Prospect Info: 2018 NHL Draft / Pick #9 - Vitali Kravtsov (RW) - Part VI

[eco's bones]

Deangelo is the best example of it on the current Rangers for me.

There is very little that I've heard or seen of him as a person, that doesn't annoy the hell out of me; but I hope that he proves to be the real deal and we find a way to keep him. He's a player.

The thing is Trouba's got an 8 year deal and we need the kind of all situations player that he is. And then there's Fox--who looks like a stud. Right out of college--he is dissecting defenses and IMO he's better defensively than DeAngelo. DeAngelo though is playing excellently. He's made at least two (if not more) game winning plays and has 18 points in 23 games and has turned the corner. He's no longer a maybe--he's a legit very good player. But the next issue is how long before Nils Lundkvist is ready to take an RD spot because that guy looks super too....and to lesser extent there is Joey Keane in Hartford. Conceivably we could hang on to DeAngelo maybe two more years but there's a point where Lundkvist is going to force the issue.

I really like the Rangers RD this year.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Needs to toughen up mentally?--is kind of what I'm reading. That's also a typical issue for 19 year olds. Sometimes things come a little too easily and the first time someone is hit with some kind of adversity.....they wilt. The Rangers carried him through training camp. He played 5 of our 6 preseason games--even had a goal and an assist during those preseason games. There is no question the talent is there. That said the Rangers made the correct decision....he wasn't ready for the NHL yet and was sent to Hartford and at that point things kind of discombobulated.

When I see people use words like this, I immediately assume they underestimate the impact it has on the life of a 19-year old to move to another continent. It's not something you just "brush off casually" so to speak. Would I have preferred he acted more mature? Sure. But sometimes it's easy to forget that these are still kids who move to another continent where they speak the language but at best as a secondary language. They have to adjust to different standards, habits. Everything. On top of that, they leave family and friends behind.

Maybe I am just not that harsh on these kids who go through this since I experienced it myself when I moved from the Netherlands to South Africa when I was 21. The simplest things become a challenge because everything is different. I think it would be unfair to automatically assume a 19-year old in that situation would make the "wise choice" we are thinking of at age 35

 

[eco's bones]

When I see people use words like this, I immediately assume they underestimate the impact it has on the life of a 19-year old to move to another continent. It's not something you just "brush off casually" so to speak. Would I have preferred he acted more mature? Sure. But sometimes it's easy to forget that these are still kids who move to another continent where they speak the language but at best as a secondary language. They have to adjust to different standards, habits. Everything. On top of that, they leave family and friends behind.

Maybe I am just not that harsh on these kids who go through this since I experienced it myself when I moved from the Netherlands to South Africa when I was 21. The simplest things become a challenge because everything is different. I think it would be unfair to automatically assume a 19-year old in that situation would make the "wise choice" we are thinking of at age 35

I'm not brushing it off at all. FWIW I think it's a big leap for a Canadian kid off of a farm to leave home and play in the CHL or go to college--just not as big a leap as a player coming from Europe into a whole new culture. It's always easier not to take on....or to defer a challenge. Vitali was here all summer preparing for the season--he has some English skills. I'm not sure what can be parsed out of all that but whether his demotion to Hartford was too disappointing for him--he did not seem in the right element once he landed there. He is young and he will have another chance next year. I haven't really changed my opinion all that much on him. He's playing in a very good league. I can liken it to my own experience of going into the military. I'd never really been away from home on my own really and boot camp can be a pretty jarring experience and I was on the verge of quitting. The drill instructor (not all that unlike the guy in Full Metal Jacket and I'm pretty damn sure he didn't like me) called me into his office. He came right out with it--'I've heard you want to quit and go home. I can get you the bus ticket right now'---- and truthfully I did want to go home.....or at least I did until he asked that question. I stuck it out.....it was one of the best decisions I ever made and FWIW I never liked being in the military but it did push my life in a much more positive direction.

 

[leetch99]

I'm not brushing it off at all. FWIW I think it's a big leap for a Canadian kid off of a farm to leave home and play in the CHL or go to college--just not as big a leap as a player coming from Europe into a whole new culture. It's always easier not to take on....or to defer a challenge. Vitali was here all summer preparing for the season--he has some English skills. I'm not sure what can be parsed out of all that but whether his demotion to Hartford was too disappointing for him--he did not seem in the right element once he landed there. He is young and he will have another chance next year. I haven't really changed my opinion all that much on him. He's playing in a very good league. I can liken it to my own experience of going into the military. I'd never really been away from home on my own really and boot camp can be a pretty jarring experience and I was on the verge of quitting. The drill instructor (not all that unlike the guy in Full Metal Jacket and I'm pretty damn sure he didn't like me) called me into his office. He came right out with it--'I've heard you want to quit and go home. I can get you the bus ticket right now'---- and truthfully I did want to go home.....or at least I did until he asked that question. I stuck it out.....it was one of the best decisions I ever made and FWIW I never liked being in the military but it did push my life in a much more positive direction.

My bro just retired as a Lieutenant Colonel /38 years...educated...pensioned....and now set for life . Too bad he is an Islander fan LOL...

 

[Ola]

I'm not brushing it off at all. FWIW I think it's a big leap for a Canadian kid off of a farm to leave home and play in the CHL or go to college--just not as big a leap as a player coming from Europe into a whole new culture. It's always easier not to take on....or to defer a challenge. Vitali was here all summer preparing for the season--he has some English skills. I'm not sure what can be parsed out of all that but whether his demotion to Hartford was too disappointing for him--he did not seem in the right element once he landed there. He is young and he will have another chance next year. I haven't really changed my opinion all that much on him. He's playing in a very good league. I can liken it to my own experience of going into the military. I'd never really been away from home on my own really and boot camp can be a pretty jarring experience and I was on the verge of quitting. The drill instructor (not all that unlike the guy in Full Metal Jacket and I'm pretty damn sure he didn't like me) called me into his office. He came right out with it--'I've heard you want to quit and go home. I can get you the bus ticket right now'---- and truthfully I did want to go home.....or at least I did until he asked that question. I stuck it out.....it was one of the best decisions I ever made and FWIW I never liked being in the military but it did push my life in a much more positive direction.

Yeah, and I still think its lost somewhere along the line in this discussion (not your posts) that Kravy so far only have done what I think most kids do in this situation. I.e. go back to Europe while being a teenager instead of playing in the AHL.

And I definitely think it was the right decision for him at the time. Kravy isn't a kid that should play the game with big safety marginals. The problem he had was that he failed to play the game with smaller marginals too often, and that goes right to your confidence. I still have fresh in mind how he had a few good shifts in a row in the AHL, especially one impressive back-check that was followed by some good plays with the puck, and then he in close connection to those shifts tried to stick-handle at the defensive blue-line and had the puck poke checked away. That play solely happened due to him underestimating the ability of the forechecker, he could easily have moved the puck more sideways because he almost had him beaten from the get-go.

Kravy has all kinds of growth potential in the KHL. He is far from being at a level where his game is a finished product and what is left for him is to adopt to the NA game. One kid it made zero sense to go back to the KHL for, from a 'making it to the NHL'-perspective, was Bereglazov. But that point is easily 2-3 years down the line for Kravy. Like his coordination, he still doesn't have perfect control of those long legs and arms. In many situations yes, but it still showed that he can grow a lot more for the faster game in NA.

And in the end we must always consider that the AHL certainly is a "hyper correction" for a player from the NHL. If you have the KHL on a scale far to the left you will have the NHL in the middle and the AHL far to the right. Its like a kick-boxer taking up Olympic Wrestling to prepare for the MMA. But the MMA is not =Olympic wrestling...

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

I have my reasons as to why I have "cooled off" a bit regarding Kravtsov and it's not something that happened on the ice.

The decision to go back to Russia isn't it, I have no problem with it.

My opinion on him as a prospect hasn't changed. As a person, I am not really a fan anymore. In a way, it's the exact opposite of Lias haha.

I hope it's the sort of thing that might be the result of youth, and which he might redeem in months/years to come?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I hope it's the sort of thing that might be the result of youth, and which he might redeem in months/years to come?

Most likely

 

[UnSandvich]

I'm going to hold off on passing judgment on Kravtsov til he's back in NA late this season or in next season, where we'll be able to see if he's still making the same mistakes he was this year, or if he's grown/improved as a player.

 

[Cag29]

His sister is a lawyer in Canada, his dad is director of an IT company, not sure what his mom does for a living but they travel all over the world so I assume she makes good money too

Then it’s not really a money issue.

 

[BroadwayStorm]

I think Ranger fans who think they have all the answers about being mentally tough should hush.

 

[DutchNYR]

The amount of armchair psychotherapists in this thread is pretty alarming.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

anyone watched him lately? Numbers don't look great, how has he been for Traktor?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

anyone watched him lately? Numbers don't look great, how has he been for Traktor?

Players need time to adjust when they join a team mid-season. Look at William Nylander last season in Toronto.

3 points in his first 19 games. Players need to adjust to players, strategy etc. All this while the rest of the team is already there. It takes a few weeks to get there. Nylander finished the season with 24 in 35 games.

And before anyone starts: I am not saying he's as good as Nylander. Just pointing out that players struggle to catch up when they miss pre-season/camp with a team

 

[Athor]

Watched the Traktor game yesterday & it didn't look too good. Krav is still floating around the ice and looks like he's going through the motions in the defensive zone. He's waiting for his teammates to do something so he can start breaking up ice. He played less than 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure he didn't get a shift in the 3rd. He was on the bench so I don't think it was injury related.

 

[kovazub94]

Watched the Traktor game yesterday & it didn't look too good. Krav is still floating around the ice and looks like he's going through the motions in the defensive zone. He's waiting for his teammates to do something so he can start breaking up ice. He played less than 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure he didn't get a shift in the 3rd. He was on the bench so I don't think it was injury related.

He was keeping his heart rate under 160... Too soon? : )

 

[bl02]

Watched the Traktor game yesterday & it didn't look too good. Krav is still floating around the ice and looks like he's going through the motions in the defensive zone. He's waiting for his teammates to do something so he can start breaking up ice. He played less than 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure he didn't get a shift in the 3rd. He was on the bench so I don't think it was injury related.

Really sucks to hear. I don’t care how talented he is if his work ethic doesn’t improve He will never make it in the NHL. Not many players in the NHL can survive on skill alone. Actually probably no one can. Even guys like Crosby and McDavid work their ass off.I’m hoping it’s just his age and his work ethic will improve in all three zones as he gets older.

 

[nyr2k2]

Watched the Traktor game yesterday & it didn't look too good. Krav is still floating around the ice and looks like he's going through the motions in the defensive zone. He's waiting for his teammates to do something so he can start breaking up ice. He played less than 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure he didn't get a shift in the 3rd. He was on the bench so I don't think it was injury related.

Oh, great to hear he's playing so well back at home in his comfort zone and positive mental space.

 

[Crease]

Just a total step back this year for both Kravtsov and Andersson. Still time to turn things around, but not what you hope to see out of these kids at this point in their careers.

 

[LeetchisGod]

Just a total step back this year for both Kravtsov and Andersson. Still time to turn things around, but not what you hope to see out of these kids at this point in their careers.

Agreed. The jury is obviously still out on both but there's not much positive to be said right now.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Just a total step back this year for both Kravtsov and Andersson. Still time to turn things around, but not what you hope to see out of these kids at this point in their careers.

Very disappointing for sure. But, nobody is going to have 100% success with their prospects. Fox, ADA, Chytil, Kakko, Lindgren, possibly Hajek and Howden all look like they'll have long successful careers.

Compared to the fire sale Sather had, it's day and night difference. I remember playing on my PS2 and Balej turned out to be a freaking beast. Dude played just about a dozen games for us lol.. Immonen had promise but played just about 20 games. Kondratiev is another guy who played like 30 games for us and eventually bolted to the KHL.

It would be a huge blow if Lias and Kravtsov don't develop into NHL regulars, but at the same time we've done quite well with the rest of our prospects.

 

[LeetchisGod]

Very disappointing for sure. But, nobody is going to have 100% success with their prospects. Fox, ADA, Chytil, Kakko, Lindgren, possibly Hajek and Howden all look like they'll have long successful careers.

Compared to the fire sale Sather had, it's day and night difference. I remember playing on my PS2 and Balej turned out to be a freaking beast. Dude played just about a dozen games for us lol.. Immonen had promise but played just about 20 games. Kondratiev is another guy who played like 30 games for us and eventually bolted to the KHL.

It would be a huge blow if Lias and Kravtsov don't develop into NHL regulars, but at the same time we've done quite well with the rest of our prospects.

It hurts more when it's top ten picks. We haven't had many of those. You want to make them count.

 

[Don Chytil]

It hurts more when it's top ten picks. We haven't had many of those. You want to make them count.

So just pretend that Chytil and Fox were our top ten picks instead.

In terms of being satisfied with our rebuild, it doesn't matter at all to me where players were drafted. There's going to be hits and misses, and if there's enough hits, how we acquired them is irrelevant.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

It hurts more when it's top ten picks. We haven't had many of those. You want to make them count.

Gorton has amassed a great deal of young talent where if a prospect like Lias busts, it shouldn't cripple our franchise. You obviously hope your top-10 picks become great players, but if your team has the proper depth you can still be successful without it.

I still have high hopes for both players. They're very young so there's time.

 

[LORDE]

So just pretend that Chytil and Fox were our top ten picks instead.

In terms of being satisfied with our rebuild, it doesn't matter at all to me where players were drafted. There's going to be hits and misses, and if there's enough hits, how we acquired them is irrelevant.

Agree completely. Once a kid is drafted... where he was drafted is almost irrelevant (I say mostly because I suppose you could trade a kid a year-ish later and have his pedigree be in play on the return)

 

[kovazub94]

The Rangers are far from there and I'm also a believer into taking prospects development from trades, related and own draft picks on a cumulative basis but it would be a very hard pill to swallow if both recent top-10 picks busted hard (as in if one became a generic 4th liner and the other decided to playout his career outside of NHL altogether). Again, the Rangers are VERY far from this outcome just yet.