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

[RalphyDanger]

He dangles and carves through veterans in the 2nd best league in the world. He's 6'4" and he blows by pro-level defensemen with speed. He wins puck battles, controls the puck, makes high level passes, and can beat goalies cleanly with his shot or dekes.

Edit: maybe he’s not 6’4, 6’2 is alright I guess.

 

[Levitate]

Mittelstadt looked eerily similar to another huge specimen who dominated high schoolers that the rangers had drafted in the early 2000s over other qualified players. I dont blame them at all for being afraid of him, I was at the time. Andersson is going to be a fine player and Krafts seems to have a crazy high ceiling, so its not like were just picking safe players.

Eh, Jessiman was in college for his draft year. He put up good numbers as a freshman though the ECAC was crappy back then as I recall.

The last high schooler that beat up on kids smaller than him that the Rangers took was some dude named Kreider...

As for Kravtsov, I'm fine with the pick even if it wasn't the guy I wanted. He's a highly skilled player, if he booms he could be just as good as a Wahlstrom that booms. Maybe there are more question marks...maybe the real question is "is his playoff performance the start of a big upward trend in his development, or just a small sample size of good games?". If it's indicative of where he'll be at next season then it's a great pick.

Also interested to see if he comes over next year or stays in the KHL, and if he came over if it's for the NHL or AHL. Probably better to stay in the KHL but if he really impresses maybe they want him over to compete for a roster spot.

 

[Doctyl]

Eh, Jessiman was in college for his draft year. He put up good numbers as a freshman though the ECAC was crappy back then as I recall.

The last high schooler that beat up on kids smaller than him that the Rangers took was some dude named Kreider...

As for Kravtsov, I'm fine with the pick even if it wasn't the guy I wanted. He's a highly skilled player, if he booms he could be just as good as a Wahlstrom that booms. Maybe there are more question marks...maybe the real question is "is his playoff performance the start of a big upward trend in his development, or just a small sample size of good games?". If it's indicative of where he'll be at next season then it's a great pick.

Also interested to see if he comes over next year or stays in the KHL, and if he came over if it's for the NHL or AHL. Probably better to stay in the KHL but if he really impresses maybe they want him over to compete for a roster spot.

If he's destined to be stuck in the AHL, he probably should stay in the KHL for another year. At least it would be with Ken Gernander if he does come over...small victories

 

[Levitate]

If he's destined to be stuck in the AHL, he probably should stay in the KHL for another year. At least it would be with Ken Gernander if he does come over...small victories

Yeah I'd expect him to stay another year and then come over and be competing for a spot

Buch is probably happy he might have another Russian buddy on the team

 

[Doctyl]

Yeah I'd expect him to stay another year and then come over and be competing for a spot

Buch is probably happy he might have another Russian buddy on the team

lol I feel like we are targeting more russians since picking Buch. Trying to find friends for him?

 

[pblawr]

Edit: maybe he’s not 6’4, 6’2 is alright I guess.

I was going off Elite Prospects, which lists him at 6'4". Wikipedia lists him at 6'2" and the Rangers announced him at 6'3". So maybe he isn't 6'4", but either way he's big, skates extremely well and is extremely skilled.

 

[RalphyDanger]

I was going off Elite Prospects, which lists him at 6'4". Wikipedia lists him at 6'2" and the Rangers announced him at 6'3". So maybe he isn't 6'4", but either way he's big, skates extremely well and is extremely skilled.

I was surprised to look it up and hear he was even 6’2. I’m sure he’s some where in the middle of all that. In my opinion he doesn’t look like he’s that tall in the videos I’ve seen, but neither did Chytil.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

The way it sounds, it’s possible he can come over this year.

Yeah I believe Brooks tweeted that Kravtsov's agent told him he's signed for this coming year in the KHL and left it ambiguous about the fact that he could come over this year. On the broadcast McKenzie or Button mentioned because of his age apparently he has the option of buying out the last year of his KHL contract and come over this year.

And his agent said overall he is 100% coming over the North America and wants to be in the NHL. So it seems he's not a risk of staying in the KHL longer than we want (as of right now anyway).

Very pumped for Kravtsov. I wanted Wahlstrom, but I'm happy with Krav. A lot of reports say he has potential to be a real game breaker and be an elite talent. This is what we need.

 

[Leopain]

He measured at 6'2 3/4 at the combine, so rounding up to 6'3.

 

[EdJovanovski]

He's absolutely lethal in shootouts

 

[Mortivore]

Love this pick. He will be a superstar.

 

[Kshahdoo]

It took Kuznetsov 4 years post draft to come over. (And NYR ignored him in 2010) Hopefully that isn't the case with this kid.

So you are against waiting for 4 years, getting a star and then winning the Cup? Ok.

 

[aufheben]

So you are against waiting for 4 years, getting a star and then winning the Cup? Ok.

You know that’s not at all what he was saying lol

 

[Ola]

Big fan of Kravtsov, my scouting report on him from April:

-------------------

9. Vitaly Kravtsov, RW, 6'2" 183 lbs

With one year (reportedly) remaining on his KHL deal Vitaly Kravtsov will not provide immediate help to the team that drafts him, but it can still be noted that he is one of the more NHL ready players in the draft. Kravtsov can be compared to a Russian Chris Kreider, formidable speed and great work ethic, and while Kreider has more typical NA attributes Kravtsov has the typical Russian soft hands, very much in control of himself and so coordinated with the puck. Strong and powerful but also so slick. Plays a smart game. Despite having good size he still has that lightness in how he moves which is not common.

Kravtsov also stands out in how strong skater he is from both an acceleration point of view and from an endurance point of view. Even if he has been on the ice a long time and his unit started to wear down, he can go deep, retrieve the puck to drive it up ice.

The way Kravtsov has somewhat flied under the radar on most prospect rankings reminds me a bit of the rise of Marian Hossa in 1997. Hossa stepped up for the Slovaks in the WJC just like Kravtsov did in the KHL POs. Hossa also played in a smaller role for Slovaks in the men’s WCH that season. When Ottawa brought him over the WHL it was a bit of a joke, he was way to good for that league as a 19 y/o. Kravtsov got that high natural skill level and strong skating as Hossa had as well as good smarts and work ethic on the ice. The Hossa brothers were known for working tremendously hard the ice. Their dad, ex player František Hossa, had them running up for hills pulling three trunks behind him. Pavel Bure’s dad really pushed him in the same way, I think Pavel’s dad was the coach for the Soviet Swimming team. I am getting at that nothing will come by itself for these kids, but Kravtsov has a tremendous platform to turn into a very good player in the NHL.

-----------------

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Look at the reaction of the guy on the right side of the screen in the black suit.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Yeah, f*** it. I'm sticking that Rick Nash stylistic comparison. Forgot about this goal from the KHL playoffs this year above him blowing past his future Rangers teammate Vlad Tkachyov:

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Can anyone translate?

 

[STHLM]

Perhaps too early to tell but would you say he is #1 on our prospect rankings? Perhaps #2 behind Chytil?

 

[azrok22]

Then, for my sanity, I'm glad Zadina didn't slip to 9 just to have NYR pick Kravtsov.

Don't hate this pick. That being said, I am grateful we didn't have pick 3-4, because I suspect Kravtsov would've been the pick at that spot, which would have been more difficult to digest.

 

[Ola]

Yeah, **** it. I'm sticking that Rick Nash stylistic comparison. Forgot about this goal from the KHL playoffs this year above him blowing past his future Rangers teammate Vlad Tkachyov:

I almost hope the kid is done growing though. As it is I think he stands to be much quicker and hence a better fit in today’s game than Nash.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Found this on instagram from todays draft. Only person Kravtsov responded to was Shestyorkin. It wasn't like he was thanking everyone who congratulated him. I don't know what any of this means, but

• shesterkinigor
• kravtsov93@shesterkinigor хоть где то в одной команде поваримся)
• shesterkinigor@kravtsov93 согласен)))

Edit: For some reason the first message doesn't show. It was a thumbs up.

 

[deejb]

Can anyone translate?

Google translate:

I did not think that they would choose me so high, but now I'm very happy. One name "Rangers" speaks for itself. I watched Henrik Lundquist play as a child. I still can not believe that this team chose me. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and change my mind.

I personally do not know any of the Russian players in the team, but with Pavel Buchnevich, we have common acquaintances.

When am I going to the NHL myself? After the termination of the contract - for sure. Neither money nor anything else will stop me. It can be said that the dream took.

 

[chosen]

Mitttestadt isn’t even proven better than Andersson yet, let alone anything like the gap between McIlrath and Tarasenko. Andersson has a great season last year imo.

Also they got Chytil when nobody saw it coming just last year.

Andersson had a great season?

 

[egelband]

Liking Mr Kravtsov more and more. He appears to have a strong presence and confidence. A certain “It factor” if I may be so bold.

 

[chosen]

I love this pick.

I would have rated him 2nd or 3rd overall.

He scored 7 points in the KHL this regular season. That compares to 10 for Tarkasenko, 9 for Panarin and 8 for Kuznetsov in their pre-draft years. Kucherov and Buchnevich had 2. Those aren't best case scenarios, those are the most similar players to him based on pre-draft, regular season output. And that's without even accounting for the most impressive part of his resume, which was when he almost put up a point per game in the playoffs. When he played in the VHL and the MHL, the results were borderline laughable.

It's clearly not a case of him putting up points because of the situation he's in. He oozes skill. He dangles and carves through veterans in the 2nd best league in the world. He's 6'4" and he blows by pro-level defensemen with speed. He wins puck battles, controls the puck, makes high level passes, and can beat goalies cleanly with his shot or dekes.

As far as I can tell, the most comparable players to him at this age from the KHL are Tarasenko, Panarin, and Kuznetsov, and they are all perennial all-star, franchise cornerstone players. For me, a guy with that profile is more attractive than anyone else in this draft outside of Dahlin (obviously), and maybe Svechnikov. I think taking him 9th is a home run.

Buch was compared to the same players. He still might become them, but so far it doesn't look that way.