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New York Rangers: Pavel Buchnevich signs two year deal

By Steve Paulus

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 08: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers follows the play against the Detroit Red Wings during an NHL game at Little Caesars Arena on March 8, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit defeated New York 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - MARCH 08: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers follows the play against the Detroit Red Wings during an NHL game at Little Caesars Arena on March 8, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit defeated New York 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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DETROIT, MI – MARCH 08: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers follows the play against the Detroit Red Wings during an NHL game at Little Caesars Arena on March 8, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit defeated New York 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers avoided arbitration when the team announced that Pavel Buchnevich had signed a two-year, $6.5 million contract.

The final big contractual question of the summer was answered when the New York Rangers announced that arbitration eligible restricted free agent Pavel Buchnevich had inked a two-year bridge deal.  The contract carries an annual cap hit of $3.25 million.

While the terms of the deal are not official, the salary figure was widely reported.  As it is a bridge deal, the 24-year old Russian is set up for a big payday in two years if he improves on his career best goal scoring season.  He will still be a restricted free agent at the end of this  contract, though will remain arbitration eligible.

Buchnevich is coming off a season where he scored 21 goals and added 17 assists for 38 points. The 21 goals was a career high and he also set a career mark by averaging 0.59 points per game.  He suffered a broken thumb in November and missed 13 games.

After some tough love from coach David Quinn, Buchnevich finished strongly, with 12 goals and 20 points in his last 26 games.  With that finish, he displayed some of the skill the Rangers hoped for when they drafted him 75th overall in the third round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Now he set to compete with Kaapo Kakko for the right wing slot on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin.

Buchnevich was scheduled to go to an arbitration hearing on Monday.  By settling, the Rangers avoided going to arbitration with both Buchnevich and Jacob Trouba.   The last time the Blueshirts went the full process was in 2009 when forward Nikolai Zherdev took the team to arbitration and was awarded a $3.9 million salary. The Rangers chose to not accept the award and allowed Zherdev to leave the team as a free agent.

With the Buchnevich signing, the only unsigned players are RFA’s Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux. Both are not arbitration eligible so they pretty much have to take whatever the Rangers offer.

While a reasonable deal, it doesn’t help the Rangers’ cap situation.

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