Ok, I get your side I do
I do think that him thinking he deserved to make it and not making it screwed his head up definitely. He needs to grow up in that aspect. Life definitely doesnt give you what you deserve or what you think you deserve.
Front office did say he would've made it but 4th line minutes were useless. So in my mind he was good enough.
I went back and watched his highlights and I really wasn't disappointed and I'm tough to please. Wish he had a more urgency to his game. But maybe his game is a thinking game idk. I believe Hartford said something about his compete level and heartrate during shifts. Maybe he processes the game differently where he doesnt have to overwork himself physically
I know it sounds I'm making excuses for him but I'm really just trying to make the case that hes good enough now
Check this out if you haven't seen it yet it's only 7 minutes or so
One thing that I just want to add though is that, everything that is said about how Kravy reacted and what not — is 100% speculation. It becomes a “truth”. There is not one single fact that with any degree of certainty proves it. If Kravy says that the coach in the AHL said he had to work harder, it becomes an assumption that it was a big issue. Could be, but could as well not be the case. It’s a fact, he wore pulse meter and the coach told him his pulse didn’t go up a ton. He told that to a reporter who asked what the coaches told him that he needed to work on in the AHL. Don’t have to mean a thing.
What we know as a fact is (only) that he didn’t thrive on the ice in HFD. But from my POV it’s completely overlooked just how different the game is down there. There was a big difference between the NHL and the AHL 15 years ago. Today that NHL has come an extreme distance from where it was 15 years ago when there barely was any room in the game for anyone 5’10, very few would think about making a move at the offensive blueline, Ds would hesitate to jump in (now it’s not rare to see both Ds up) and so forth. The AHL has also changed, but not nearly as much as the NHL.
I know many don’t agree with me, but I honestly think that is a bit mind boggling, because I see down right — extreme — differences between the NHL and the AHL. The SHL is definitely more similar to the NHL than the AHL, AINEC from my POV. The KHL is also much more similar to the NHL than the AHL.
To a large extent I think these kids don’t want to be in HFD because they feel that it’s crappy environment to develop in — because it IS a crappy environment to develop in lol (for forwards). No forward has developed well in HFD. Then there is some nonsense brought up about Chytil, who blew everyone away in his first camp in NA and since hardly has developed at all (yeah there is some marginal development since he was 17 y/o, hurrah, it’s not like he is displaying much variety offensively or anything like that). I think it’s very likely that Chytil was be a much more complete player offensively — had he not been rushed to the AHL as early as he was. That was very unfortunate.
I think we started to see some improvements in HFD under KK. But at the same time, he had the roster he had. If you gave the puck to Vinny L he never gave it back. The game today is about playing with speed and really challenging the net with speed. Play a high octane game offensively. You can’t do that alone. HFD to an extreme — as well as the AHL in general — did the exact opposite. Every single PC, KK was talking about how you must manage the puck better to get to the next level, pass the puck better.
Kravy isn’t the only one who has left HFD. In fact, everyone have left HFD early. When Meskanen stayed a little longer than a year everyone was like ‘what is this’. There is a reason for that of course. Compare it to the Marlies were — everyone — stays. 3-4 years even.
As much as anything, this is something our — too often dysfunctional — organization must figure out. How to develop kids. It’s not 1978 anymore. This organization has been run like it was for way too long.
