Rangers Prospect Eyes Return To North America

Vitali Kravtsov appears to be eying a return to North America in hopes of playing in the NHL next season as he declined an offer to play in Russia per Sports.ru.

Kravtsov is the New York Rangers' ninth overall pick in 2018 and has spent most of his pro career playing in the KHL for Chelyabinsk Traktor. He played parts of two seasons for them leading up to his draft, only to return for the entire following season and part of 2019-20, splitting time as a member of the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.

There has been this attitude about Kravtsov that he thinks he deserves more than he has earned at such a young age. With only 20 games of NHL experience and two goals and four points to go along with that, he wasn't in agreement about being sent back down to the AHL to develop. Instead he headed back over to Russia on loan to continue playing in the KHL.

Kravtsov is still under contract with the Rangers but he is a restricted free agent this summer. The Rangers still hold his rights but could be hesitant to send him a qualifying offer. They may attempt to trade his signing rights to another team that would have room on their roster for him or the Rangers could let him walk and become an unrestricted free agent.

The 22 year old has put up respectable numbers in the KHL and has time to develop over there. He could return as a more impactful player and stick around, but his time in New York is likely done with how things have transpired.