Montreal Canadiens Rumour: Habs Showing Interest in Vitali Kravtsov

The Montreal Canadiens season is off to a disappointing start to say the least. Five game losing streaks followed by mediocre stretches of games will do that to a team.

The team must be looking for some kind of a shakeup to see if they can suddenly turn a corner.

They do have a couple of key veterans inching closer to a return with Joel Edmundson and Carey Price coming closer to joining the full team at practice. But it sounds like the general manager might be looking around the league for help already.

According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Canadiens are one of two teams that was most interested in acquiring Vitali Kravtsov from the New York Rangers. The Russian winger was assigned to the AHL by the Rangers at the start of the season, but refused to report. Instead, he eventually headed back to Russia and he really caught fire right away.

Kravtsov scored two goals and added an assist in his first KHL game of the season, after scoring 16 goals and 24 points in 49 KHL games last season. He had just four points in 20 NHL games with the Rangers.

Kravtsov was the 9th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He is 21 years old and didn’t find a fit with the Rangers last season or this season. He has put up impressive numbers for a player his age in the KHL, which can be unkind to 19 and 20 year olds who need to really shine to get much ice time.

There is no question Kravstov is a highly skilled player and he is young enough that he could easily break out in the NHL in the near future. He has played just 20 career games at the NHL level on a. fourth line with Kevin Rooney and Brett Howden so it is a little early to draw any conclusions on his ability to produce at the highest level.

According to Seravalli’s report, the Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators are the two teams most interested in acquiring Kravtsov.

I would think this is a great idea if only Kravtsov played centre. The Canadiens could use some offensive help down the middle, but are pretty loaded already on the wings.

It is possible that the cost is low, like when the Rangers traded away Lias Andersson not long ago. Andersson was taken 7th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, but four years later was traded for a second round pick to the Los Angeles Kings.

If the Rangers want to give up on Kravtsov for a second round pick, the Habs should be all in. It would give them another winger in a position where they are already fairly deep, but maybe it would also allow them to trade away another winger like Joel Armia or Artturi Lehkonen to make room on the roster and save a few dollars on the cap.

It was interesting to see the Canadiens linked to Kravtsov, but he doesn’t really have a fit on this team right now. It doesn’t make sense to give up a lot for a player that had a hard time cracking the Rangers, and obviously isn’t content to play in the AHL and work his way up.

If the Habs were to give up a second round pick for Kravtsov, that’d be fine, but giving up a top prospect doesn’t really make sense.