This has nothing to do with a lack of talent on Kravtsov's part. And his attitude is certainly not enough to deny his ability and ceiling. It's just something that needs to be dealt with appropriately and I am not sure if the Rangers have done that in this scenario.
Gorton did a great job drafting, but the team did a terrible job developing until very recently. The only area where Gorton really drafted poorly is at Center, for whatever reason. But you can't look at the Rangers prospect pool at the end of his tenure and suggest he did a bad job. Now, taking on or handing out bad contracts, that's a completely different story. But so far, I wouldn't exactly say Drury has been better, all be it in a brief period of time. He appears overly obsessed with gritty depth players, even at the expense of superior talent. And while we definitely needed to add some grit and physicality to the team, we absolutely did not need all of Goodrow, Blais, Reaves and Hunt. 2 of those 4 would have been more than enough, especially considering we had Rooney, Gauthier and Barron is close to ready. And Blais came at the expense of our best RW, Buch. Buch, who would have still been our best RW this season and the way things are going, would have probably been our best RW in 3 years from now. And Kravtsov was and still is a "top" prospect. This idea that he's not is pure post hoc conjecture.
So, "this Russian kid thinks a lot of himself" is enough to not draft one of the better wing prospects in the draft class?
I don't mean to be a jerk, but that sentence must come up ALL the time in scouting and for a good chunk of top prospects. And not just Russians. But there are cultural differences too, where I think there is more a sense of self pride and maybe egoism, not sure if that's the right word, maybe just overdeveloped self confidence, in the former Eastern Block.
I think we saw it from Radulov early on after he was drafted and Kaprizov who's eventually proved WHY. But we've seen it from other players like Laine as well, who's from neighboring Finland or Tony D who's from NJ. And usually, that isn't enough to completely prevent a prospect from developing and becoming high end NHL players. Also, it's usually something that dissipates to an extent with maturity and age.
As far as "liking the picks" or "not scouting appropriately" that's absolute BS. At BEST, NHL scouting is still a crapshoot. There isn't one scout, GM or coach who has a successful record. Just meaning every single scout, coach and GM will have a higher failure rate than success rate. Kravtsov might not have been everyone's choice, but there was and is no doubt he has the talent to warrant a selection in the 1st half of the draft. Whether he works out or not is a different story. But players drafted fail way more than succeed in terms of having a complete NHL career, let alone becoming a top 6 player. Whether it's the 1st round, 2nd or beyond.
Anyway, the more news that comes out, the less this seems a wholly Kravtsov issue as opposed to an organization issue. Is Kravtsov narcissistic and egotistical? Probably. But that doesn't automatically mean he's unreasonable or self destructive.
Again, there's more than meets the eye here. His issue seems to be specifically with Rangers upper management and not simply with his own self worth.
A look deeper into Gallant's career as a head coach is interesting. He's been let go twice, from Florida and Vegas, after having a few years of successful runs. And both organizations have shown the ability to be successful after his departure. In each case, including his stint in Columbus, he's been fired within the first half of his 3rd season with that team. Which after 3 occasions can be considered a pattern. There is something to be said about his inability to remain with teams for more than 2 full seasons, even when they are performing at a relatively high level. And the question needs to be asked, is this a "Gallant issue" or just a very odd coincidence that repeated itself 3 times in a row? Why can't he keep a job for more than 2 full seasons?
And Drury well, there's not a whole lot we can tell right now. This being his first role as a GM. But in the brief time he's been GM, I wouldn't exactly say he's been "impressive" or done anything to make me say "great move". In fact, aside from maybe the Goodrow and Reeves acquisitions, all his other moves have been at best TBD and at worst questionable to mediocre.
So putting this all on Kravtsov or even mostly on Kravtsov, right now at least, I think is very premature and unfair. Yes, ideally he would have accepted a stint at Hartford. But a lot went on here, some things we certainly are not privy to and clearly a few players that made the roster had worse preseasons or at least didn't "earn" their roster spot.
