Prospect Info: 2018 NHL Draft / Pick #9 - Vitali Kravtsov (RW) - Part III
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Amazing Kreiderman
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- Apr 11, 2011
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And Florida picked Gudbranson. And Tampa picked Brett Connolly. And Isles picked Dal Colle. Every scouting staff makes mistakes.
Blue Blooded
Most people rejected his message
and Reinhart and Strome and... The Isles are in their own league when it comes to blowing top picks. They were just lucky that they somehow managed to bamboozle Chia twice with those awful picks.
Amazing Kreiderman
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Every team makes mistakes in the draft. But we only bitch about the one we made 8 years ago.
Vinny DeAngelo
Jimmy Easy to defend
We didnt have any picks forever after the nash and st louis trades... That why everyone shits on Gropp, he was our picked guy in like 2 years
LORDE
I am Lorde, YA YA YA
Edge
Kris King's Ghost
Unfortunately, I think it would’ve been tough for most anyone we picked to appease this board. Because we didn’t have a first for 4 years, I feel like whoever we took was going to be a defacto first round pick.
Of course Clark and company also didn’t do themselves any favors with some of their comments. That was like fuel on a fire.
But let’s for arguments sake say we took Sprong. I am curious if his trajectory with us would be similar to how it’s been with the Pens. Likewise, I wonder just how patient this board would be at this point.
I think there still that fantasy element associated with him because we can observe from afar. But after looking at how we’ve zeroed-in on certain younger players, to the point of over-analyzing them at times, I suspect there would be pages of heated debate dedicated to Sprong at this point.
Vinny DeAngelo
Jimmy Easy to defend
Yea prior to ADA's most recent play, I likened his situation to Julius Honka's. This board spent years crying that we need to trade for Honka and that the next big trade we pulled was to get him. From our view point he was this young stud that couldn't break in because the coaches were dumb. But when we turned to ADA it was he has an attitude, the coach benching him is because he doesnt practice right, and so on...
We tend to apply two standards to prospects. Rangers and Non-rangers
I agree with your overall point on having double standards, but man, you're something else with the DeAngelo stuff. Honka didn't have disciplinary issues and character concerns at multiple stops and wasn't traded repeatedly. There is nothing similar about their paths to making the NHL.
Edge
Kris King's Ghost
I would agree.
I think we’re fundamentally pretty tough on our prospects, especially now that so much is riding on their success. That’s understandable, I get it.
But I maintain that we often miss a step when watching these kids.
We spend a considerable amount of time dreaming of what we think they will be. And we spend a decent amount of time debating what they aren’t, or the speed at which they’re progressing or not progressing. But we don’t really spend a whole lot of time talking about what they are at a given point in time.
I think it’s also one of those rare situations where both older posters and younger posters do it, but for two surprisingly different reasons.
For older posters, I get the sense that they remember the 96-2003 years where this team just didn’t produce much from the draft — even when it looked like they had some solid drafts and outside observers expressed opinions stating as much.
For younger posters, I think there is a certain gap that exists for this franchise from 2013-2016. They had time to sit and fantasize about players from those years, some of whom are just starting to hit their prime years. As a result, we were always comparing the hopes for second and third round picks with those of other teams first round picks. Inevitably, even with remarkable drafting, that was inherently an uphill battle.
But now, we’re in completely uncharted territory for this team in the modern era. We now have a roster featuring 9 top 50 picks from only 3 drafts.
There’s a good possibility that number could be as high as 14 or 15 by the time we wrap up our 2019 draft. That’s something like 7 or 8 percent of the top 200 picks over a four draft span. That’s about as much of a polar opposite as you can have from where we were just 18 months ago.
Now, putting aside the debate as to whether or not it will work, that’s a bit of a culture shock. I’m not sure a lot of people still know what to make of it all, because there’s no reference point. Positive or negative, we have very little we can compare it to.
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Amazing Kreiderman
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Can we get back to talking about my boy Kravtsov again?
He is back to action in the KHL tomorrow against Vityaz with Traktor. Lines aren't announced yet but I expect him to be back on the 2nd line with Polyganov and Glinkin since the team has not done well in his absence
He is back to action in the KHL tomorrow against Vityaz with Traktor. Lines aren't announced yet but I expect him to be back on the 2nd line with Polyganov and Glinkin since the team has not done well in his absence
romba
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I remember the days listening to Sal Messina and Kenny on the radio gush over Malhotra and Lundmark as the future, and felt excited for the future.
A guy like Kravtsov would have sent the fans into such a tizzy back then. Now with info overload it’s like ‘hmm he’s averaging 15:47 this year, that’s .02 seconds down from last year....he’s STAGNATING IN KHL’.
Different eras and fun to reminisce sometimes.
A guy like Kravtsov would have sent the fans into such a tizzy back then. Now with info overload it’s like ‘hmm he’s averaging 15:47 this year, that’s .02 seconds down from last year....he’s STAGNATING IN KHL’.
Different eras and fun to reminisce sometimes.
Larrybiv
We're CLEAN, we PROMISE!
Thats because we have nothing else to go on. We rarely had picks......remember? Lol.
Lately we are oozing picks, and more to come......i think.
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
People were bitching about the McIlrath pick even when we took Miller and Skjei the next two years... two solid picks. It has nothing to do with the lack of other picks to talk about.
EdJovanovski
#FreeRempe
Looks like people are thinking Kravtsov was a good pick now
Vitali Kravtsov vs Oliver Wahlstrom
Same poll had Wahlstrom win in a landslide right after the draft
I really wanted Wahlstrom at the time and was excited when he was still available at #9 but it’s looking more & more like we made the right choice
Are you guys glad we took Kravtsov?
Vitali Kravtsov vs Oliver Wahlstrom
Same poll had Wahlstrom win in a landslide right after the draft
I really wanted Wahlstrom at the time and was excited when he was still available at #9 but it’s looking more & more like we made the right choice
Are you guys glad we took Kravtsov?
Amazing Kreiderman
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As most people here know, I wanted Kravtsov at 9 and was thrilled when I heard Gordie Clark announce our pick. I have not changed my mind since. If anything, I have become even more of a fan. I can't wait to see what he will become
GeorgeKaplan
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I was skeptical of Wahlstrom pre draft, and I was skeptical of Kravtsov too, but I thought and still think Kravtsov had more tools/tricks to his offensive game and he’s done a lot to alieviate my concern about him. I really wanted Dobson over both of them, but there are people out there who question if he even has top pairing upside and I now love K’andre, so I’m not really too concerned about passing on Dobson anymore
Harbour Dog
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Definitely. I was hoping for Wahlstrom or Dobson at the time, but Kravtsov was one of three or four guys that I would of grouped right behind them.
And at this point, he has to be considered to be at least on equal footing with every guy taken after him.
So far Wahlstrom can't sniff Kravtsov's shoes.
I think the more interesting question is who was a better pick for us, Chytil at 21 or Kravtsov at 9?
Amazing Kreiderman
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Chytil was a huge reach and so far, it has paid off. I love that pick considering where he was drafted and which other players were in the mix.
Lays
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I wanted Wahlstrom/Dobson at the pick (I had Dobson at 4 and Wahlstrom at 5) but had Kravtsov at 11. But I always did say pre-draft that it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up the 3rd best player of the draft. My only concern with Kravtsov at the time was that I feel his playoffs where he got lucky with some points helped his stock a lot
Kravtsov has everything you want in a player though
Character
Speed/skating
Size (he’s like 6’3-6’4)
Hands
Creativity
Playmaking ability
Potential to play as a C
Playoff performer
Defensive ability
Effort
Quick shot (but needs more volume)
Kravtsov can be elite, without even bias here he has one of the highest upsides among prospects and a safe floor
Yes Vitali Kravtsov was projected a lot higher, but I`m excited about him for sure.
I found an old article about him here with The Hockey Writers: https://thehockeywriters.com/vitali-kravtsov-2018-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/
Amazing Kreiderman
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Yes Vitali Kravtsov was projected a lot higher, but I`m excited about him for sure.
I found an old article about him here with The Hockey Writers: https://thehockeywriters.com/vitali-kravtsov-2018-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/
Hockeyprospect.com had him at 6 FYI
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I’m just happy Kravtsov vs Wahlstrom didn’t turn into a permanent thing like Andersson vs Mittlestadt.
Irishguy42
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