Rangers Alumni Roundup : Kevin Klein, Alexei Kovalev, Tomas Kundratek and John Vanbiesbrouck

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Checking up on some past Rangers

Kevin Klein 

Former New York Ranger Kevin Klein signed a one year extension to stay on with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League. This comes from Swiss/German newspaper Aargauer Zeitung.

Klein, 33-years-old, retired from the NHL in 2017. He then signed a one-year-deal with ZSC, one week after announcing his retirement.

The defenseman recently contemplated retirement from professional hockey a few months ago, this time for good. According to Swisshockeynews.com, he was set to retire at the end of the last season, in which he played 45 games.

Klein registered 10 goals and 12 assists in the regular season and contributed 12 points in 17 playoff games. ZSC won the National League Championship.

Kovalev and Kundratek 

Over in the KHL, Kunlun Red Star, based out of china gained a set of rangers alums. Alexei Kovalev joins the coaching staff as an assistant coach and Tomas Kundratek signs on as well.

Kovalev is a player that many remember, as he began his story career with the blueshirts. Drafted in 1991 as the 15th overall pick by the New York Rangers and was a crucial part of the Rangers Stanley Cup run in 1994. He had 21 points over the 23 games of that playoff run.

At the end of the 2013, Kovalev retired from the NHL at the age of 39. He registered 1029 points in 1316 career games.

Since retiring, Kovalev has remained prominent in the hockey world with playing two separate seasons with Swiss National League B team EHC Visp in 2013-14 and 2016-17. During that 2016 season, Kovalev became the general manager of that very club he was wearing the sweater for.

Kundratek, 28, signed a one year contract with Kunlun Red Star as well. He was a third round pick by the Rangers in 2008, and only appeared in 16 Hartford Wolf Pack games before being traded to the Washington Capitals in 2011. In return for Kundratek, the Rangers received Francois Bouchard.  

During his time with the Capitals, he played 30 games over a span of two seasons and scored one goal. After his time in Washington and Hershey (AHL) ended in 2014, Kundratek signed on with KHL Dinamo Riga for one season. In 2015 he signed with HC Slovan Bratislava and finally in 2017 he played with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL.

John Vanbiesbrouck 

Another Rangers great, John Vanbiesbrouck, has agreed to a position with USA Hockey as assistant executive director of hockey operations.

“I’m really humbled and honored to have this opportunity,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “I look forward to building on the foundation that has been put in place by Art Berglund and Jim Johannson, among others, and while I know I have much to learn, it’s a challenge that I’m really excited about.”

Vanbiesbrouck won 200 games over his 11 years as a New York Ranger. He split time in the 1989-90 season with Mike Richter and the rest was history. He had five 20 win seasons with his time as a Ranger.

 

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