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Prospect Info: Vitali Kravtsov: Part IX

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nyr2k2 said:
I still maintain that coming back to the AHL last season was the single most important thing in his development to date. It was really beaten into him there that he wasn't going to be able to be successful playing so much East-West and trying to carry the puck all the time--he needed to be quicker and more decisive, needed to learn when to chip and chase, and saw firsthand that players with much less talent could be more successful than him by doing things like playing hard at the net. I think it served as a wakeup call that, "To be successful in the NHL I'm going to have to make some adjustments to the way I play the game." And then he largely did that this season in the KHL, becoming more of a North-South bull, learning to use his big frame in front of the net (he had a lot of goals from there this year), playing that 200-foot game, etc.

I'm not saying that he would have failed without playing in the AHL or anything. The other essential part was the attitude adjustment, that he came back willing to work and learn in Hartford. And then the further commitment to take what he learned here, bring it back home to the KHL and continue to implement it. I had said several time that "learning to play the North American game" isn't really a thing for everybody, but it is a thing for some guys, and based on how Kravtsov played I think he needed it. It was a weird and uncomfortable path here, but in the end it looks like it worked out.
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Agree with Everything here whole heartedly. This could have turned into an Andersson situation when he left and was then demoted in the KHL. I’m glad he had the gumption to get himself back on track and bear down and do the work
 
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jay from jersey said:
Agree with Everything here whole heartedly. This could have turned into an Andersson situation when he left and was then demoted in the KHL. I’m glad he had the gumption to get himself back on track and bear down and do the work
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You gotta give the kid credit. He hit rock bottom at one point when he got demoted to the KHL juniors. Kid put his head down a did what he needed to get back on track. Definitely grew more in maturity than Lias did.
 
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The New Russian Five said:
You gotta give the kid credit. He hit rock bottom at one point when he got demoted to the KHL juniors. Kid put his head down a did what he needed to get back on track. Definitely grew more in maturity than Lias did.
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This didn't happen. He was sent to the VHL, Russian minor league, during the international break as there weren't KHL games that week
 
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The New Russian Five said:
You gotta give the kid credit. He hit rock bottom at one point when he got demoted to the KHL juniors. Kid put his head down a did what he needed to get back on track. Definitely grew more in maturity than Lias did.
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that is not true, he was not demoted, he asked them to send him there to get more playing time when there were no KHL games due to some break in the schedule.
 
Amazing Kreiderman said:
This didn't happen. He was sent to the VHL, Russian minor league, during the international break as there weren't KHL games that week
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Hmmm, I don't remember that being the case. Didn't Gorts get him back over here to Hartford from the VHL? I know he had a quote to the effect of not liking the situation, and how he was working on getting him back to the states.
 
Kords said:
Hmmm, I don't remember that being the case. Didn't Gorts get him back over here to Hartford from the VHL? I know he had a quote to the effect of not liking the situation, and how he was working on getting him back to the states.
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Well, I guess Gorton didn't know either then.

Vitaly Kravtsov played 3 VHL games that season:
Nov 8th
Dec 10th
Dec 12th

The International breaks in the KHL those months:
Nov 5th - Nov 11th
Dec 10th - Dec 16th
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
Well, I guess Gorton didn't know either then.

Vitaly Kravtsov played 3 VHL games that season:
Nov 8th
Dec 10th
Dec 12th

The International breaks in the KHL those months:
Nov 5th - Nov 11th
Dec 10th - Dec 16th
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I'll take your word for it, it makes the most sense. The rumor mill was in full effect so i'm sure that played a part.
 
Kords said:
I'll take your word for it, it makes the most sense. The rumor mill was in full effect so i'm sure that played a part.
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Yeah, bloggers who have no clue how European hockey works shouldn't be making shit up but nothing I can do to stop them. They all shared the same drivel.

Around the same time, Lundkvist played 2 games with the u20 Luleå team in SuperElit and Pavel Buchnevich (the poster) was using it to justify his claim that Lundkvist wasn't that good.

Truth is, Lundkvist played with the SHL team on Tuesday, then at home with the SuperElit team Thursday and Friday and was back in the line up for the SHL team Saturday. He didn't miss any SHL games. They just used him for 2 additional games in SuperElit because he was in Luleå anyway. It was a rare occurrence where the SuperElit team played back to back home games and the SHL team wasn't scheduled to play.

But people jump to conclusions without reading into the situation
 
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Kords said:
Hmmm, I don't remember that being the case. Didn't Gorts get him back over here to Hartford from the VHL? I know he had a quote to the effect of not liking the situation, and how he was working on getting him back to the states.
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I think he just wasn't getting a lot of icetime and not having great production. There was a different coach that season so it wasn't the best situation for him.
 
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Buchnevich89 said:
My dad is a HUGE hater when it comes to young prospects and is never sold on any of them, but even he loves Kravtsov. More than any other prospect we have for sure.
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I'm jealous of you guys that get to share your Ranger fandom with your families.
Though I love bugging my drunk uncle about how much the Canucks suck and going back & forth with him :laugh:
 
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EdJovanovski said:
I'm jealous of you guys that get to share your Ranger fandom with your families.
Though I love bugging my drunk uncle about how much the Canucks suck and going back & forth with him :laugh:
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Yezzir. I’m double lucky because most Polacks dgaf about hockey. Thankfully my dad did. I would have liked hockey regardless, but who knows? Living in NJ, I could have been a Devils fan. *shudders*
 
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