It's always harder to analyze a player who simply just didn't bring much to the table.
Arthur Kaliyev is one of those players. And his lack of production should be viewed as a surprise. In the past, the Uzbekistan native received the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy for the National Hockey League's top scoring right winder and he was also a finalist for the Red Tilson Trophy. Internationally, Kaliyev represented the United States at both the 2020 and 2021 World Junior Championships, winning a gold medal in 2021.
Despite having all of this on his track record, he simply didn't deliver for the Rangers in the most recent NHL season.
Expectations
Kaliyev was claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings on January 6. There wasn't much noise surrounding Kaliyev, as he fractured his clavicle on the second day of training camp with the Kings. As a result, he missed the early portion of the season and was then sent to the Los Angeles AHL affiliate in Ontario before being placed on waivers.
Though his placement on waivers didn't draw a ton of fanfare, Kaliyev did have some expectations from Rangers fans in that he was considered a potential Blueshirt dating back to the 2019 Entry Draft. Plus, just three years ago he posted a hat trick over Anaheim.
Performance
Unfortunately like some other Rangers on the roster, Kaliyev was a victim of coming down with a tough injury. He appeared in 14 games after being claimed from the waiver wire from Los Angeles before his season came to an abrupt end.
Kaliyev arrived right after New York busted out of their disastrous 4-15 record from the winter.
He scored three goals and an assist. The 6'2" lefty had his debut as a Blueshirt in the team's 40th game of the season. During his time with the Rangers he primarily played alongside Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider. He has also spent time with Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, and him and Sam Carrick were a duo on more than one occasion.
He was used sparingly during his time in the lineup, skating more than 13 minutes only once before his season came to an end on March 11. Following the Feb. 23 victory in Pittsburgh, arguably New York's ugliest victory of the season, Kaliyev sat as a healthy scratch for the Rangers' next seven games.
Though, he did at times enter the lineup in favor of youngster Brett Berard before sustaining his previously mentioned season ending upper-body injury in a 2-1 loss to Winnipeg.
Neither his shots or push for scoring chances were spectacular. In his 14 games he had a 47.48 expected goals for percentage, and a 48.68 Corsi for percentage according to Evolving-Hockey, and that suggests more often than not he was chasing play as opposed to driving it. At 23-years-old, he leaves much to be desired compared to other young guns such as Matt Rempe.
Where They Go From Here
After 14 games played, three goals, one assist, 21 shots on goal and an average time on ice of 11:13 per game, Kaliyev left a lot to be desired in his 2024-25 performance.
If General Manager and President Chris Drury decides to let Kaliyev enter unrestricted free agency, the loss of a player who didn't do much more than skate for 14 games wouldn't impact the Blueshirts much at all moving forward.