When people talk about the young group of the New York Rangers, people will mention Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, K’Andre Miller, and so on. One member of that core that will eventually get mentioned is Vitali Kravtsov. Kravtsov has found himself in the lineup sporadically. Admittedly, this is partially due to the injuries he has sustained throughout the season although some of the more recent omissions have been the choice of Gerrard Gallant.
Recently, the Rangers head coach went on record calling Vitali Kravtsov the team’s thirteenth forward. Although it was later said that there is nothing wrong on the part of Kravtsov, it is just felt that the Rangers’ young Russian winger is not one of the twelve best forwards available. This is a rather scathing inditement on behalf of Kravtsov. While he is a promising player, this must wreck his confidence.
What the Rangers do next with Kravtsov has always been an interesting debate for me. Kravtsov could be moved out, he could be sent down, loaned back to the Kontinental Hockey League, placed on unconditional waivers for contract termination, or simply reinstated to the lineup. If there was a betting favorite on one of those, I’m not entirely sure which one it would be to be perfectly honest.
If the Russian winger is going to stick in New York, something is going to have to give. He doesn’t play well enough defensively to use him as a third-line guy. Kravtsov has far too much skill to be considered a fourth-line player. So if the Rangers do reinsert him, it should ideally be in the top six. With no one truly locking down a top-six right-wing job, there are certainly openings for him. He would need to play well if he was to get that chance, but it’s worth risking.
Rangers General Manager Chris Drury could take Vitali Kravtsov and send him out the door. There are going to be hockey clubs all over the world interested in the services of a former first-round pick drafted 9th overall. The fact Kravtsov has just one assist in nine games isn’t going to put a ton of other teams off. Whether that is in the NHL or not could be a different problem, but there is going to be a ton of interest at his age.
When Kravtsov was last sent down to the American Hockey League, he was not pleased. He opted to continue his career back home in Russia. It gravely damaged his relationship with the organization and although there have been attempts from both sides to mend the rift between them, putting the winger back in that position could end up in a similar position should the Rangers opt to revisit that well.
This is a really unsusual situation. There will need to be a resolution as the situation comes to a head. Hopefully, Gallant gets him back into the lineup soon. Kravtsov seems to be in good spirits despite not playing a lot recently. Hopefully, he’ll get back into the lineup and take strides towards becoming the talent we all wanted him to be when he was drafted. Perhaps that is just a pipe dream.