Going
into the 2007 NHL Entry Draft Russian winger Alexei Cherepanov was considered
one of the top talents available, but he slipped to 17 overall because of
concerns over issues with Russian players possibly staying in the KHL. At 17 the New York Rangers took the gamble on
the immense talent of Cherepanov selecting him with the hopes of him developing
into the kind of impact offensive player the Rangers had not been able to
produce.
Cherepanov
continued his development over in the KHL and while he did not come over during
2008 for camp, the talk was that he was going to leave the KHL following the
2008-09 season when his contract with Omsk was complete. This upset many Rangers fans, but that anger
turned to excitement when Jaromir Jagr left the NHL and signed with the same
team. The idea that Cherepanov could
learn from and play with Jagr only increased the excitement to see how good the
young Cherepanov would be, but sadly we would never find out.
Three
years ago today, during a game against Vityaz Chekhov, Cherepanov would have
his life cut far too short when he collapsed on the bench following a shift and
he passed away. The tragedy likely could
have been avoided if the medical personnel was still in the building or the defibrillator
had a full battery, but regardless the hope for the Rangers future was
extinguished never knowing what he would actually become.
For
some the development of players like Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan has
changed the amount of wonder about what Cherepanov would have become in a
Rangers uniform. While both are
excellent players and have the talent to be top line players, neither is likely
to develop into the superstar or sniper that Cherepanov was said to have the
potential of being. Instead much of that
pressure and hype has been transferred to other prospects rising through the
ranks, most notably Chris Kredier as the savior goal scorer the Rangers have
not developed to this point. The
Rangers have done a phenomenal job in developing a number of excellent young
talents that are capable of the 20-25 goal mark in a given season. It is that development that brought the team to a place that the organization felt signing a Brad Richards would bring them into the contender status. Having said that, it is still hard not to
wonder if Cherepanov would have been that missing top six forward the team is searching for right now.
