So much for not wanting an AHL deal ...
That's dumb and stupid...maybe?
Not that I had much hope of Pavlychev being more than a useful bottom six AHL player, but...huh. Given his ties to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area (played for the WBS Knights from ages 13-16 and went to college <2 hours away) I figured that'd be an easy fit for him. Guess he must have felt insulted, which is weird given that he's coming off a 14 point senior season as a 7th round pick that wasn't on most draft boards. Oh well, nothing of value really lost. Him getting a NHL contract would have basically necessitated taking another step offensively, rather than a step backwards (13, 14, 29, & 14 points at Penn State for Nikita). Then again I've never been as smitten with giants as most, but his game is so far away from NHL-ready that I'd argue against the value of spending one of the 50 contract spots on him. He was as clear as a AHL contract offer as you could get. He is under his rights to turn it down and he did. Good luck to the kid, but I'm not going to pretend we lost someone I expected to play above an AHL 3rd line.
Of course the fact that we then spent a contract spot on Kevin Stevens' kid kinda disrupts that...but hey, Stevens had 1 fewer point on a mediocre to bad Yale team in a lower scoring conference (Pavs was 10th on Penn State in scoring; Stevens 6th on Yale), is also huge, and has strengths that could see him turn into something in the AHL. Pavs...I seriously have no clue what this kid is going to be, I just never saw NHL in him. Absolutely no regrets in drafting him in the 7th as a massive hail mary attempt, though. You can't teach size, and as long as we're talking absurdly low value picks instead of high ones I'm all for the lottery ticket pick in the late rounds. The fact that we're still talking about him 5 years after being the 197th pick is almost impressive considering the other guy we didn't sign was a 4th rounder whose name has already been scrubbed from my memory.
If you were a young Russian hockey player, where would you sign an AHL contract if you had a choice?
Tampa has done very well drafting and developing Russians. We have largely ignored them, save for Malkin (who was drafted as a no-brainer selection 16 years ago)!
Even Russians who come over to North America early, who play in the state of Pennsylvania like Pavlychev did, want no part of this organization.
I think it is telling.
I know the guy is Russian, but he's been living and playing in the States for half of his life now. I think lumping him in with Europeans coming from Europe is a bit off...especially when we're talking about a 197th overall pick coming off a bad senior season on a powerhouse team who was never a lock for a two-way contract in the first place.