I see a few things wrong with your portrayal.
1. The lack of a transfer agreement is not reason enough to upend the development of a top 10 pick. Who was the last NHL caliber pick from the KHL that didn’t eventually come over? Why try to force players to come over when you want them to as opposed to when they feel ready?
Again I feel it's important to point out that Kravtsov wanted to come over as soon as possible and was himself pushing hard for it. If we want to say the Rangers should have shown more restraint and forced him to go back that's one thing, but they also didn't force him to leave the KHL before he felt ready since he was trying hard on his own to get signed and over to NA.
I think the lack of transfer agreement does play a role here because NHL teams want to have control over their prospects development and would rather sign a player than lose ability to do anything with them for 3 years or whatever when they re-sign with their KHL team. Again though I think you have to take into account Kravtsov's own desires and role in this.
2. More than the bouncing back and forth has created controversy. It’s also been his attitude. The team openly talks about his lack of maturity, as evidenced by Davidson’s recent interview. He was benched in an AHL game for poor play and then moved down the lines. Instead of working hard and regaining his spot over players he’s clearly better than, he went home.
I mean, yes those things are all intertwined to some degree. He went back the way he did and dealt with it the way he did because he was a 19 year old kid and there's some immaturity there (though also I think he was getting hit with the culture transition and struggling to deal with being in a NA dominated locker room and adjusting to all of that in the AHL).
The coming back and putting his head down and working and drawing praise from the AHL coaching staff shows growth and maturity though, which we shouldn't discount either.
3. Where is the spot for him? There’s no top six role available, probably no third line role available, and it’s much more likely the team has veterans who can play a gritty style and PK or even younger players with that style over a finesse winger. I also don’t see how he’s done anything yet to deserve a spot in the NHL. If you are a forward and can’t even score .5PPG in the AHL, you shouldn’t be promoted to the NHL. Let him prove he deserves a spot.
I doubt they will re-sign Fast at this point (probably don't have the cap room) and we have yet to see what roster moves may be made this offseason but Buchnevich is a possibility to be moved for various reasons (I kind of think they'll wait on that one but if the right deal pops up then I think they won't hesitate), but Kravtsov will be competing with players like Gauthier and Letteri for the 3rd line RW spot, and third lines these days aren't just "checking lines". In general, if he shows up as the best player in camp for that spot then he'll win it regardless of what he did in the AHL. If he doesn't, he'll need more time in the AHL. I'm not "handing" him a spot but I am saying there is an opportunity for him depending on what happens with roster building this offseason.