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

[I Eat Crow]

I'm rooting for teenage girl problems. Hope whatever has got his head up his ass this season gets resolved and he resumes developing next year. He's supposed to be the organization's second best forward prospect behind Kakko.

This is essentially a wasted year of development because of those teenage girl problems. I'm hoping that he gets whatever it is worked out for the Rangers' sake and his career's sake.

 

[romba]

Being that close to achieving my wildest dreams I wouldn’t pack up and go home when encountered with the slightest bit of adversity, especially considering if he played well in the AHL he very well could’ve been in the NHL by now. I don’t think his age is really an excuse, I think the majority of 19 year olds would stay if they were that close to achieving everything they’ve wanted in life. He was also pouting around like a baby in the AHL and looked miserable, and then complains about his time here (even about his teammates joking around and that he asked them not to joke around about him LOL) in Russian interviews. I sure hope he pans out, prior to the draft I posted I wanted them to take Kravtsov, Miller & Lundkvist lol

It's hard to make judgements from the outside but ima do it anyway lol.
He grew up pretty wealthy, is uber talented, and now seems to have taken a couple of steps back at his first real adversity. Doesn't look good for general mental makeup/drive and willingness to push through whatever crap he's put through. If you want to make it to the top that's a minimum necessity to push past whatever garbage your put through (Panarin is an extreme but excellent example- amazing what he went through to make it to the top). I hope VK's lack of production in the KHL wakes him up to realize that it was not American mentality issue, but an internal personality issue with himself.

TLDR: He's one step away from being a healthy scratch in the KHL, where can he run to next?

 

[True Blue]

I'd comment but I'm apparently biased and uneducated, so I have nothing to add.

Well, at least one of the two.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I'd comment but I'm apparently biased and uneducated, so I have nothing to add.

Good luck to him, I hope he gets it all worked out.

that makes 2 of us!

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Played a whopping 41 seconds today.

Just send him back to the VHL for a few weeks.

 

[Hire Sather]

He's still young, no reason to be concerned at all, right?

Ridiculous if you believe that

 

[Zats Muccarello]

He'll be fine.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

I'd comment but I'm apparently biased and uneducated, so I have nothing to add.

Good luck to him, I hope he gets it all worked out.

Maybe Traktor relocated to Hartford

 

[I Eat Crow]

I'd be less concerned if he went back to his old team and played and produced at a similar level as he did last year.

The fact that he played all but 41 seconds on a terrible team has me very concerned. I'm sure it's the coaching teaching him a lesson, but this tells me that for one reason or another he's not earning the ice time.

This is very troubling.

 

[TheDirtyH]

Of course it's a unique phenomenon. I just scrolled though eliteprospects and 1/3 of the current top 50 NHL scorers have spent at least 45 games in the AHL.
Sans Dadonov, the most games played by any 1st line NHL Russian forward in the AHL the last 20 years is 17 (Kucherov).
For a high end Russian, toiling in the AHL is completely unnecessary.

Going by a full-season's data -- ie last year -- 6 of 50 played in so many AHL games. And three of them were Bruins all at nearly the same time (Marchand, Bergeron, Krejci).

Also, what about defensemen? Orlov and Voynov come to mind immediately...

 

[romba]

Played a whopping 41 seconds today.

Just send him back to the VHL for a few weeks.

But what are the barber shops like in Chelyabinsk?

I hate taking pot shots but it's too easy at this point

 

[haveandare]

I'd be less concerned if he went back to his old team and played and produced at a similar level as he did last year.

The fact that he played all but 41 seconds on a terrible team has me very concerned. I'm sure it's the coaching teaching him a lesson, but this tells me that for one reason or another he's not earning the ice time.

This is very troubling.

I agree. The main thing with prospects is if they're improving in the big scope of things. He seems to be going backward over a growing handful of games now, which is the worst case scenario. Even if his team doesn't do well, he's being knocked down in the lineup of this bad team.

 

[romba]

I'd be less concerned if he went back to his old team and played and produced at a similar level as he did last year.

The fact that he played all but 41 seconds on a terrible team has me very concerned. I'm sure it's the coaching teaching him a lesson, but this tells me that for one reason or another he's not earning the ice time.

This is very troubling.

How many lessons before everyone acknowledges the elephant in the room here....

 

[kovazub94]

Being that close to achieving my wildest dreams I wouldn’t pack up and go home when encountered with the slightest bit of adversity, especially considering if he played well in the AHL he very well could’ve been in the NHL by now. I don’t think his age is really an excuse, I think the majority of 19 year olds would stay if they were that close to achieving everything they’ve wanted in life. He was also pouting around like a baby in the AHL and looked miserable, and then complains about his time here (even about his teammates joking around and that he asked them not to joke around about him LOL) in Russian interviews. I sure hope he pans out, prior to the draft I posted I wanted them to take Kravtsov, Miller & Lundkvist lol

See, now you go to another extreme and completely discount what Kravtsov was facing.

I especially love how you contrast Kravtsov with yourself. I'm genuinely interested to learn what kind of adversity you faced and overcame in your life to do the discounting, and what do you know about professional training and perseverance at that level "being so close to your dream".

 

[kovazub94]

I'd comment but I'm apparently biased and uneducated, so I have nothing to add.

Good luck to him, I hope he gets it all worked out.

Completely agree about that post being out-of-line.

 

[OthmannOut]

This kid better get it together. I spent at least five minutes coming up with this username pun. That’s time I’m never going to get back. Sad.

 

[romba]

This kid better get it together. I spent at least five minutes coming up with this username pun. That’s time I’m never going to get back. Sad.

It's a nice user name!

 

[haveandare]

See, now you go to another extreme and completely discount what Kravtsov was facing.

I especially love how you contrast Kravtsov with yourself. I'm genuinely interested to learn what kind of adversity you faced and overcame in your life to do the discounting, and what do you know about professional training and perseverance at that level "being so close to your dream".

Not for nothing, but it's really not unlikely or uncommon that a random person has faced adversity worse than moving across the world to live their professional dream, been uncomfortable in a foreign place and/or been treated in a way that they felt wasn't commensurate to their skill.

There's a lot worse and harder adversity out there to be faced. Kravtsov himself has probably even faced worse than this.

 

[EdJovanovski]

See, now you go to another extreme and completely discount what Kravtsov was facing.

I especially love how you contrast Kravtsov with yourself. I'm genuinely interested to learn what kind of adversity you faced and overcame in your life to do the discounting, and what do you know about professional training and perseverance at that level "being so close to your dream".

Way off topic but I'm the first person in my family to have even a high school education, my dad was a drug dealer who was in prison for attempted murder; he then died when I was only 1 year old. My mom was diagnosed with one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer when I was 9 years old and was almost certain I would've lost both my parents by that tender age (she beat cancer however). One of my best friends I knew since we were in kindergarten was murdered when we were 15.
Teenager Laura Szendrei dies after vicious attack in North Delta
If you want proof we were very close friends I can send pictures of us together since we were little kids in PM's. The city we live in (outskirts of Delta, essentially Surrey) was classified as the "Car Theft Capital of North America" and is one of the most screwed up places on the continent. I've been jumped by mobs of 40+ people with bear mace & batons, as have all of my friends. I've been held at gunpoint. About 20 kids I went to high school with are already dead and I am still very young. There's a criminal record search website and when I search the majority of my friends and people I know from high school they all have criminal records for violence, gun or drug offenses. So yea I think that's a tad more adversity than some kid of Russian oligarchs who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth who's throwing a temper tantrum that he didn't make the NHL on his first attempt.

I also play ice hockey & ball hockey, ball hockey is very big in BC and I played at the provincial level where many of my teammates and competition were guys who played for team Canada and were drafted to the WHL and I led many of them in scoring. Obviously not anywhere near the level of Kravtsov, but hockey is not what my career aspiration is. If I were that close to achieving my wildest dreams I wouldn't pack it up and go home, nor do I think the majority of people would. I'm a big Kravtsov fan, I've been watching many of his KHL games back to last season and I'm disappointed with what has transpired so far.

 

[romba]

Way off topic but I'm the first person in my family to have even a high school education, my dad was a drug dealer who was in prison for attempted murder; he then died when I was only 1 year old. My mom was diagnosed with one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer when I was 9 years old and was almost certain I would've lost both my parents by that tender age (she beat cancer however). One of my best friends I knew since we were in kindergarten was murdered when we were 15.
Teenager Laura Szendrei dies after vicious attack in North Delta
If you want proof we were very close friends I can send pictures of us together since we were little kids in PM's. The city we live in (outskirts of Delta, essentially Surrey) was classified as the "Car Theft Capital of North America" and is one of the most screwed up places on the continent. I've been jumped by mobs of 40+ people with bear mace & batons, as have all of my friends. I've been held at gunpoint. About 20 kids I went to high school with are already dead and I am still very young. There's a criminal record search website and when I search the majority of my friends and people I know from high school they all have criminal records for violence, gun or drug offenses. So yea I think that's a tad more adversity than some kid of Russian oligarchs who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth who's throwing a temper tantrum that he didn't make the NHL on his first attempt.

I also play ice hockey & ball hockey, ball hockey is very big in BC and I played at the provincial level where many of my teammates and competition were guys who played for team Canada and were drafted to the WHL and I led many of them in scoring. Obviously not anywhere near the level of Kravtsov, but hockey is not what my career aspiration is. If I were that close to achieving my wildest dreams I wouldn't pack it up and go home, nor do I think the majority of people would. I'm a big Kravtsov fan, I've been watching many of his KHL games back to last season and I'm disappointed with what has transpired so far.

 

[Inferno]

Kravtsov's skills looked pretty good in the NHL pre-season. Barring a huge drop in his play this season, I would imagine he will be in line for a top-9 spot next year.

Did they? I’m not sure they did...he looked like a guy who tried to dangle with the toe drag between the legs move on every other shift. I thought his game needed a lot of work.

 

[Inferno]

I remember so many people actually blaming the rangers or Hartford’s coaching staff for this mess...heh.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

This kid better get it together. I spent at least five minutes coming up with this username pun. That’s time I’m never going to get back. Sad.

Just remember, I trademarked Kraptsov the night of the 2018 draft.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I remember so many people actually blaming the rangers or Hartford’s coaching staff for this mess...heh.

Well, it would be foolish to think the fault lies with just one party

 

[cwede]

I remember so many people actually blaming the rangers or Hartford’s coaching staff for this mess...heh.

i have no inside information at all, but my gut suspicion is he yielded (too easily) to talk from others, perhaps family or friends, perhaps his KHL team, perhaps his agent, to bail so soon

another couple weeks, the injuries and callups (and effort and coaching) would have opened up the icetime currently going to McBride, Dmowski, Newell, Meskanen, LZG, etc