New York Rangers News: Daniel Bernhardt To Report To OHL's London Knights
Rangers prospect Daniel Bernhardt to finally report to the OHL and should start playing hockey again this year.
The New York Rangers are probably breathing a large sigh of relief over 4th round pick (119th overall) Daniel Bernhardt, who should finally see some actual hockey action this year.
If you're not familiar with the situation, this summer Bernhardt sort of forced his way onto the Djurgårdens IF roster of the SHL and didn't give them an option to move him or loan him to the lesser leagues. As a result, Bernhardt dressed in a plethora of games for the SHL club without playing a minute of hockey. You read that correctly, he would dress and then sit on the bench for 60 minutes.
That seems to be over for now, though, with the news that he is going to make a long-rumored move to the OHL:
The London Knights finally got import pick Daniel Bernhardt to report.
— Ryan Pyette (@RyanatLFPress) January 8, 2016 The below are his numbers to this point:
You can see why the Rangers thought highly enough of him to make a move in the fourth round. His 61 points in 44 SuperElit games (think of it as the AHL of the SHL) is nothing to scoff at.
But the Rangers couldn't have been pleased with him not really playing hockey for weeks on end. Moving to the OHL should, at the very least, allow the team to at least get a look to see if he's showing the growth patters they expected when they drafted him.
Per his agent, this move is a loan from the SHL club, so they obviously think highly enough to want to keep his rights:
Uptown client Daniel Bernhardt will be loaned out to London Knights from Djurgården hockey, SHL for the rest of the season.
— Christian Sjögren (@christianuptown) January 8, 2016 Thoughts on this?
P.S: No pictures of him so enjoy this one of Robin Kovacs.
