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Prospect Info: With the 9th Overall Pick the New York Rangers Select Vitali Kravtsov

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If Kravtsov struggles for ice time in the KHL, why would we legitimately expect him to be ready for the NHL in a year or two?

Its one thing if its SKA who just hoards all the good players and you can't tell their actual current ability, like with Shestyorkin having to share starts or Buchnevich being traded mid-season from a team where he's the best player to a team where he plays on the fourth line. Kravtsov plays for Traktor Chelyabinsk. Same team Kuznetsov played for. They are a mid-sized KHL club. They can't afford to bring in a bunch of big names to take ice-time away from Kravtsov. In fact, if they had any really good players, they'd probably be bought by SKA or CSKA or the NHL. One of their better players from last season moved to SKA this season. Kravtsov has nothing to worry about with ice time.

If he can't earn it, he's not as good as our scouting staff believe. Look at Rubtsov. Couldn't earn it, shortcut to CHL. Sucks there as well. We should realize it might take a season or two for Kravtsov to be a star. We should give it time. The insistence to compare his path to Chytil or Andersson who are going to be NHL'ers likely from the beginning of their second post draft season is a good way to ruin a talented prospect. How about we compare his path to Buchnevich?

They were picked in different rounds, but Buchnevich is a top 10-15 re-draft player from a good 2013 draft. He's developed very well. He only had 18 points in 40 KHL games in his first post draft season. Kravtsov should do better as he's about half a year older than Buchnevich was at the time and he has a full KHL season under his belt, which Buchnevich didn't have, but expecting Kravtsov to be like Tolvanen or one of the quickest players to the NHL is unrealistic. That was a fluky season to begin with by Tolvanen where his stats leveled off later on, but most good players from the KHL who are now quality NHL'ers were not like that. They needed a few seasons to develop.

We should be giving Kravtsov time. A great way to ruin a top 10 pick is to insist he joins the organization right away, and develops in an environment that has been known to produce busts from players of his type. The team is rebuilding. We suck right now. Probably will suck a year from now, as well. The lack of patience from the fans is appalling, but its also not surprising.
 
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To add to Buchnevich' post. People can't seriously think that playing games in Lehigh, Utica, Rochester, Rockford and Des Moines against teams made up of prospects and players not good enough for the NHL, is better for a players' development than playing against SKA, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, CSKA, AK Bars and on top of that have the opportunity to play international hockey during the season.

There is a good chance Kravtsov plays in the Euro Hockey Tour for Russia this season if he stays. That's massive for a players' development. All in all, a season in the KHL offers much more in terms of challenges than a year in the AHL because if there's one thing I am certain of, it's that he isn't ready to play in the NHL.

There's no shame in that. And people need to realize that on average 3-5 players each year play 10+ games in the NHL straight out of the draft.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
To add to Buchnevich' post. People can't seriously think that playing games in Lehigh, Utica, Rochester, Rockford and Des Moines against teams made up of prospects and players not good enough for the NHL, is better for a players' development than playing against SKA, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, CSKA, AK Bars and on top of that have the opportunity to play international hockey during the season.

There is a good chance Kravtsov plays in the Euro Hockey Tour for Russia this season if he stays. That's massive for a players' development. All in all, a season in the KHL offers much more in terms of challenges than a year in the AHL because if there's one thing I am certain of, it's that he isn't ready to play in the NHL.

There's no shame in that. And people need to realize that on average 3-5 players each year play 10+ games in the NHL straight out of the draft.
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It's the continuous underrating of KHL. 2nd best league in the world. Anyone suggesting AHL would be better off for him is out of touch. Chytil was a different scenario because he played in a league inferior to AHL.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
To add to Buchnevich' post. People can't seriously think that playing games in Lehigh, Utica, Rochester, Rockford and Des Moines against teams made up of prospects and players not good enough for the NHL, is better for a players' development than playing against SKA, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, CSKA, AK Bars and on top of that have the opportunity to play international hockey during the season.

There is a good chance Kravtsov plays in the Euro Hockey Tour for Russia this season if he stays. That's massive for a players' development. All in all, a season in the KHL offers much more in terms of challenges than a year in the AHL because if there's one thing I am certain of, it's that he isn't ready to play in the NHL.

There's no shame in that. And people need to realize that on average 3-5 players each year play 10+ games in the NHL straight out of the draft.
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Playing against the best possible competition isn’t the only route to development. And based on how many kids stay in juniors and develop just fine, I would say it’s not necessarily even the best route.
 
Tawnos said:
Playing against the best possible competition isn’t the only route to development. And based on how many kids stay in juniors and develop just fine, I would say it’s not necessarily even the best route.
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Well, it's all subjective. But when I look at the history of Russians developing in North America, staying in the KHL seems both the safer and better option. As PB explained, he isn't playing on a stacked team in a limited role like Buch in his final season. He plays for a team that gives him an opportunity to have a bigger role.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
Well, it's all subjective. But when I look at the history of Russians developing in North America, staying in the KHL seems both the safer and better option. As PB explained, he isn't playing on a stacked team in a limited role like Buch in his final season. He plays for a team that gives him an opportunity to have a bigger role.
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I’m not worried about him over there. I just don’t think there would be much of a difference. There are advantages to both.
 
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Tawnos said:
I’m not worried about him over there. I just don’t think there would be much of a difference. There are advantages to both.
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True. I just feel people want him to come over now because they are afraid he otherwise never will. This isn't Gusev. Or Mozyakin. The Russian factor is making people anxious.
 
Amazing Kreiderman said:
True. I just feel people want him to come over now because they are afraid he otherwise never will. This isn't Gusev. Or Mozyakin. The Russian factor is making people anxious.
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Not me. I think there would be advantages for the team to get his strength training and nutrition under their control. That’s balanced out by not having an 18 year old learning a new culture while riding buses. For every positive of one option, there’s a positive of another.
 
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Tawnos said:
Not me. I think there would be advantages for the team to get his strength training and nutrition under their control. That’s balanced out by not having an 18 year old learning a new culture while riding buses. For every positive of one option, there’s a positive of another.
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I think this is overrated because:

A.) The training and nutrition in the KHL is pretty good
B.) The Rangers can always work together with the player while in Russia. They sent a skating coach to Sweden to work on Lias' skating. They can do the same with Kravtsov.

But I agree there are positives to either side. I just don't think the majority of fans uses those valid reasons to back their opinion. In the end, it will all depend on whether Kravtsov wants to spend that money buying out that final year.
 
Amazing Kreiderman said:
I think this is overrated because:

A.) The training and nutrition in the KHL is pretty good
B.) The Rangers can always work together with the player while in Russia. They sent a skating coach to Sweden to work on Lias' skating. They can do the same with Kravtsov.

But I agree there are positives to either side. I just don't think the majority of fans uses those valid reasons to back their opinion. In the end, it will all depend on whether Kravtsov wants to spend that money buying out that final year.
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Wellll... Buchnevich did come over with pretty bad core strength. Was that the training program or his own fault? Hard to know.
 
I like Buch but I think there’s a lot more he could have done before moving to NA including strength training and English language. Point is Kravtsov could come up a lot more prepared even if he spends next season in the KHL.
 
Buchnevich had back issues that surfaced multiple times and had strengthening issues, and one may be the cause of the other

Kravstov doesn't have those issues (or anything really that we know of)

I was never concerned with the Russian factor at all, he has been here multiple times and made it clear nothing is stopping him from coming to the NHL, his sister goes to college in Canada, he will be here

That said, I have no issue with him developing in the AHL, or the KHL for that matter - at the end of the day I don't really think it will make much of a difference barring something extreme and unforeseeable
 
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Yeah, put me down with the crowd that isn't concerned about the Russian factor, but still thinks that there are a lot of important reasons why it may be a good idea to have him in NA, including learning the language and giving the organization control over his training.
 
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I prefer to see Vitali in Hartford
  • Rangers keep an eye on him.
  • learns the game on the smaller rink
  • will play twice the amount of games
  • can train with Ben Prentis, Russians never see a weight room
  • Improves on his English
 
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free0717 said:
I prefer to see Vitali in Hartford
  • Rangers keep an eye on him.
  • learns the game on the smaller rink
  • will play twice the amount of games
  • can train with Ben Prentis, Russians never see a weight room
  • Improves on his English
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This isn't true at all. The AHL consists of 76 games, KHL has 56. And there's a good chance he plays an additional 10-15 games for the national team in different tournaments as well.
 
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FWIW, it seems from his instagram account (story) that he went back to Russia.
I don't speak Russian so I can't say for sure.
 
Fvital92 said:
FWIW, it seems from his instagram account (story) that he went back to Russia.
I don't speak Russian so I can't say for sure.
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Well, the photo that shows up on his Stories, says Приняли как дома, which means something like "Feels like home"
 
I don't know if I actually said it but I think 1 more year in the KHL is likely best for him. I just question some people's reasoning in regards to specific things surrounding this decision. If he's got the talent, work ethic and IQ that he seems to, he'll figure it out no matter where he goes but he'll prob get there faster in the KHL next year
 
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