I am concerned that the team is deciding to eschew rationality and try to out-heavy everyone just because the Lightning had one grit line and because the Islanders stole our lunch with a bunch of thirty two year old trapping goons.
Skill and speed still win in this league. It can't be exclusively skill and speed but we now have enough grit, yet there seems to be no end in sight of the organization running off their talent in favor of grinders.
...
Again, I said this earlier, there is all this spin about how "Kravtsov wasn't one of our top 4 RWs," after camp but I don't buy that at all.
This is what happened, if I had to guess:
- The team traded Buch "for the cap savings," which it did need, but absolutely, 100% because it also knew it needed to open up playing time for Kravtsov or otherwise this would happen again. There's no way they didn't know. They were also in on Eichel, and my guess is that they still are, which is why Buch was moved for bottom 6 grit and not a top 6 center prospect (another flaw in this whole process being, they've irrevocably decided to win now at the expense of winning later, and won't consider a trade that they win the value exchange if it doesn't mean they can't fortify this year's team, which is a moronic approach).
- Gallant gets into the building and looks over the roster, which probably had not FULLY happened at the time of the Buch trade, as that decision was a Drury/Dolan decision. Gallant implements his "I don't want kids playing on the fourth line," credo. After roster analysis, and perhaps with pressure from players like Kreider himself or other vets who do not share concern for "the future," (which is why vets shouldn't be making these decisions), Gallant decides that the best course of action is not to automatically slot Kravtsov into the 2RW role but rather to try Kreider there first, as otherwise, Kreider is relegated to overpaid third line LWer. My take is that this is a perfect spot for Kreider if you disregard his salary: He's a borderline first liner who'd be absolutely devouring third line competition, which would finally make him a net positive in all situations. He'd be a matchup nightmare there, and he'd fit well on a size line with Chytil and Goodrow. Instead, for whatever reason, Gallant wants him out of position on the second line. Favoritism for vested veterans isn't an implausible explanation.
- With Kreider getting the first look at 2RW, the opening for Kravtsov to play a skill game in the top 6 has evaporated. Whatever promises or agreements had been made at the exit interviews from last season are no longer applicable, and Drury has to keep his promises to Dolan to "get tougher to play against," over keeping any promises to Kravtsov that he'd get a fair look in the top 9. As the "get tougher," mandate was in effect, and Kravtsov not slotted into 2RW because Kreider got "first dibs," due to his veteran status and the team not wanting to pay $6m to a third liner, Kravtsov had to win a job on the third line, but that line is designated for grit duty now. Kravtsov can't earn a slot on that line if he's not willing to do the dirty work, which, to his own fault, as a prima donna, he has no real interest in.
- Camp comes and goes, and for the role they want for their third line wings (heavy), Blais obviously outplays him, as does Hunt. Regardless, once Blais outplays him, he has no more spot because Gallant "isn't going to play kids on the fourth line," (with some good reason).
- Gallant realizes this is a pending disaster, and so gets out ahead of it with "Well, if the Kreider thing doesn't work, I'm willing to move Kravtsov up to the top 6 again." He's hedging for trying to signal to Kravtsov he has a future here and also because who the heck knows if the inconsistent Kreider is actually going to work out of position on the right side, long term.
- But it's all too late, and the damage has been done. Kreider was given first dibs at 2RW, the roster was engineered to be heavier in the bottom instead of skilled, and Gallant won't keep Kravtsov up to get fourth line minutes. Nobody is changing their positions, so Kravtsov doesn't want to change his stance either. And now we have this standoff where his value is also in the toilet and we can't get back a useful piece for him. To make matters worse, the team threatens to (or actually does?) suspend him for his non compliance like hardasses, instead of trying to sit down and work something out with him.
I mean, it's North American sports in a sport that is relatively conservative compared to the other major sports leagues. Of course the "pay your dues," mantra is prevalent. But as others have pointed out, Kravtsov is from like Kamchatka and maybe his European (Asian?) mindset differs from North Americans. I'm not saying he should get a free pass, but it's definitely concerning that there has been no leeway given.
And yeah, this results in a situation where I think we are staring in the face the possibility that we are not going to be fast enough and skilled enough. We aren't gritty enough to out-gritty the Islanders but we aren't skilled enough to keep up with the most skilled teams. We've tried to mimic two approaches and as a result we're not going to excel at either.
