According to Elliotte Friedman, the Rangers are considered a favorite to land 22-year-old Russian defenseman Alexei Bereglazov. (Sportsnet)
Bereglazov went undrafted in 2012, is 6-4, 192 and has 1 goal and 18 assists this season for Mettallurg in the KHL.
He won Bronze with Russia at the 2014 World Juniors as a teammate of Pavel Buchnevich and was also a teammate of Buchnevich and Rangers prospect Igor Shesterkin in the Euro Hockey Tour last year.
In the preliminary Central Scouting Rankings for 2012, Bereglazov was ranked as the 34th Russian.
Bereglazov was ranked 54th by Central Scouting in their final rankings of European Skaters. (NHL.com)
He had 6 assists in 7 playoff games for Mettalurg this past season.
Adam Rotter: I'm in favor of the Rangers going after every young prospect/former high draft pick/European player, etc because while most won't pan out you can still add a roster player or in the best case one of them develops into a core player and you have Mats Zuccarello.
I'm sure the Rangers have seen Bereglazov a lot over the past few years with all the time they spent watching Buchnevich as well as top goalie prospect Igor Shesterkin play in the KHL. He's a young player, has size and if they can sign him, let him adjust in Hartford for some time and then see if he can be an NHL player. There is no risk involved other than using one of their 50 contract slots, many of which are designated for prospects like him.