Prospect Info: 2014-2015 Rangers Prospects Thread *Part IV* (Player Stats in Post #1; Updated 6/2)

[RangerBoy]

You clearly have not a clue whatsoever how hard it is to learn a 2nd language when you're out of your developmental stages.

And what makes him a clown for wanting what's best for him and his career?

When is he planning to learn English? Maybe you can teach him English by reading the hockey geek stats to him.

 

[RangerBoy]

Yeah I really don't see the issue with staying an extra year. Kid obviously wants to be sure thing that he can play with NYR, but in doing so (like edge mentioned) he wants to get stronger. The English thing os kind of absurd, but it isn't that big of a deal. Prucha couldn't speak one lick of English when he first came over, same with Anisimov.

I think staying the extra year, benefits for both sides. If, however, the year is up and he decides to stay again, then there will be issues and doubts that he'll come over.

Anisimov came to North America at 19.

 

[GAGLine]

I think Buch would have been better served by coming over this year, but it's his life. I'm not going to criticize a kid for making his own choices. He's got two different groups of people pulling him in two different directions. Five years from now, he may look back on it and wish he has come over sooner. That's life.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Best way to learn the language is through immersion. What the back was he doing all last year?

Don't use I don't know the language as an excuse if you didn't put any effort the entire previous year.

I'm sure there were some long trips for road games. Why not use that time to learn? I also don't like the comment that he doesn't know how much time he will have to learn during next season.

 

[eco's bones]

The KHL has a handful of real legit stars elite players. There's also quite a number of guys like Nigel Dawes or Wojtek Wolski who played for a while in the NHL but were eventually squeezed out and generally speaking your average KHL player isn't better than your average AHL player. Like the AHL KHL rosters are full of guys who would never even make it in the NHL. The AHL is a very good development league. It weeds out a lot of wannabes who fall short for one reason or another. You can be a big star on your CHL team and hit the wall head on in the AHL--never even see a game in the NHL.

The main thing the KHL is superior to the AHL is the players tend to be more mature--a bit older on average. It's not really at all a development league.

 

[Kokoschka]

When is planning to learn English? Maybe you can teach him English by reading the hockey geek stats to him.

Shots fired.

 

[RangerBoy]

Shots fired.

The player says his english is bad. Then the player says he will not have much time to learn english during the season. His language skills will not improve being surrounded by a bunch of Russians. Buchnevich shouldn't even bring up that up. That is one of the reasons why he decided to stay in the KHL. He says the KHL team wanted him to stay and the Americans wanted him to leave. I am sure the KHL people would prefer if Buchnevich never left for the NHL. The Rangers and his agents want him to take the next step in his career. His agents are also Russian but they have been in America for a while. Mark Gandler. Buchnevich says it will be tough to make the Rangers roster and then he said he could join the Rangers if his KHL team doesn't make the playoffs. The Rangers roster will be established by that point and his english will still suck. Buchnevich sounds confused.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

I don't buy the Buchnevich language barrier, I mean Kovlev spent his first 2 years here communicating through one of those troll doll with the Don King hairdos.

 

[eco's bones]

The player says his english is bad. Then the player says he will not have much time to learn english during the season. His language skills will not improve being surrounded by a bunch of Russians. Buchnevich shouldn't even bring up that up. That is one of the reasons why he decided to stay in the KHL. He says the KHL team wanted him to stay and the Americans wanted him to leave. I am sure the KHL people would prefer if Buchnevich never left for the NHL. The Rangers and his agents want him to take the next step in his career. His agents are also Russian but they have been in America for a while. Mark Gandler. Buchnevich says it will be tough to make the Rangers roster and then he said he could join the Rangers if his KHL team doesn't make the playoffs. The Rangers roster will be established by that point and his english will still suck. Buchnevich sounds confused.

AV not very likely to play him at all sight unseen late in the season--especially if there are communication problems with his other teammates. There would be other issues such as his ability to play the entire 200' of ice surface. It's the kind of stuff that could be worked out over the course of the season but not something that a coaching staff is going to want to experiment with when the rest of the team is getting ready for the playoffs. If Buchnevich comes over late this year--he's likely just going to practice and that's about it.

 

[eco's bones]

I don't buy the Buchnevich language barrier, I mean Kovlev spent his first 2 years here communicating through one of those troll doll with the Don King hairdos.

Kovalev didn't like getting sent back and forth from NY to Binghamton but he managed. I remember seeing him in the AHL on several occasions. He'd skate around with the puck pretty much taped to his stick---through and around opposition players who couldn't manage to take it away from him. He did it for entire shifts--sometimes very elongated shifts. It was a truly amazing thing to watch--the only problem being for all his wizardly stick handling --he had a problem sharing the puck with his teammates. He was a wickedly great talent but he had a lot to learn.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

You clearly have not a clue whatsoever how hard it is to learn a 2nd language when you're out of your developmental stages.

And what makes him a clown for wanting what's best for him and his career?

Not that I disagree, but if you're immersed within a country speaking a new language, within a few months you make incredible progress.

RB, I think, had way too strong of a stance on this. But it is possible. The more you know .

 

[Thirty One]

My opinion: Buchnevich is an individual and pursue his individual interests, whatever he decides they are.

 

[eco's bones]

My opinion: Buchnevich is an individual and pursue his individual interests, whatever he decides they are.

That's true--however when his KHL season ended there were plenty of posters here determined to sign him and put him straight into our lineup--and then found out he wouldn't be available to almost the playoffs--then expected/wanted him to sign then so we could throw him straight onto the ice for the playoffs sight unseen.

And now no one cares and you say he's got free will to whatever he wants--and he does--he could stop playing altogether (for any team) if he wanted. If he never signs with the Rangers though I suspect a lot of posters here will eventually be pretty pissed with him--might even share RangerBoy's opinion that he's a goofball--and in the meanwhile Fetisov (the Bettman of Russian hockey and a Putin pal) if he gets his way--well then you might not see him anyway until he's 28.

 

[Kakko]

Buchnevich says it will be tough to make the Rangers roster and then he said he could join the Rangers if his KHL team doesn't make the playoffs. The Rangers roster will be established by that point and his english will still suck. Buchnevich sounds confused.

It's not confusing at all. He wants to stay in Russia one more year. Once the season there is over, he wants to come to NY and keep playing hockey instead of sitting around doing nothing.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

Seems like a lot of our Swedish and Finnish friends speak English really well at a young age (At least it seems like that when I listen to the interviews of hockey players ). Is there a particular reason for this? Russian players are noticeably less fluent.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but its a legitimate question I had considering the language barrier posts.

 

[Tawnos]

Kovalev didn't like getting sent back and forth from NY to Binghamton but he managed. I remember seeing him in the AHL on several occasions.

Not that Russia is a great place right now, but it's leaps and bounds better than it was just after the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

[Tawnos]

Seems like a lot of our Swedish and Finnish friends speak English really well at a young age (At least it seems like that when I listen to the interviews of hockey players ). Is there a particular reason for this? Russian players are noticeably less fluent.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but its a legitimate question I had considering the language barrier posts.

Two things that come to mind: better educational system in Scandanavia. Part of that: as far as I remember, kids learn English early on there whereas they don't learn it at all in Russia (Scandanavian posters, please tell me if that's apocryphal).

The other is that, while both are Indo-European languages, Scandanivian languages share more in common with Germanic languages than they do with Russian. The sounds you have to use line up better. This is a sweeping generalization, but I feel like it's basically accurate.

 

[Mikos87]

Kovalev didn't like getting sent back and forth from NY to Binghamton but he managed. I remember seeing him in the AHL on several occasions. He'd skate around with the puck pretty much taped to his stick---through and around opposition players who couldn't manage to take it away from him. He did it for entire shifts--sometimes very elongated shifts. It was a truly amazing thing to watch--the only problem being for all his wizardly stick handling --he had a problem sharing the puck with his teammates. He was a wickedly great talent but he had a lot to learn.

This is a true story:

During a panel with Landsberg on TSN several years ago, there were four NHLers, including some former Rangers, and coincidentally they all played with Alex Kovalev during their careers in different pit stops.

They're playing a game where players say their responses to hockey questions. Question come up: Who was the most talented player you've played with?

All four say Alex Kovalev. Unanimously, and it's not even close. They all called him the best practice player they've ever played with.

 

[eco's bones]

This is a true story:

During a panel with Landsberg on TSN several years ago, there were four NHLers, including some former Rangers, and coincidentally they all played with Alex Kovalev during their careers in different pit stops.

They're playing a game where players say their responses to hockey questions. Question come up: Who was the most talented player you've played with?

All four say Alex Kovalev. Unanimously, and it's not even close. They all called him the best practice player they've ever played with.

I think the Rangers had him at practice once either last year or this year and showed clips and he's still amazing. And it's a joke to him (in a good way). He's laughing the whole time. Closest guy to him right now is Patrick Kane but Kovalev would be a 6'3 235 lb. Patrick Kane today.

I've never seen any player ever do what Kovalev was doing down in the AHL. He wasn't really accomplishing anything other than keeping it away from everybody on his team and the other team for shifts at a time. He wasn't scoring a lot though--he was still learning how to play the game--that was his only problem.

 

[eco's bones]

Not that Russia is a great place right now, but it's leaps and bounds better than it was just after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Yeah I'd imagine it is.

 

[Edge]

Just to chime - I completely agree on Kovalev's amazing abilities.

The guy was absolutely amazing to watch, especially if you ever had the chance to see him live at a practice. Video doesn't even begin to do him justice.

From a practice standpoint, Sidney Crosby may the closest I've ever seen another player come.

 

[joshhh]

It seems likely the Klingberg rumours were true. He signed with Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL. It is on their website, also posted on elitprospects.com with a confirmed tag.

http://www.hctorpedo.ru/index.php?newsid=10498

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Not that Russia is a great place right now, but it's leaps and bounds better than it was just after the fall of the Soviet Union.

It is in the context of I can get a Mercedes and nice new apartment now. It's not from a rule of law context, meaning that someone can come along and take your Mercedes if they like it and you have no recourse. I don't mean common their, I mean officials.

 

[Bluenote13]

I think the Rangers had him at practice once either last year or this year and showed clips and he's still amazing. And it's a joke to him (in a good way). He's laughing the whole time. Closest guy to him right now is Patrick Kane but Kovalev would be a 6'3 235 lb. Patrick Kane today.

I've never seen any player ever do what Kovalev was doing down in the AHL. He wasn't really accomplishing anything other than keeping it away from everybody on his team and the other team for shifts at a time. He wasn't scoring a lot though--he was still learning how to play the game--that was his only problem.

I watched him in the AHL too, made the most unreal pass on the PP I've ever seen. The whole arena's jaws dropped in amazement. Neil Smith & Larry Pleau were sitting a few rows behind me and they were drooling

 

[FLYLine27*]

While i obviously was hoping Buch was coming over this season, im not mad about his decision. Everyone is different, maybe he just doesnt feel confortable enough to make the transition to a whole new country. Its not so easy for everyone. And/or maybe he really does feel it is in his best interest, long term, to play another year in the KHL, that certainly isn't going to hurt him. Im sure the coaching staff will be giving him the top minutes next season. I do wish however that maybe he got traded to a better team because the team he plays on is horrible (will they be better this year?).

As long as his long term goal is to still come over to NA and make the NHL after this season then I have zero problem with him staying there one more year.

I really hope he is coming over to NA to train like he did last year during the off season.