Vitali Kravtsov to spend full season in KHL; No recall option

Update: My Google translate is broken. The Rangers have a recall option. My bad.

It looks like Vitali Kravtsov will spend the full 2020-2021 season in the KHL with no recall option.

It had been previously reported that Kravtsov would have a recall option. However that does not appear to be the case. There is no cause for concern here, as the 20 year old will get a full season of work under his belt after a rough 2019-2020 season.

The KHL season starts soon, and if Traktor misses the playoffs, will be over in February. The NHL season’s most aggressive plan is to start on December 1. That is most likely not going to happen.

In all likelihood, the NHL will use the Winter Classic as its start date and run a truncated season. In that scenario, Kravtsov would likely be able to join the Rangers after a month or two. It’s better for him to get guaranteed playing time now than try to guess if/when the NHL season will start.

Remember that this was a joint agreement, so the Rangers are fully on board with this plan. While it is a surprise that Vitali Kravtsov will not have a recall option, sometimes you just have to trust the process.