Moving forward, Andersson may get dealt, but I wouldn't just give him away, Granted his value has plummeted, but no reason exists right now to jettison him just to deal him. Andersson needs to improve his skating, get Barbara Underhill stat. If he does, then he could break camp with the team. If it's as the fourth line center, so be it. If Strome is dealt and Chytil steps up, maybe Andersson gets a shot as the 3C with Howden at wing, where to me he is better suited.
But it's on Andersson to force the situation. He did so in camp last year. Do it again and make Quinn's decision hard but all this is predicated on him being in camp and the slate wiped partially clean.
Buchnevich:
Pavel Buchnevich was selected 75th overall in 2013 by the Rangers, and ranks 14th in goals and 15th in points among the players drafted that year, and yet there is the expectation — if not demand — that No. 89 should produce more.
But the team has never come close to dealing the winger, who already had established personal bests with 30 assists and 46 points during the completed portion of the schedule, with his 16 goals five shy of the 21 he recorded in 2018-19.
And one of the primary reasons is Buchnevich’s compatibility both on and off the ice with Zibanejad and Kreider. These guys like each other, they really like each other, they like playing as a unit, and they give David Quinn the ability to carve those first-line numbers of 20, 93 and 89 into the coach’s wall.
So much is uncertain, but when hockey and the Rangers return, this is not: Igor Shesterkin as the No. 1 in goal, Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich as the first line and Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox as the top defensive pair. Artemi Panarin is rather certain, too.
He did shoot at a higher rate this year, getting 2.2 shots on net per game after coming into the season averaging 1.86 per. His attempt rate increased, too, to 3.7 per from 3.3. Perhaps imperceptible, but a step.
The thing, too, is that Buchnevich was the fifth option on the four-forward, first power-play unit, getting an average of 2:18 per on the man-advantage while Panarin averaged 3:44; Zibanejad 3:40; Kreider 3:28; and Ryan Strome, 2:57. The league leader in average power-play time was, predictably, Alex Ovechkin at 4:53 per
Of Buchnevich’s 46 points, 32 came at five-on-five, with 14 primary assists of his total 21, per Natural Stat Trick. He tracks well in meaningful, publicly available underlying numbers. If his goal number was somewhat down, that traces to a 10.8 shooting percentage that was below the 13.9 career mark he brought into the season.
It is not necessarily about that, though. It is about doing the work off the puck and minimizing the pouty, slumped-shoulder body language that far too often accompanies a missed scoring chance. It is about being consistently engaged and forcing himself to do the little things that might not be in his nature.
Still, this was a season of progress. And Josh Anderson wouldn’t fit as well, anyway, with Zibanejad and Kreider.
Buch is one of those polarizing players. You are left wanting more, at least from the eye test, but the advanced stats show a player better than first perceived. Then you look at the underlying and the numbers produced and you realize that maybe he was better than the perception.
The K-Z-B line, when kept together, was productive. Then you see what Buch did at 5x5 and at the end of the year before the virus enforced break with CK20 out and your view of him should change. Add in a $3.25 million cap hit, which is reasonable, and the output compared to dollars expended is pretty darn nice. But you can argue I am a Buch fan, which I am.
Next year will be more telling as expectations will raise, partially due to the team and also because Buch will be an RFA with arb rights and likely wanting a long-term contract. I still think there is more to Buch's game. He had 46 points in 68 games, on pace for 50+ by year-end. If someone told you when drafted that the 75th pick in the draft could possibly hit the 60 point mark, would you have signed him right there and then for it? Buch might do, yet he always will be a polarizing figure. One though that i hope remains a Ranger for several more years.
Chytil:
When Chytil returned from Hartford for the Rangers’ 10th game of the season immediately after Mika Zibanejad suffered that neck injury on Patrice Bergeron’s reverse hit, he brought a positive attitude, strong work habits and a more comprehensive game with him to New York.
He had become a pro.
And so he played, essentially all season on the third line after an initial stretch on the second unit filling in for No. 93 between Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich. He played every game, got an average ice time of 14:50 and recorded 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points.
That, by the way, represented the third-highest number of goals scored in the NHL this year by a player under the age of 21, with Andrei Svechnikov and Brady Tkachuk notching 24. Not too bad for a third-liner with limited power-play opportunity. Not too bad at all.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, he is becoming a big body out there whose ability to skate should turn him into at least a quasi-power center who can back in opposing defenseman, open the ice for himself and his linemates, and take it to net. Of course he has to improve his play away from the puck, but he was notably more diligent in the battles, in getting to the dirty areas, in being a presence in front and in getting back on transition. What he isn’t, at least, at this point, is a developed playmaker.
Actually, though the club’s surge into playoff contention represented a most welcome, if unanticipated, development, it also denied David Quinn with a post-deadline opportunity to experiment. I’d have liked to see how Chytil would have handled the responsibility of centering Panarin on a regular basis. Maybe it would have been too much for him, maybe Chytil would have felt under pressure to force the puck to the Bread Winner. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked. But maybe the combo would have flourished.
Now, let’s change tenses. Maybe it will work next year. Maybe it will flourish. Maybe, after a season in which David Quinn allowed the 20-year-old sophomore to develop in understated fashion, maybe the coach will add more to the center’s plate.
But of the myriad maybes, here’s one that isn’t: This was a good year for Chytil, a good one whose work could one day completely change the narrative of the ’17 first round.
We all railed at the start of the season when Chytil was sent down. But he forced his way back after nine games. Chytil stayed in the lineup the remainder of the way, though as Brooks noted, his performance was uneven, yet showed promise for the future.
We have come to expert every first rounder and rookie to explode on the scene and dominate action. Only the elite of the elite do so, and some who become elite, struggle out of the gate. The hope is that Chytil is one that falls into the latter category, though the jury is still out.
His own and neutral zone play needs improvement, same with when he is away from the puck. As he continues to gain strength, we should see him use his improved physical status to drive harder to the net and create scoring opportunities. If Strome does move on, Chytil may get the first chance to replace him. If not, the third line with him and maybe Kakko with possibly Vitali Kravtsov should be a more than productive trio.
i think we all believe Chytil could develop into an elite or at least top shelf player. Reaching that status is all up to him. This is a key offseason for him.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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