Rangers prospect recap: Elimination, contract commitments and playoffs
In Rauma, Tarmo Reunanen and Lukko are having similar problems. Going 1-3-1 in their last five, the team has dropped outside of the top-six, which would mean they are moving to the preliminary rounds of the Liiga playoffs with just one game left. For their last game, they travel to Tampere to play the eighth place team, Ilves.
In Russia, two of the three Rangers prospects were eliminated, which led to heavy debate about a possible contract release and move to North America. Yegor Rykov and his team Sochi lost in six games. Rykov recorded three assists in those six games and was one of the best players on his team. Rykov now has two options: sign with the Rangers once his KHL contract ends, or move back to SKA who loaned him to Sochi this season. If the Rangers want to sign Rykov, they have to wait for Sochi to release him, or for his contract to expire on April 30th.
We see a similar situation surrounding Vitali Kravtsov. The ninth overall pick in last year’s draft registered two asssists in four games as his team, Traktor Chelyabinsk, was swept by Avtomobilist. Traktor’s GM has already stated they will not release Kravtsov from his KHL contract and explained why. Kravtsov traveled back to Vladivostok following the end of his season to spend time with his family and is not expected to join the Rangers before July 1st.
Igor Shestyorkin is the only prospect still active in the KHL playoffs. SKA started off the series in a disappointing way by losing the first two games at home. After Shestyorkin was ejected from game three and was suspended for game four, Magnus Hellberg took over in net to take SKA to a series win in six games. They will now take on Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the second round.
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