This is why I don't think it's the best environment to develop skill/finesse players.
Nothing wrong with the city of Hartford, and personally I enjoy a Pack game as much as anyone (especially since the trek into NYC is pretty much unbearable these days - at least until Metro North is going directly to Penn), but the AHL is full of gritty plugs who can't do anything at the NHL level, but can put up 40-50 points down there and who populate the top lines accordingly.
I really can't think of a scoring forward that has ever thrived or put up numbers down there for the Rangers. The only players who seem to develop from time down there are:
-Power forwards
-Big, two way centers
-Defensive forwards
-Defensemen who need to work on their defense
-Useless grinders who have the potential to become serviceable grinders.
-Goalies
Otherwise, Ryan Carpenter is the perfect example of the modern AHL player in the Rangers organization...practically PPG down there, struggles to score at replacement level at the NHL.
There are a few selective examples of players who've done well in the league on other teams, but usually in small sample sizes as they were called up shortly after. I mean, I'm just trying to scan my memory to think of an example of a prime scoring forward that ever thrived going back to the Binghamton Rangers days in the AHL and my brain can't do it...when I think of players who've been successful down there, it's just full of memories of Ken Gernanders, the "other" Ferraros, Derek Armstrong, Brad Smyth, Rico Fata, John Tripp, Pat Rissmiller, Kris Newbury, Andre Deveaux, etc.
The only skill player I can really recall doing well in Hartford was Zuccarello, and to be honest I thought he should have been in the NHL from day one (I still believe Torts being a dinosaur who overvalued grit was the biggest thing holding him back). And of course he went on to have his best years not with NYR, like so many others...
