As the European leagues begin to gear up for the 2009-2010 season, Dan David provides a comprehensive round up of the New York Rangers prospects who’ll be playing overseas this season on team’s official web site.  It’s a great overview of who remains in the Rangers system and where they’ll call home once the puck drops on the new season.

All told, the Rangers currently hold the rights to nine players who’ll spend the upcoming season outside North America, spread across the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Czech First Division, Czech Extraliga, and Slovak Extraliga:

* Currently unsigned

Not to dismiss the Czechs and Slovaks — the only one there who appears to have a significant chance of making the NHL is David Kveton, and he doesn’t seem particularly eager to take a shot anytime soon — Russian players and prospects playing in Russia are kind of the bread and butter around here, so let’s take a closer look at those who’ll call the KHL home this season.

OK, raise your hand if you knew the Rangers still held the rights to a 31-year old Russian defenseman who was drafted in 1995.  Good, it wasn’t just me.  Don’t get too excited, though.  Ilya Gorokhov’s a bottom-half defenseman in the KHL who’s firmly entrenched in playing in his homeland and will never factor in the Rangers plans.  Perhaps the only thing to note about him is that after playing the past five years with his hometown club Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, where he was a teammate of fellow Rangers draftee Artem Anisimov, Gorokhov opted to sign with Salavat Yulaev Ufa this summer.  In Ufa, Gorokhov will play with former Rangers Dmitry Kalinin and Maxim Kondratiev for Viatcheslav Bykov, a man who’s name will become more familiar during the Olympics next year when he’s standing behind the bench for the Russian national team.  A who’s who of Russian players have signed with Salavat this summer with the hopes of raising their visibility with the man picking the Olympic squad (Rangers restricted free agent Nikolai Zherdev has also been courted by the club), but don’t expect it to help Gorokhov, who unlike Kalinin and Kondratiev, is not in the running for an Olympic bid.

Former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman and 2003 Rangers draft pick Ivan Baranka is getting ready to kick off his second season for Spartak Moscow, where they’ve put together a nice collection of Slovakian imports, including Flyers prospect Stefan Ruzicka and former NHLer Branko Radivojevic.  Despite missing time with a couple of minor injuries last season (quelle surprise), the 24-year old former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman led the team in ice time at 21:33 per game, while tallying two goals and eight assists in 47 games.  He also achieved his dream of making the Slovakian national team and played in the World Championship, a goal he was unlikely to reach from the AHL.  As of last December, Baranka intended to fulfill his contract with Spartak, which runs through this season, before taking another crack at the NHL.  With the stable of defensive propsects the Rangers already have waiting in the wings, it would seem likely that his rights will need to be traded to another club if he’s going to get that opportunity.

CSKA Moscow kicked off training camp in Finland on Friday, but did so without Rangers 2009 seventh round draft pick Mikhail Pashnin, who still hasn’t been able to sign with the club that moved mountains (and multiple draft picks) in order to pick him first over all in the inaugural KHL draft in May.  The delay comes as a result of a conflict with his old club, Mechel Chelyabinsk, which is demanding more than the 1.5 million rouble transfer fee set forth in the KHL’s rules.  Earlier this week, KHL head scout Boris Emelyanov, told All Hockey that the transfer fee issue has been resolved.  “As far as I know,” Emelyanov reported, “the parties have already agreed about everything, and Mikhail will sign the contract with the army club [CSKA] shortly.”  But on Friday, CSKA head coach and former Ranger Sergei Nemchinov contradicted Emelyanov, and confirmed that no agreement has been reached.  “We understand that the prescribed amount in the KHL rules of one and a half million roubles compensation for him is not enough,” Nemchinov told Sovietsky Sport.  “So we hope in the coming days to agree on a price with his hometown club Mechel.”  Once signed, Pashnin’s contract will keep him in Moscow for at least two years.

Pavel Valentenko has been largely dismissed as a throwaway piece in the deal that rid the Rangers of Scott Gomez and his salary cap hit, but “Tank” could very well have the best chance of all the players listed above of ever playing on Broadway.  When he left the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs for family reasons last October and subsequently agreed to sign with Dynamo Moscow, he made it clear that he’d still like to play in the NHL –  potentially in as little as two seasons, when the escape clause on his three year deal with the Russian team kicks in.  Now, after a season in which he missed six weeks because of a back injury and was ultimately relegated to the press box for a large chunk of the remainder of the season once he returned, there are rumors swirling that his time with Dynamo, where his competition on defense includes Danil Markov, Alexei Zhitnik and former Ranger Karel Rachunek, may come to a premature end. More on that in the coming days…

Alessandro Seren Rosso of Hockey’s Future caught up with New York Rangers prospect Evgeny Grachev at the conclusion of the team’s development camp in late June.  Their conversation, conducted in Russian and translated into English, is available here.

New York Rangers forward Nikolai Zherdev once again made it clear that he believes his run on Broadway is finished on Friday, this time in an interview with Russian web site Sports Day by Day.  The restricted free agent sounds confident that an arbitrator will rule in his favor when the two sides state their cases on July 31st, and seems convinced that when he does, the Rangers will walk away from the talented Ukrainian, leaving him an unrestricted free agent.  That’s not such a stretch, since it’s pretty much what the New York media has been saying since he filed the arbitration paperwork two weeks ago.

Zherdev’s Russian agent, Alexander Tyzhnykh, has assured his client that there will be substantial interest in the five-season NHL veteran once questions surrounding his contract situation are settled.  While he’s undoubtedly right — jilted Rangers fans convinced he has no value need only look at the list of teams searching for top-six forwards and compare it to the list of remaining UFAs — the docket of teams with the cap space to make it happen is dwindling by the day.

As for the KHL, it remains an option for the 24-year old forward, who revealed on Tuesday that he’d likely start training with Atlant Mytishchi later this month, but he reiterated his desire to remain in the NHL.  The interview touches on a wide variety of other topics as well, ranging from his fight with rookie Steven Stamkos last season, to his thoughts on life in America, to whether he believes head coach John Tortorella is behind the Rangers reluctance to re-sign him.  The full translation is below.

- Nikolai, do you suppose that it’s a plot of Rangers coach John Tortorella to tell the team’s management that he doesn’t see you in his game plan?

- Anything’s possible.  There’s no point in blaming a person without evidence.  It could be that the coach has nothing to do with it at all. Why even start guessing?  Though the previous coach of the team, Tom Renney, trusted me more than Tortorella.  But John didn’t tell me that I didn’t suit him.

- Now, at the threshold of the [arbitration] hearing, is your mind uneasy?

- Not especially.  My agent Alexander Tyzhnykh and I are sure we’re right. I believe that I deserve more [than the $3.25m qualifying offer].  Look at my statistics for the past season.  I don’t think that I’ll be left without a team.  My agent has assured me that several NHL clubs are waiting for the the situation with the arbitration case to be settled and will show substantial interest in me.

­- Is it true that there’s a possibility of your returning to Russia?

- It’s impossible to rule anything out.  The KHL is a strong league, in which it’s not at all disgraceful to play. There is interest in me on the part of Russian teams.  After July 31st, I’ll weigh everything and make the best decision for myself. But, to be honest, as an ambitious player, I would still like to stay in the NHL.

- And what kind of contract will suit you?  Would you agree on five million a year?

- First of all, I would like to sign a long-term agreement with the club, for 3-4 years.  To have some semblance of stability. As for the number — the bigger the number on the contract, the better.

- Where have you spent the first half of the summer?

- In the Crimea.  At my parents house in the small town of Chernomorsk.  It’s nice here — the sea, the air.  At the same time I’ve been keeping in shape.

- The World Championship was mixed for you.  After the second shift of your first game you broke a finger on your hand.  In your heart, did you not regret that you arrived in Switzerland?

- Of course, that incident didn’t make [the experience] more positive. But as you know even with the injury I was on the ice, giving everything I had in each game.  I did all I could for the team.  And I became a world champion. So what regrets could we speak about?

- In New York, you rent a spacious apartment in the heart of the city in Manhattan.  How much is the rent for your place?

- It’s no secret that real estate is very expensive there.  I paid $10,000 a month.  But it was well worth it. After all, they don’t call New York the center of the world for nothing. Here it’s possible get a good rest.

- Have personal fans of you appeared in New York?

- I was a little amused by a poster which I saw at one of the Rangers home games.  It was held by a girl and on it was written “Niki, I want to marry you.”  But don’t think that I only had personal fans, but [also] fans who often approached me and said that they liked my style of play.  The majority of Rangers fans call me “Z” or “Niki”.

- Since you’re already familiar with life there, have you thought about remaining overseas after your career ends?

- No, life in America doesn’t suit me.  The difference in mentality is too great between us.  I dreamed of getting to the NHL for many years.  My dream came true.  But now, as soon as the season finishes, I’m immediately drawn to Kiev.  All my family is there. The NHL is just a job.

- I recall an incident last season when you came to blows on the ice with Steven Stamkos of Tampa.  Why were you so upset with the first pick in the 2008 draft?

- He hit me from behind.  How else would a normal person react?  I could have suffered a concussion.  Or become disabled.  Adding to my annoyance was that the referee, most likely, slept through the incident.  He decided, at least, that Stamkos hit me without breaking the rules.  So I fought for the first time in the NHL.  I vaguely remember that I fought with him for a few seconds, but then both of us fell down.

- What do NHL players not like to talk about amongst themselves?

- About hockey, probably.  Because there are plenty of topics for discussion.

- Coming to Kiev every summer, do you follow news about Ukrainian hockey?  Have you heard, that a candidate for the post of coach of the Ukranian national team is Michael Krushelnyski, a Canadian with Ukranian roots who is currently under contract with Chekhov Vityaz?

- Frankly speaking, I don’t always manage to follow it.  Kiev is dear to me, but don’t forget that I was still a teenager, 13 years old, when I left for Electrostal.  I’d play for the Ukrainian national team with pleasure — if the level of development of hockey here was comparable with Russia.  In the meantime it’s not even worth talking about, unfortunately.