Monday, August 24, 2009

Grachev Will Be in NHL or AHL this Year

Brook Otten at OHL Prospects reports that Rangers prospect F Evgeni Grachev will not be returning to his OHL team the Brampton Battalion this season...

"Hodgson and Duchene will most certainly be in the NHL, while Grachev will be in the NHL or AHL (with the Rangers already informing Brampton he won't be returning to them)."

...wow this is exciting news. Even if he doesn't make the club out of camp there's a strong possibility we could see Grachev with the Blueshirts at some point this season.

...h/t Beyond the Blueshirts on Twitter.

2 comments:

Evan S said...

I've expected this move for some time. I figured if Grachev didn't make the NHL roster he would be sent to Hartford for further development. However, based on the positive reviews I heard of his camp, I could easily see Tortorella pushing Grachev ahead of Prospal and Lisin for the avalible left wing spot. We already know Tortorella loves youth and wants to get more kids in the lineup. On a side note; I remember reading something a few months ago that should make every ranger fan proud; I read that some pundits thought John Tavares skills were overblown and he was only playing so well because of a "highly skilled winger in Evgeny Grachev.". This makes me pumped, I could get used to a Grachev-Dubinsky/Anisimov-Gaborik line.

Evan S said...

Correction; it was Matt Duchene that they felt was benefiting from playing with Grachev, not Tavares...he never played for Brampton