Prospect Info: 2018 NHL Draft / Pick #9 - Vitali Kravtsov (RW) - Part V

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BBKers

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Jan 9, 2006
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Guy was one of the last cuts in NYR camp. Huge talent. Has a rough start in his first game and gets healthy scratched after few minutes of play. Wake up call? I call this as typical hard love from a new coach that wants to set a standard that is a bit old school. I will reserve judgement a little bit, but typical NA coaching IMO.
 

HatTrick Swayze

Just Be Nice
Jun 16, 2006
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How short of a memory some of you have!

Just last season Buchnevich was scratched a few times by Quinn, had to spend time on bottom lines with no PP time, and earn coaching trust with effort, doing what he was asked to do and making right plays to now be prominently featured on what looks like a line the team didn’t have in a decade!

Coaching staff rightly expects and demands more from Kravtsov and his superior level of talent. Could you not see that this could be a benefit to Kravtsov’s development?

I hear this and obviously understand this line of thinking. I would be a lot more sympathetic to the tough love approach if it were the NHL...not the freaking AHL.
 

Levitate

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Jul 29, 2004
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I don't agree that playing in the AHL is more beneficial for him than playing in the KHL

depends...he obviously needs to get used to the pace of the NA game. I don’t think it’s good to necessarily leave him in the AHL all year or something but using it to help him get adjusted? That’s fine. Unless he really struggles it sounds like they definitely want him back up in the NHL sooner rather than later
 

kovazub94

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Aug 5, 2010
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I hear this and obviously understand this line of thinking. I would be a lot more sympathetic to the tough love approach if it were the NHL...not the freaking AHL.

As I said in another post, this doesn’t matter if he’s healthy scratched here in NY or down there in Hartford.
 

HatTrick Swayze

Just Be Nice
Jun 16, 2006
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As I said in another post, this doesn’t matter if he’s healthy scratched here in NY or down there in Hartford.

1. IMO, it does. The AHL is a developmental league. There should be a significantly longer leash given to top prospects at that level. Hartford winning is irrelevant, NYR winning is not.

2. If VK becomes an impact player for the NYR it is going to be because he figures out how to score and create offense at an elite level. This idea that every single player needs to make backchecking and mucking in the corners their immediate top priority is so backwards to me. Full disclosure - yes we do not know the story here yet I am making assumptions (based also on the TOI in the first game). VK needs to learn how to drive the play offensivly on a smaller ice sheet with less room...that should be the priority. Hard to do that from the press box or the bench.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman

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Apr 11, 2011
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KHL is the better league for sure, but would the Rangers be able to recall Kravtsov from Traktor mid-season?

Not necessarily mid-season, but the KHL season ends in February, around the same time as the trade deadline where we are expected to trade away Namestnikov and Kreider. It's good timing honestly
 
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Kovalev27

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The KHL is garbage I’m sorry but guys come over here out of shape and nowhere near ready to play NHL hockey after dominating the K. Nigel Dawes is like one of the top 5 players in that league is all u need to know about the KHL. Couple of strong teams beating up on ECHL level teams. On a small sheet of ice ahl teams would beat most khl teams outside of maybe 4 or 5.

Kravtsov clearly has a ways to go if he’s being healthy scratched for any reason at that the AHL level. Whether it’s conditioning or attitude or what I’m very disappointed in how his weekend went
 

Amazing Kreiderman

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The KHL is garbage I’m sorry but guys come over here out of shape and nowhere near ready to play NHL hockey after dominating the K. Nigel Dawes is like one of the top 5 players in that league is all u need to know about the KHL. Couple of strong teams beating up on ECHL level teams. On a small sheet of ice ahl teams would beat most khl teams outside of maybe 4 or 5.

Kravtsov clearly has a ways to go if he’s being healthy scratched for any reason at that the AHL level. Whether it’s conditioning or attitude or what I’m very disappointed in how his weekend went

This is the one example that is always used, but it makes no sense. Dawes left for the KHL when he was 25 or 26. He was just over .5 P/GP in his first year and got better over time. The Dawes who led the KHL in points isn't the same Dawes who struggled to get into the NHL.

Zuccarello performed better in the NHL the following season than the KHL in 2012. Shouldn't that make the KHL better by this same logic?
 

Kovalev27

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Mats Zuccarello was going to be a good nhler regardless of playing in the K or anywhere else for a brief time. He was quick and smart and gifted. That had nothing to do with the league.

Dawes would not make an nhl team today. He thrives in the KHl because it’s ridiculously slow and there’s plenty of room to do whatever you want against 90% of the time vastly inferior competition.

Kovalchuk looks like a joke here as did shipachev bereglazov and countless others.

It’s not the AHL. Where actual future nhl talent and guys too good for the AHL but not quite nhlers, play.
 

Inferno

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Nov 27, 2005
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There's a huge imbalance in the khl..the haves and have nots...I do wonder sometimes if that's good for development in either case...either getting your teeth kicked in every game or getting a cake walk night in and night out.

I think kravtsov is better served here learning.

Frankly I don't have an issue with his benching...there was a lot in his game, both during the preseason and during the traverse City tournament that I did not like.

Some really bad habits out there, specifically neutral zone play.

There was of course a ton to love about his game, but I agree with Quinn, it's not about how high the highs are, it's about how low the lows are. Hes got some work to do before he's an nhler.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman

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Mats Zuccarello was going to be a good nhler regardless of playing in the K or anywhere else for a brief time. He was quick and smart and gifted. That had nothing to do with the league.

Dawes would not make an nhl team today. He thrives in the KHl because it’s ridiculously slow and there’s plenty of room to do whatever you want against 90% of the time vastly inferior competition.

Kovalchuk looks like a joke here as did shipachev bereglazov and countless others.

It’s not the AHL. Where actual future nhl talent and guys too good for the AHL but not quite nhlers, play.

You mean future NHL talent like Vladimir Tarasenko, Artemi Panarin, Evgeni Kuznetsov, Kirill Kaprizov, Andrei Vasilevsky, Nikita Kucherov etc?

The KHL has its flaws, but so does the AHL. Honestly, it depends on the team you end up with in both leagues. The difference in quality between top and bottom is a bit larger in the KHL, and the style of hockey is different, but that doesn't make the KHL worse than the AHL. That's just nonsense .
 

Amazing Kreiderman

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It's pretty clear to me that you'd rather have your prospects in the AHL where you have control over their coaching, development, role, and ice time as opposed to sending them to another league where that team's main focus is trying to win.

I agree with that, IF your AHL team is actually worth something and has a coaching staff that knows how to work with prospects. If you're the Toronto Marlies, Syracuse Crunch, Charlotte Checkers... Sure. Hartford Wolf Pack? Not so much.
 

Ola

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Apr 10, 2004
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The AHL isn’t a good “development” league either. The skill goes to the NHL while the top checkers, of which the CHL develop a plenty, stay in the AHL.

Hence it’s more or less impossible to play a constructive well organized game there. But it’s good short term for players to straight out a few bad habits in and get used to NA ice. But I think we saw from someone like Marek Hrivik how much “development” goes on in the AHL. When ever he got called up to the NHL he had no clue what to do, how to move the puck, what was going on around him and so forth. Hrivik is a talented hockey player and he is certainly not dumb, but he wasn’t developed at all in the AHL.

Send a talented kid to the AHL and the best checkets in the world and all goons pushed out of the NHL will use him as practice target for 72 games a year.

I don’t know if KHL kids are more out of shape than NA kids. We called out both Lemieux and Howden for not being where they needed to be physically last season. I think some kids use it as an excuse for being out of shape. Buchnevich said that there were no weights in Cherepovets. That’s of course a joke. Russians have always been gym rats.

The way the game in the NHL is played right now, I think the farm team in the AHL set-up is down right crappy. Kids will focus on the wrong things. I would much rather have a kid play in the SM-liiga than the AHL. While the AHL can be a good stop gap for a kid adjusting to the NA game for a few months.
 
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RGY

Kreid or Die
Jul 18, 2005
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I agree with that, IF your AHL team is actually worth something and has a coaching staff that knows how to work with prospects. If you're the Toronto Marlies, Syracuse Crunch, Charlotte Checkers... Sure. Hartford Wolf Pack? Not so much.
To be fair we have a new coaching staff that we have high hopes for. Good résumés. We’re only two games in. Let them do what they have to do.
 

SA16

Sixstring
Aug 25, 2006
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I agree with that, IF your AHL team is actually worth something and has a coaching staff that knows how to work with prospects. If you're the Toronto Marlies, Syracuse Crunch, Charlotte Checkers... Sure. Hartford Wolf Pack? Not so much.


What makes the Wolf Pack a negative there now? It's not the same as last year. They added more veterans and changed the coaching staff. It's hopefully not the same disaster it's been the last few years.
 

offdacrossbar

misfit fanboy
Jun 25, 2006
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so is it better to stay in ny and not play or be in hartford and not play ? so which is better for development ?

healthy scratch this young russian kid after getting sent down ? after 1 game ? really.

what did he do, take a dump at center ice ? lets teach him a lesson and scratch him ? that quickly. wow.

we dont know the reason so its premature to freak out but yikes. talk about a short leash andsending a message early.

hes looking at flights home on his phone right now im sure.
 

HockeyBasedNYC

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Aug 2, 2005
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Wow that is surprising. I didn't think he was that bad in Preseason and he looked great in Traverse.

Maybe Knoblauch is using him as a whipping boy and is testing his mettle.

Very surprising though and doesn't really make much sense to me.
 

Amazing Kreiderman

Registered User
Apr 11, 2011
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What makes the Wolf Pack a negative there now? It's not the same as last year. They added more veterans and changed the coaching staff. It's hopefully not the same disaster it's been the last few years.

We are 2 games into the season. Let's not jump to any conclusions. One of the veterans they added has retired before the season started
 

HockeyBasedNYC

Feeling it
Aug 2, 2005
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The first thing that came to mind though is Kravstov is very skilled with the puck and I saw him overplay it often in camp. Maybe after a few practices the coaching staff wanted him to quit the cuteness and when they saw it in the game they wanted to nip it in the bud.

But that is a big part of his game and the combination of size and skill is a rare thing. Anyway you cut it this sucks
 
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