Glen Sather broke media silence for the first time since the NHL trade deadline on Saturday, and in the process proved the old adage “it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

In chatting with reporters at the NHL Entry Draft after swapping next year’s third round pick in the draft with the Los Angeles Kings for 2003 first round draft pick Brian Boyle, the Rangers’ reclusive general manager had the following to say about the third least productive player to come out of one of the richest draft classes in NHL history: “Boyle’s 6-foot-7, 245 pounds and he’s a good shooter. He’s a guy who needs an opportunity. He shut down [Artem] Anisimov in the [AHL] playoffs.”

The quote — particularly the last sentence — would suggest that the organization may be looking at Boyle, a center, as a replacement for fourth line pivot Blair Betts, who Sather suggested may be Edmonton-bound on Wednesday when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.  There’s only one problem: Boyle didn’t shut Anisimov down in the AHL playoffs.  In fact, Boyle didn’t even play against Anisimov in the AHL playoffs.  The Manchester Monarchs, the farm club of the Kings, for which Boyle played 42 games last season, didn’t even make the AHL’s post season.  Boyle hasn’t played a Calder Cup playoff game since the 2006-2007 season, his first year as a pro.

Anisimov didn’t arrive in North America until the 2007-2008 season.  The Hartford Wolf Pack’s leading scorer — playing without concussed veteran scorer P.A. Parenteau on his wing — was in fact held to just two points (three, if you count a goal in game five which was very obviously recorded wrong) in the team’s disappointing six game first round playoff loss to the Worcester Sharks (farm club of the San Jose Sharks, for which defenseman Dan Boyle, who’s never suited up for Worcester, plays.)  But it was the defensive tandem of Mike Moore and NHL veteran Kyle McLaren who were handed the task of neutralizing the Pack’s top line by Worchester coach Roy Sommer, who seemed just as happy to have his first line offensive guns go head-to-head with Anisimov’s line as he was his third line checkers.

Who Sather thinks he traded for on Saturday is anyone’s guess.

Photo: KHL

With their final pick (#200) in this weekend’s NHL Entry Draft the New York Rangers selected 20-year old Russian defenseman Mikhail Pashnin from Chelyabinsk Mechel of the Russian second league.  It was quite a drop for the young blueliner, who earlier this month became the first overall pick in the inaugural KHL entry draft, during which teams selected players from a pool of non-KHL affiliated junior clubs and international leagues or KHL-schooled players under 22 years of age who were no longer contractually obligated their KHL club. (In other words, KHL teams were allowed to protect the top players from their own developmental systems, making it a bit of a “best of the rest” situation.)

Pashnin was selected by Sergei Nemchinov’s CSKA Moscow, which traded their top three picks in the four round draft in order to secure the first pick overall and take the highly sought after defenseman.  Nemchinov, who serves as coach and general manager of CSKA, has coached Pashnin as part of Russia’s U20 junior team for the better part of two years, and has long been a fan of his aggressive style and strong character.

A defensive-minded defenseman, Pashnin plays a hard-nosed, physical game despite his somewhat undersized 5′11″, 187-pound frame.  He likes to hit and is tough along the boards and in front of the net.  Based on various reports in the Russian press, he’s got a good outlet pass and an accurate shot, but not a whole lot of offensive upside.  In 32 games last season, he put up four goals and 12 assists for 16 points, adding 32 penalty minutes.  An intelligent player, Pashnin will spend his summer studying to be a mechanical engineer at Chelyabinsk’s state agricultural and engineering university while preparing for what he hopes will be his first season in the KHL.

Thus far, CSKA has been unable to sign their prized pick due to a conflict with Mechel, which is insisting on financial compensation in excess of the 1.5 million rubles (approximately $48,000) offered  by the KHL.  It’s expected that an agreement will be worked out soon, and that Pashnin will be able to sign a KHL entry level deal.  That contract will keep him in Moscow for the next two years and pay him 3 million rubles a year (approximately $96,400) if he sticks in the KHL, or 1 million rubles (approximately $32,100) if he plays for CSKA’s junior team in the newly-formed Molodezhnaya Hockey League (MHL).

The NHL is definitely on the radar for Pashnin, who doesn’t have a favorite NHL team, but admitted liking the logos of the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.  “Every player dreams of playing in the NHL,” Pashnin shared in an interview with AllHockey.ru in May.  “The National Hockey League is the strongest in the world, and to get there is good fortune for any player.”  Pashnin’s opportunity, should it come at all, will be at least two years away, despite the fact that he’s already 20.

Translations of the interview above and a couple more from earlier this month will be posted over the next few days…

Avangard Omsk have added a second Finn to their roster.  Fresh on the heals of news they had poached 23-year old goaltender Karri Ramo from the Tampa Bay Lightning, the club announced Wednesday that they’ve signed former Philadelphia Flyer and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Lasse Kukkonen to a two year deal.  Kukkonen played parts of three seasons with the Flyers after being acquired from the Blackhawks for Kyle Calder in February 2007, but fell out of favor last year, finishing the campaign with the Philadelphia Phantoms in the AHL.  In 159 NHL games Kukkonen scored six goals and 16 assists and added 90 penalty minutes.  The 27-year old blueliner was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

The signing leaves Omsk with just two positions to fill for the upcoming season: a defenseman and a first line center to play with Jaromir Jagr.  Club “advisor” Anatoli Bardin has gone on record in the past saying he’d like NHLers Frantisek Kaberle and Michael Nylander to fill those gaps, though in an interview published by Soviet Sport on Wednesday, Bardin mentioned only Kaberle, noting he would negotiate with the Czech defenseman’s agent once the NHL free agency market opens on July 1st.