Player Discussion Vitali Kravtsov - Signed 2-Year Deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk

[gringo]

Nothing wrong with letting the coaching staff see if they can turn this guy into something at the cost it’s literally a no-brainer.

 

[ChilliBilly]

Here's a breakdown of what transpired regarding the "drama"

He's drafted 9th overall in 2018, Kakko is drafted 2nd overall in 2019. Kravtsov came to America months early and did a lot of work in learning English (you'll see in his interviews how great his English is) and went above & beyond what's typically expected of a European prospect. In the 2019 training camp all of the Rangers beat reporters, front office, etc are reporting that Kravtsov was the stand out player of camp, totally outshining the hyped 2nd overall Kakko. He was far and away the most dominant player in that entire camp, and then in that 2019 preseason Kravtsov goes on to outscore not only Kakko, but also Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome, Chytil & Fox.

He's then cut from the team in favor of Kakko, who goes on to be the statistically worst player in the entire NHL that season. Kakko started his career stapled to the top 6 & PP1, handed every opportunity in the world but completely squandered it. Meanwhile Kravtsov reports to Hartford, after some time he decides to exercise his European Assignment Clause, something that was literally negotiated into his contract and completely within his rights to exercise. It's a very common thing for European players to do, even ones who aren't nearly as highly touted as Kravtsov was. The same season, but without even reporting to Hartford; Tarmo Reunanen exercised his European Assignment Clause as well. But Chris Drury, at the time GM of the Hartford Wolfpack; singles out Kravtsov when he's saying goodbye to his teammates and publicly yells at him, reaming him out & calling him a quitter in front of the team.

In 2020 during the bubble, the Rangers who didn't have much depth and wouldn't have made the playoffs if it weren't for the play in round expanding the teams who were in; asked if he wanted to come back over to play. Kravtsov skips his sisters wedding and hops on the first plane out for the opportunity to play, but the team opts not to play him a single game.

In 2021 the Rangers trade Buchnevich for Blais & a 2nd rd pick, with Drury citing the reasoning being to give Kakko & Kravtsov more minutes. Drury tells Kravtsov to skip prospect camp all together and report straight to the main team. Kravtsov plays well in the preseason once again and Drury in a bizarre move, does not invite him to the team building event in Rhode Island. Kravtsov once again does not make the team, and the entire fanbase is shocked and outraged at this. They opted to have the likes of Hunt, Hajek & Gauthier on the team instead. Hajek meant they were carrying 8 defensemen which was a very uncommon thing to do, especially when the other option would be carrying the standard number for each position including your 9th overall pick instead. This time Kravtsov does not report to Hartford, Drury then agrees to loan Kravtsov to Traktor of the KHL.

Kravtsov once again has a season that compares favorably to the likes of Panarin, Buchnevich, Kuznetsov, Tarasenko; including his signature dominant playoff performance which has become an annual tradition. Throughout the season he's in contact with the Rangers front office and they agree to try it again.

Kravtsov comes to camp early before anyone else to get a head start, this time making the team as the 2RW. He gets injured and when he comes back is now all of a sudden a 4th liner/healthy scratch even though his last game was as 2RW. He was healthy scratched for long stretches of games and Gallant would cite "Can't change things after a win" but when Kravtsov did play and they won, he would still be healthy scratched the very next game, all the time. When he did get to play Gallant would bench him for essentially the entire third period of games. When Kravtsov was on PP2 he would get 10 seconds and then he would sprint to the bench with about 20 seconds left in the PP to get Trouba out there, this happened every shift he's had on the PP for some reason. He would sprint to the bench while they had possession in the offensive zone, this was some strange demand Gallant had of him.

He was the first player on the ice at practically every single practise this season, often 10+ minutes before anyone else was even there. He always attended the optional skates, and did everything that was asked of him but was routinely the odd one out in favor of horrible players like Jake Leshyshyn.

Any honest person would say there is fault on both sides. I think that if we hadn't won the draft lottery in back to back years (Kakko/Laf) there would be widespread outrage from our fanbase for this treatment of a top 10 pick. If you go back and read GDT's from his 20 game NHL stint the 2020-21 season you'll see all of the Ranger fans fawning over him and saying that he was the best rookie Ranger they had ever seen, how they wish Laf & Kakko looked like him, and that he was better than Kovalev. He was routinely voted one of the top 3 starts practically every single game. But then they developed a vendetta against him because of the drama and now many engage in revisionist history claiming that he wasn't good.

Drury & Gallant have a type in players and they love the guys who are more than the sum of their parts, who lack the tools but play an honest game or whatever platitude you want to use. Kravtsov came in as a flashy, confident Russian kid who wasn't intimidated by the organization and stood up for himself when he felt he was mistreated and exercised a mutually agreed upon clause in his contract when they thought he wouldn't. I think Drury has had a vendetta against him ever since.

fantastic report, and thanks

 

[EdJovanovski]

Kravtsov is interestin to me

• You can tell he has elite hands
• He hasnt played a lot of NHL games, now this maybe because he isnt ready but usually prospects that are labled reclamination projects or of Kratsov nature have a lot more games then he does
• The Ranger have not been going a good job of putting him in spots to succeed since they have a lot of highend wingers higher in the depth chart
• He Production in the KHL seems to indicate that he gets tunnel vision and doesn't utilize his teammates very well. If he is a puck Carrier that would work well with the type of players we have
• Everyone says he has highend skill which usually translate well to the NHL
• I question if he would be willing to play as a 3rd line PP2 guy and play more of a defensively minded game or adapt his game to stay in the NHL as a mid 6 player
• People in NY say he has had entitledment issues which is something that people often outgrow, especially after they have been traded a couple of times (this is his first trade so it maybe not work

Overall he is an interesting case that you dont see very often. I the last player that I can think of that was similar was Lias Andersson and that didnt turn out well at all

Do you mean because of him scoring more goals than assists or that watching him it looks like he gets tunnel vision? Traktor while he was with them was one of the worst offensive teams in KHL history to make the playoffs, so he had to do a lot himself. He utilizes teammates very well, even in creative ways that don't get on the scoresheet such as one of his signature moves of bringing a defender behind the net so his teammates can score. He also essentially invented the move of standing backwards in the slot for a catch & release when he was at the WJC, the TSN broadcast commented how they'd never seen anything like it before and that highlight was everywhere; then a week later Draisaitl copied it in a game.

I actually hate tunnel vision players more than most people do, I criticize Trocheck & Chytil all the time for it. Tunnel vision is one of my least favorite attributes in a player, I don't think Kravtsov possesses that attribute at all. He's always looking for teammates to make plays, I'd say he's equal parts sniper, playmaker & dangler; very similar player to Pettersson. He is a very flashy player though and sometimes likes to showboat where he'll try dangling multiple guys which I get if watching highlights could lend the impression of him getting tunnel vision.

 

[BluesyShoes]

Here's a breakdown of what transpired regarding the "drama"

He's drafted 9th overall in 2018, Kakko is drafted 2nd overall in 2019. Kravtsov came to America months early and did a lot of work in learning English (you'll see in his interviews how great his English is) and went above & beyond what's typically expected of a European prospect. In the 2019 training camp all of the Rangers beat reporters, front office, etc are reporting that Kravtsov was the stand out player of camp, totally outshining the hyped 2nd overall Kakko. He was far and away the most dominant player in that entire camp, and then in that 2019 preseason Kravtsov goes on to outscore not only Kakko, but also Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome, Chytil & Fox.

He's then cut from the team in favor of Kakko, who goes on to be the statistically worst player in the entire NHL that season. Kakko started his career stapled to the top 6 & PP1, handed every opportunity in the world but completely squandered it. Meanwhile Kravtsov reports to Hartford, after some time he decides to exercise his European Assignment Clause, something that was literally negotiated into his contract and completely within his rights to exercise. It's a very common thing for European players to do, even ones who aren't nearly as highly touted as Kravtsov was. The same season, but without even reporting to Hartford; Tarmo Reunanen exercised his European Assignment Clause as well. But Chris Drury, at the time GM of the Hartford Wolfpack; singles out Kravtsov when he's saying goodbye to his teammates and publicly yells at him, reaming him out & calling him a quitter in front of the team.

In 2020 during the bubble, the Rangers who didn't have much depth and wouldn't have made the playoffs if it weren't for the play in round expanding the teams who were in; asked if he wanted to come back over to play. Kravtsov skips his sisters wedding and hops on the first plane out for the opportunity to play, but the team opts not to play him a single game.

In 2021 the Rangers trade Buchnevich for Blais & a 2nd rd pick, with Drury citing the reasoning being to give Kakko & Kravtsov more minutes. Drury tells Kravtsov to skip prospect camp all together and report straight to the main team. Kravtsov plays well in the preseason once again and Drury in a bizarre move, does not invite him to the team building event in Rhode Island. Kravtsov once again does not make the team, and the entire fanbase is shocked and outraged at this. They opted to have the likes of Hunt, Hajek & Gauthier on the team instead. Hajek meant they were carrying 8 defensemen which was a very uncommon thing to do, especially when the other option would be carrying the standard number for each position including your 9th overall pick instead. This time Kravtsov does not report to Hartford, Drury then agrees to loan Kravtsov to Traktor of the KHL.

Kravtsov once again has a season that compares favorably to the likes of Panarin, Buchnevich, Kuznetsov, Tarasenko; including his signature dominant playoff performance which has become an annual tradition. Throughout the season he's in contact with the Rangers front office and they agree to try it again.

Kravtsov comes to camp early before anyone else to get a head start, this time making the team as the 2RW. He gets injured and when he comes back is now all of a sudden a 4th liner/healthy scratch even though his last game was as 2RW. He was healthy scratched for long stretches of games and Gallant would cite "Can't change things after a win" but when Kravtsov did play and they won, he would still be healthy scratched the very next game, all the time. When he did get to play Gallant would bench him for essentially the entire third period of games. When Kravtsov was on PP2 he would get 10 seconds and then he would sprint to the bench with about 20 seconds left in the PP to get Trouba out there, this happened every shift he's had on the PP for some reason. He would sprint to the bench while they had possession in the offensive zone, this was some strange demand Gallant had of him.

He was the first player on the ice at practically every single practise this season, often 10+ minutes before anyone else was even there. He always attended the optional skates, and did everything that was asked of him but was routinely the odd one out in favor of horrible players like Jake Leshyshyn.

Any honest person would say there is fault on both sides. I think that if we hadn't won the draft lottery in back to back years (Kakko/Laf) there would be widespread outrage from our fanbase for this treatment of a top 10 pick. If you go back and read GDT's from his 20 game NHL stint the 2020-21 season you'll see all of the Ranger fans fawning over him and saying that he was the best rookie Ranger they had ever seen, how they wish Laf & Kakko looked like him, and that he was better than Kovalev. He was routinely voted one of the top 3 starts practically every single game. But then they developed a vendetta against him because of the drama and now many engage in revisionist history claiming that he wasn't good.

Drury & Gallant have a type in players and they love the guys who are more than the sum of their parts, who lack the tools but play an honest game or whatever platitude you want to use. Kravtsov came in as a flashy, confident Russian kid who wasn't intimidated by the organization and stood up for himself when he felt he was mistreated and exercised a mutually agreed upon clause in his contract when they thought he wouldn't. I think Drury has had a vendetta against him ever since.

This is reassuring given rumours of character issues. The new coaching staff here has been been doing great with spreading out opportunity and ice time for players, and have been putting players in positions to succeed. Guys like Joshua and Podkolzin are getting games on scoring lines, so I have no doubt Kravtsov will get games (not just shifts) with Petey and JT, and I imagine if he plays tonight against Dallas they will work him into a scoring role with skilled players to build up his confidence. He'll likely get games with lower minutes on checking lines if they want him to work on things like board battles ect, but this coaching/management group has been good at cycling these type of guys in the lineup to keep their confidence up while coaching the weak parts of their game.

 

[RutherPlan]

The one positive about Tocchett and Co. is that I'm not worried about any headcase player in the roster creating disruptions. I can't say the same for past coaches.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Rangers fan dropping in to give my scouting report on Kravtsov.

Physical: Tall drink of water. Good skating stride that is effortless and often assumed to be him coasting because he doesn't "look" like he's trying. Long reach, decent stickhandling, has a few go to moves - but is easily pushed off the puck or slowed by contact. Can't fight through checks. Can win some board battles on guile and technique, but won't win most.

Offense: Underrated release, but doesn't get into position to use it nearly enough at this stage in his development. Spent much of his time afraid to make a mistake, but some of that is probably a byproduct of how he was handled. Has very good offensive instincts away from the puck and plays a support role well, but this doesn't create offense for him. He does the little things though. He'll take defenders behind the net to clear the slot for a teammate, he'll try to pick off a defender in front of the net to give a teammate more time to shoot, etc. He does use his teammates, but that's usually through giving them the puck in the neutral zone, not through playmaking in the offensive zone.

Defense: Not elite, but very good and definitely better than advertised. He's good at blocking passing lanes and is rarely out of position. He's a very good backchecker, and he's usually pretty good in transition - especially once he's out of his zone. Carries - strong in the neutral zone, weak in the offensive zone. Defensive zone puck movement and outs are a mixed bag. Doesn't block a ton of shots but takes away lanes and reads where the puck is going to be, and goes there...just may not win the physical battle for the puck when he gets there.

Mental: Could be better. Wasn't wrong in that he made the team last season, and there was no reason to send him to the AHL, but throwing a tantrum wasn't the way to handle that. A lot of fans feel he'd benefit from the AHL, but the track record of Russian players developing in the AHL is mixed at best. He had opportunities this year and didn't make the most of them, and didn't seem to show the fire or desperation of somone truly eager to prove the front office wrong. Fresh start could be good for him, but if he thinks the league owes him something, that will only get in his way.

If he can learn to rip the puck, maybe he can carve a niche as an Alexander Selivanov type with better passing and defensive instincts. If he can't, he's Alex Burmistrov with better defense.

Thanks for the detailed write up..Geez, I hope he isnt like Alex Burmistrov..We had him here for a spell, and he was incredibly ineffective..(although his puck handling chops were top notch).

Then again, with the price tag that we got Kravtsov for, my expectations are not high.

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

Thanks for the detailed write up..Geez, I hope he isnt like Alex Burmistrov..We had him here for a spell, and he was incredibly ineffective..(although his puck handling chops were top notch).

Then again, with the price tag that we got Kravtsov for, my expectations are not high.

To clarify, Burmistrov is basically where he's at right this second (at least offensively).

The Selivanov + D and passing comp would be my best guess at an upside at this moment in time, though if you asked me a couple years ago or even at the beginning of the year, I would've said high end/home run upside would be Alex Semin without the bongo fights and the bad stick penalties...but at his age and with the amount of time he's spent not playing games or deployed in an offensive role, I don't think that's realistic anymore.

For you guys, it's a great low risk potentially high reward move and I'll be rooting for him. That the return in the deal was so underwhelming (Lockwood = AHL Ryan Callahan?) makes me wonder if the Canucks agreed in principle to retain cap as a third party in a Rangers deal to be announced in the coming days as well, and only this deal was announced since Krav needed to be moved ASAP to maximize the amount of cap space.

There is equal fault with both his camp and how the Rangers organization handled him, so it'll be interesting to see what happens now that he's away from all that and there's a strong Russian contingent to help him feel comfortable in the Canucks organization.

 

[EdJovanovski]

 

[Aphid Attraction]

Here's a breakdown of what transpired regarding the "drama"

He's drafted 9th overall in 2018, Kakko is drafted 2nd overall in 2019. Kravtsov came to America months early and did a lot of work in learning English (you'll see in his interviews how great his English is) and went above & beyond what's typically expected of a European prospect. In the 2019 training camp all of the Rangers beat reporters, front office, etc are reporting that Kravtsov was the stand out player of camp, totally outshining the hyped 2nd overall Kakko. He was far and away the most dominant player in that entire camp, and then in that 2019 preseason Kravtsov goes on to outscore not only Kakko, but also Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome, Chytil & Fox.

He's then cut from the team in favor of Kakko, who goes on to be the statistically worst player in the entire NHL that season. Kakko started his career stapled to the top 6 & PP1, handed every opportunity in the world but completely squandered it. Meanwhile Kravtsov reports to Hartford, after some time he decides to exercise his European Assignment Clause, something that was literally negotiated into his contract and completely within his rights to exercise. It's a very common thing for European players to do, even ones who aren't nearly as highly touted as Kravtsov was. The same season, but without even reporting to Hartford; Tarmo Reunanen exercised his European Assignment Clause as well. But Chris Drury, at the time GM of the Hartford Wolfpack; singles out Kravtsov when he's saying goodbye to his teammates and publicly yells at him, reaming him out & calling him a quitter in front of the team.

In 2020 during the bubble, the Rangers who didn't have much depth and wouldn't have made the playoffs if it weren't for the play in round expanding the teams who were in; asked if he wanted to come back over to play. Kravtsov skips his sisters wedding and hops on the first plane out for the opportunity to play, but the team opts not to play him a single game.

In 2021 the Rangers trade Buchnevich for Blais & a 2nd rd pick, with Drury citing the reasoning being to give Kakko & Kravtsov more minutes. Drury tells Kravtsov to skip prospect camp all together and report straight to the main team. Kravtsov plays well in the preseason once again and Drury in a bizarre move, does not invite him to the team building event in Rhode Island. Kravtsov once again does not make the team, and the entire fanbase is shocked and outraged at this. They opted to have the likes of Hunt, Hajek & Gauthier on the team instead. Hajek meant they were carrying 8 defensemen which was a very uncommon thing to do, especially when the other option would be carrying the standard number for each position including your 9th overall pick instead. This time Kravtsov does not report to Hartford, Drury then agrees to loan Kravtsov to Traktor of the KHL.

Kravtsov once again has a season that compares favorably to the likes of Panarin, Buchnevich, Kuznetsov, Tarasenko; including his signature dominant playoff performance which has become an annual tradition. Throughout the season he's in contact with the Rangers front office and they agree to try it again.

Kravtsov comes to camp early before anyone else to get a head start, this time making the team as the 2RW. He gets injured and when he comes back is now all of a sudden a 4th liner/healthy scratch even though his last game was as 2RW. He was healthy scratched for long stretches of games and Gallant would cite "Can't change things after a win" but when Kravtsov did play and they won, he would still be healthy scratched the very next game, all the time. When he did get to play Gallant would bench him for essentially the entire third period of games. When Kravtsov was on PP2 he would get 10 seconds and then he would sprint to the bench with about 20 seconds left in the PP to get Trouba out there, this happened every shift he's had on the PP for some reason. He would sprint to the bench while they had possession in the offensive zone, this was some strange demand Gallant had of him.

He was the first player on the ice at practically every single practise this season, often 10+ minutes before anyone else was even there. He always attended the optional skates, and did everything that was asked of him but was routinely the odd one out in favor of horrible players like Jake Leshyshyn.

Any honest person would say there is fault on both sides. I think that if we hadn't won the draft lottery in back to back years (Kakko/Laf) there would be widespread outrage from our fanbase for this treatment of a top 10 pick. If you go back and read GDT's from his 20 game NHL stint the 2020-21 season you'll see all of the Ranger fans fawning over him and saying that he was the best rookie Ranger they had ever seen, how they wish Laf & Kakko looked like him, and that he was better than Kovalev. He was routinely voted one of the top 3 starts practically every single game. But then they developed a vendetta against him because of the drama and now many engage in revisionist history claiming that he wasn't good.

Drury & Gallant have a type in players and they love the guys who are more than the sum of their parts, who lack the tools but play an honest game or whatever platitude you want to use. Kravtsov came in as a flashy, confident Russian kid who wasn't intimidated by the organization and stood up for himself when he felt he was mistreated and exercised a mutually agreed upon clause in his contract when they thought he wouldn't. I think Drury has had a vendetta against him ever since.

Sounds like Travis Green would fit in that setup seamlessly

 

[VanJack]

It's about a good a situation for him to come in to in the NHL. Unfortunately in Manhattan, he was a square peg in a round hole. And the Rangers couldn't afford to play him because they're trying to win every single night.

The Canucks have zero pressure to do much of anything.....so he'll get a lot of ice-time, and practice time with the coaches. And if he has a bad game, he won't be parked in the press-box.

They're trying to get a read on everybody--good, bad or ugly-- as the schedule winds down.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

I think Kravtsov will do well in Vancouver. He seems like a good kid who was not given a fair chance to play in New York.

 

[EdJovanovski]

 

[RutherPlan]

Thanks @EdJovanovski, great to have you here.

 

[Svencouver]

The modus operandi of management to really give these players with unfulfilled promise an environment to distinguish themselves has me pretty optimistic about them giving Krav every chance to succeed, which I think he'll really respond to after his time in NY. He'll probably get a chance to play on every line, including Pettersson's, and PP time. I don't really see a lazy, unengaged guy when looking through his history and on his comments since coming here. He wants to be here and he wants to play.

 

[RutherPlan]

Canucks: A rebuild of Russian winger Vitali Kravtsov could pay dividends

A good renovation can turn an average house into a stunning home. A good reconstruction of a National Hockey League player can turn struggles and self-doubt into confidence and consistent production.

theprovince.com

good article on Kravtsov, didn't know he played Centre before and was successful at it.

 

[overboard]

Canucks: A rebuild of Russian winger Vitali Kravtsov could pay dividends

A good renovation can turn an average house into a stunning home. A good reconstruction of a National Hockey League player can turn struggles and self-doubt into confidence and consistent production.

theprovince.com

good article on Kravtsov, didn't know he played Centre before and was successful at it.

The info that he might be able to play centre is welcome news.

We’re desperately thin there, and if he could morph into an NHL-level pivot, that could also lessen some of the concerns of his unwillingness to battle on the boards.

 

[gimbznyr]

Looking forward to watching Krav.. wish him well. He was never put in a position to succeed and I continue to believe he will be a good nhler. He was done dirty by the rangers imo.

 

[F A N]

The modus operandi of management to really give these players with unfulfilled promise an environment to distinguish themselves has me pretty optimistic about them giving Krav every chance to succeed, which I think he'll really respond to after his time in NY. He'll probably get a chance to play on every line, including Pettersson's, and PP time. I don't really see a lazy, unengaged guy when looking through his history and on his comments since coming here. He wants to be here and he wants to play.

But who exactly has fit this description? Joshua and who else? Pods and Hoglander were sent down to the AHL this season.

While management can certainly force the HC's hands, the chances are the HC is going to do what he's going to do. I'm sure Kravtsov will be "given a chance" but a lot of times young players need steady minutes/opportunities and steady linemates to succeed. Look at Podkolzin's minutes. He played over 15 minutes in his first two games under Tocchet. He's played under 10 min in two out of the last three games. Also, with Miller out, unless Kravtsov is playing with Petey he's not playing with a top 6 NHL centre.

 

[Jabba The Hutton]

Can Kravstov get sent down in order so he can play in the AHL playoffs? It looks like that's a no but that would have been nice for him to get extra games after Canucks are out.

 

[F A N]

Can Kravstov get sent down in order so he can play in the AHL playoffs? It looks like that's a no but that would have been nice for him to get extra games after Canucks are out.

He would need to clear waivers to be sent down.

 

[tradervik]

Kravstov clearly has upside but, after watching his little press conference, I don't get the feeling he's the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's always hard to tell with people whose first language isn't English but I was disappointed by his (non-)answers to several questions. In contrast, Kuzmenko and (going back a season) Podkolzin have given much better interviews even when they clearly weren't as comfortable speaking English. I think the key to getting a player out of Kravstov will be how much help he gets from his fellow countrymen to bridge the communication gap.

 

[F A N]

Kravstov clearly has upside but, after watching his little press conference, I don't get the feeling he's the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's always hard to tell with people whose first language isn't English but I was disappointed by his (non-)answers to several questions. In contrast, Kuzmenko and (going back a season) Podkolzin have given much better interviews even when they clearly weren't as comfortable speaking English. I think the key to getting a player out of Kravstov will be how much help he gets from his fellow countrymen to bridge the communication gap.

I'm not a fan of judging someone by the way they look and speak. One can be a critical thinker without being good at expressing themselves verbally.

In terms of his interview, I agree he didn't come off as personable and at times almost defensive. Obviously none of this matters if his on ice performance is good but he's likely not here long enough for this to prove problematic if his on ice performance is poor.

 

[Synergy27]

Ranger fan who didn’t want to give up on Kravtsov checking in.

I see a lot of comments about filthy mitts and skill. I don’t view Vitali that way. He’s a fluid, effortless skater with a very deceptive release. Not really a dangler.

I went on record saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if he outscored Kakko this year. I was obviously wrong about that, but when Kravtsov got his first cup of coffee in NY he showed a ton of high end potential (despite not scoring much) that our other high end kids just didn’t. He looks like a future top 6 player that needs reps and development. You can see it.

Having Pettersson and the Sedins around to mentor him can be huge. Panarin is not a mentor. Kravtsov needs someone to bring him along. Your team is the perfect place for that to happen.

 

[RutherPlan]

Ranger fan who didn’t want to give up on Kravtsov checking in.

I see a lot of comments about filthy mitts and skill. I don’t view Vitali that way. He’s a fluid, effortless skater with a very deceptive release. Not really a dangler.

I went on record saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if he outscored Kakko this year. I was obviously wrong about that, but when Kravtsov got his first cup of coffee in NY he showed a ton of high end potential (despite not scoring much) that our other high end kids just didn’t. He looks like a future top 6 player that needs reps and development. You can see it.

Having Pettersson and the Sedins around to mentor him can be huge. Panarin is not a mentor. Kravtsov needs someone to bring him along. Your team is the perfect place for that to happen.

He will outscore other former 9th overall overall players that were traded this season and emerge as a superstar.

 

[Raistlin]

oh my, its apparent, soso apparent he needs to get out of NY. This kid's mannerisms tell me the baggage hes dragging had really affected his confidence. Tocchet and his russian teammates should be a life saver for him, I hope he knows its a new lease in life here and he will be receptive, as long as he stays in the gym and puts in the work, our fans believe in his potential.

Jovo can camp outside his apartment to pump his tires every morning now.