Rangers sign Swiss forward Ambuhl

May 29, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It’s been a busy last week for Glen Sather and the Rangers. Yes. They’ve quietly been making moves. Some like getting last year’s No.1 pick Michael Del Zotto signed and reliable backup goalie Stephen Valiquette were hardly any surprise. However, the club has continued to be active adding another unknown to the organization.

A week after adding Ilkaa Heikkinen, the Blueshirts signed forward Andres Ambuhl Tuesday. The 25 year-old Swiss forward played this past season in 50 games for HC Davos of the National League A in Switzerland putting up 17 goals and 24 assists for 41 points along with 90 penalty minutes. All were career highs across the board.

The 41 points tied for the club lead in scoring as did his 24 helpers while finishing fourth in goals. In 21 postseason games, he netted four goals and three assists for seven points including a pair of markers against Kloten in the NLA Finals helping HC Davos win their fourth league championship in the past eight years.

In 358 career NLA games, the 5-10, 190-pound Ambuhl posted 64 goals and 108 assists totaling 172 points while racking up 425 PIM. It was also in 2006 that his game-winning goal helped HC Davos defeat Team Canada to capture the Spengler Cup. He has a wealth of international experience representing Team Switzerland in world championships as well as the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

What does it all mean? I’m not really sure. He did score a nice goal shortside in the WC earlier this month. Do the Rangers expect Ambuhl to compete for a roster spot? Possibly. They don’t have much in terms of scoring but most reports indicate he shouldn’t be more than a third liner tops possibly getting fourth line duty. That’s if he pans out. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the mean time, the Rangers need to get key restricteds Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan along with Lauri Korpikoski and Freddy Sjostrom re-upped. They also must make a decision on whether to retain Russian enigma Nikolai Zherdev. Figure John Tortorella to have a large say here. Top penalty killer Blair Betts is also unrestricted July 1 as is rental Nik Antropov.

So, there’s plenty of work to do between now and then. I guess we should expect more signings which is better than the alternative. Stay tuned.