Relatively big news broke yesterday afternoon, as Vitali Kravtsov exercised his KHL out clause in his contract to return to the KHL. Yesterday was the first day that he was allowed to do so, and he wasted no time. As per usual, I have thoughts.
1. Given how quickly this happened, the Rangers knew this was going to happen well in advance. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise for anyone else either, as it was always a possibility for Kravtsov. It became much more probably after his healthy scratch and then being benched for large portions of other games.
2. This says nothing about Kravtsov’s character or his status as a top prospect. The kid is 19 years old, he’s in a foreign country where he knows no one, and his hopes of making the NHL roster outright didn’t happen. It’s a lot to happen for a kid in a short amount of time. The KHL is still a fine league for him to develop. The Rangers can still call him up at any time and he’d have to report from the KHL, so it’s not like he’s gone for the season. Plus the KHL season ends in February. My guess is that he’s back in New York after the trade deadline.
3. I guess we know why the Wolf Pack recalled Ty Ronning.
4. While this says nothing about Kravtsov, there’s something to read into how the Rangers develop their prospects. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with letting Kravtsov get top-six minutes in the AHL because he wasn’t going to get it in the NHL. That’s fine. But then you look at third line winger Brendan Smith and you wonder if the Rangers messed up here. Kravtsov certainly didn’t look out of place in camp. What’s the difference between third line minutes with Brett Howden and Brendan Lemieux and top-six minutes? You add that to the Micheal Haley signing and it makes you wonder what the Rangers were thinking. Do they think they can only have two scoring lines? If that’s the case, then there’s a major development and organizational process problem.
5. There’s also the message that third line winger Brendan Smith sends to Kravtsov. It’s clearly not intentional, but how would you feel if you felt you made it out of camp, only to get cut because there wasn’t a spot for you, only to see a spot open up after the Vlad Namestnikov trade, then to see if filled by a defenseman instead? That’s demoralizing. This entire sequence of events is not a good look.
6. Worth noting that Kravtsov’s contract does not slide with the move back to Russia.
7. One last thing: This really isn’t a big deal. On a scale of 0-10 of freak out, this is at most a three.
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