It was very much a tale of two halves for New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich, who recovered from a slow start in 2018-19 to finish the year with an absolute flourish.
Pavel Buchnevich – Grade B
As our report cards for the 2018-19 New York Rangers continue, we switch our focus to Pavel Buchnevich today. We will be working through the roster in alphabetical order and will be grading the performances of all players who suited up for the team this season. That means old friends Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello will be talked about and covered.
His season
Pavel Buchnevich has been an enigma during his time in the Big Apple, more often than not alternating between a Jekyll and Hyde persona.
That was none more evident than during the first half of 2018-19 where some nights he was a world beater and an unstoppable force, but other nights he would stink the place out and strike an uninterested figure on the ice.
Offensively he was a conundrum too, contributing just six goals and 11 points by the end of 2018, and he often found himself at the end of head coach David Quinn’s tough love approach.
Not only that but Buchnevich failed to battle hard during the early throes of the season, often shirking his defensive responsibilities and not buying into the team culture that Quinn has tried so hard to cultivate.
His inability to get to the dirty areas cost him a lot of ice time, which led to the forward often ending up on the bench, in the press box or mired in a fourth-line role.
It appeared that the Pavel Buchnevich project was only heading in one direction.
But then, almost like someone had lit a fire inside the Russian, Buchnevich came alive in the New Year and went on an absolute tear.
He started shooting more and also got into the dirty areas of the offensive zone a lot more, getting his just rewards by being moved up to the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad following the trade of Mats Zuccarello.
The KZB line, as it has now affectionally been dubbed, proved to be a match made in heaven as Buchnevich finally conjured up the level of offensive production we all know he’s capable of.
After tearing it up in February with seven points over a six-game span and then embarking on a career-high six-game point streak (three goals, three assists) at the end of March, the 23-year-old finished 2018-19 with 38 points (21 goals, 17 assists) in 64 games.
And, just for good measure, it was also the first time that Buchnevich had reached the 20-goal plateau in his NHL career, chalking up his 100th NHL point in the process too.
It was Buchnevich’s all-round game that really stood out in the second half of the season, though.
He finally bought into Quinn’s shoot first philosophy, averaging 2.5 shots per game in the last 25 matchups of 18-19 compared to a measly 1.4 shots per game total in the first half.
The right-wing also fully adopted Quinn’s team first ethos, bringing an admirable compete level to the ice and getting stuck into the dirty areas far more than he had before, resulting in an average of 16:09 of ice time in the last 25 games of the season.
You might consider 2018-19 as Buchnevich’s coming of age year with the Rangers, where the bar has now been set in terms of what we should expect from the Russian.
Why the grade
One word. Consistency.
If Buchnevich had produced his second half pace in the early stages of the season, then he probably would have been walking away with an A+.
As it is, a B is probably a fair assessment of the left shot’s season and all eyes will now be on just how much further he can progress and develop as a player.
There is no doubt that Buchnevich has all the tools to become a productive and reliable top-six forward in the NHL, maybe even a top-line threat.
He has the size, the speed, the power and on occasion the hockey smarts, not to mention an absolute hammer of a slap shot.
The next mission now is to wrap all of that up in a neat package on a night-to-night basis and be prepared to battle hard every single shift without fail.
If he does that then Buchnevich will continue to thrive under Quinn and could well end up looking at a higher grade next year.
The numbers
Games: 64
Goals: 21
Assists: 17
Points: 38
Power Play Goals: 7
Power Play Points: 12
CF%: 47.4
+ / -: -10
PIM: 13
ATOI: 15:10
Next Report Card: Filip Chytil