Rangers Agree to Terms With Fedor Tyutin

By Brandon LeBourveau
The New York Rangers have announced today that the team has agreed to terms with their 2nd round pick from this past draft (2001) in Russian defenseman Fedor Tyutin. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is believed that Tyutin agreed to a three year entry-level contract.

Fedor Tyutin, a 6-3 202 pound defenseman from Russia, was drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round (40th Overall) of the 2001 Entry Draft. The Rangers scouts are extremely high on Tyutin, as they had him ranked 10th overall on their list heading into the draft and were ecstatic to see him still on the board in the 2nd round. A stay-at-home defenseman with some untapped offensive potential, Tyutin will likely play the 2001/2002 season with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Tyutin was selected by the Storm in the 1st round of the CHL Import draft a few weeks ago. Tyutin will be in camp, but most likely he will report to the Storm before training camp is over with.

Since Tyutin was drafted from Europe, the rules barring junior players to play in the AHL before they are at least 20 years old or have completed three junior seasons do not apply to him. Tyutin can play in the AHL this season, but it will be better for his development to play a season in juniors so he can get used to the North American style of hockey, as well as the different culture and also the English language. Tyutin will likely follow the same path that Tomas Kloucek took, as Kloucek came over to North America and played a season in the QMJHL before being an outstanding rookie with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL as a 19 year old. Tyutin is mature beyond his years and would likely do fine in the AHL at 18 years old, but the Rangers probably do not want to take a chance on ruining his confidence by playing him at the pro level at 18 years old. We’ll have to wait and see though what happens during training camp.

In other news, Czech defenseman Marek Zidlicky has not been signed as of yet, although he may have been and it just hasn’t been announced yet. If Zidlicky was not signed by last night’s midnight deadline, that does not mean he has to return to Finland next season. The Rangers can still sign him and bring him over to North America, but they would have to pay a $100,000 transfer fee to his Finland club, HIFK. There’s still the possibility he’ll be signed, and my guess is that he will be under contract and on the ice come training camp this September.

That does it for this article, and if any more news pops up in the next few days or so, I will do my best to write up an article and keep all you readers informed.

Note: There was some confusion with my last article, as some people may have believed the article was plagiarized. In fact, it was the other way around. Someone copied my article and posted it on HockeyTradeRumors.com and put his name as the author of the article. When I was informed by a reader, I immediately e-mailed the owner and he removed the article from the site. I just wanted to clear everything up, as I do not want people believing that I plagiarize other people’s work.