Vancouver Canucks Learn They May Be Forced to Waive Former Top-Ten Pick Vitali Kravtsov
Photo credit: Bob Frid - Imagn Images.
The Vancouver Canucks may be forced to waive a former top-ten pick later on in training camp as Patrik Allvin and Adam Foote continue to trim the club's roster.
After two preseason games thus far, the Vancouver Canucks have looked good, with a 5-3 loss to Seattle on Sunday evening followed by a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, which included a two-assist performance from top defensive prospect Tom Willander.
As training camp and preseason games continue to roll on around the National Hockey League, Thursday marked the first day for waivers, which officially opens 12 days before a new season begins and today, a total of seven players were placed on the wire, most notably Utah Mammoth netminder Connor Ingram.
Over the next ten days, as clubs make more cuts to their respective training camp roster, we're going to see a ton of players land on the waiver wire, including some Vancouver Canucks and it appears that one former first round pick might be among them in the near future.
Vancouver Canucks may be forced to waive former top-ten pick before 2025-26 season
Heading into training camp, everyone knew how tough the bottom-six battle was going to be for the Vancouver Canucks with six, maybe seven players competing for just a couple of spot, but complicating things even further was the change in waiver eligibility for a number of players, most notably Linus Karlsson, Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Raty.
Joining those three is Vitali Kravtsov, who signed a one-year deal to return to North America after spending the last two seasons in the KHL and with the Russian forward in tough to make it onto Vancouver's opening night roster, it looks like Canucks fans might see his name on the waiver wire soon.
In a recent article for The Athletic, Corey Pronman and Harman Dayal took a look at several potential waiver wire targets for teams around the National Hockey League and the duo mentioned Vancouver Canucks forward Vitali Kravtsov as an option.
"A top-10 pick in 2018, Kravtsov is attempting an NHL comeback after finishing sixth in KHL scoring last season. The Canucks have a glut of depth forwards, and Kravtsov is currently on the outside looking in on a roster spot.
Kravtsov has intriguing size and skill, though he lacks a standout offensive trait. His straight-line speed appears to be quicker than it was during his last NHL stint, though his edge work in tight areas is still a work in progress. Kravtsov could appeal to a team with less depth that wants to gamble on his tools, pedigree and last year's KHL breakout." Pronman & Dayal said.
Kravtsov has intriguing size and skill, though he lacks a standout offensive trait. His straight-line speed appears to be quicker than it was during his last NHL stint, though his edge work in tight areas is still a work in progress. Kravtsov could appeal to a team with less depth that wants to gamble on his tools, pedigree and last year's KHL breakout." Pronman & Dayal said.
Kravtsov, 25, is coming off an impressive year in the KHL, registering 27 goals and 58 points in 66 regular season games and helped Traktor Chelyabinsk reach the Gagarin Cup Final, where they ultimately fell in five games to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
If Kravtsov ends up on waivers, which seems quite likely at this point, it's hard to envision that he'll go unclaimed as at least one team around the league will have seen what he did last season in the KHL and be interest in bringing him in for a spot in their bottom-six.
Source: Corey Pronman & Harman Dayal/The Athletic
NHL waiver targets: Who could be the best pickups when teams trim rosters for 2025-26 season?
NHL waiver targets: Who could be the best pickups when teams trim rosters for 2025-26 season?
Previously on CanucksDaily
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 25 | 1039 ANSWERS Vancouver Canucks Learn They May Be Forced to Waive Former Top-Ten Pick Vitali Kravtsov If the Vancouver Canucks place Vitali Kravtsov on waivers over the next ten days, do you think another team will claim him? | ||
| Yes | 799 | 76.9 % |
| No | 240 | 23.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
