Yesterday, the Rangers officially cleared Pavel Buchnevich for contact and was sent down to Hartford. Buchnevich, who hasn’t played since the Rangers’ western Canada trip in mid-November was in all likelihood sent down to get acclimated to playing hockey again with the Rangers playing tonight in Columbus before their bye week next week.
Buchnevich was simply demoted down to the AHL and not loaned to Hartford on a conditioning assignment which means Buch comes off the Rangers’ cap, which in turn opens up a little bit more cap space for the team to use come deadline time.
After a rough first period, Buchnevich got the Wolf Pack on the board with this goal:
Buchnevich goal! pic.twitter.com/eYxajkJhQY
— Zach Ellenthal (@zellenthal) January 7, 2017
The Wolf Pack would go on to win that game 2-1.
I’d be surprised if Buch lasted in Hartford much past next Friday, when the Rangers come back from their time off when the Maple Leafs come to MSG. Buch once told Russian media that he had no interest in going to the AHL and that’s reflected in his out clause that is in his current contract. I can’t imagine it took much convincing to send him to the minors especially if he knows he’ll be back in short order and that this “demotion” is simply to get his feet wet again.
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