Vitali Kravtsov receiving guidance from wing man Artemi Panarin
Vitali Kravtsov, right winger, during the New York Rangers training camp on Sept. 24, 2022. Credit: Errol Anderson
KINGSTON, R.I. — It’s become an everyday post-practice scene: Right after the coaches deliver their closing message to the group at center ice, Artemi Panarin gets a bunch of pucks and sets up somewhere above the left circle. Vitali Kravtsov heads to the lower half of the right circle. Then Panarin feeds the youngster passes for one-time shots at an empty goal.
The scene took place again Monday as the Rangers returned to practice at the University of Rhode Island after their bonding day in Rhode Island on Sunday. After practice, the 30-year-old Panarin worked to help sharpen the 22-year-old Kravtsov’s skills and confidence.
“It’s Bread [Panarin] trying to make our team better,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said.
Kravtsov, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2018 draft, has been a model citizen in training camp after walking out on the team and going back home to Russia a year ago when he didn’t make the Opening Night roster. Whatever bad blood may have existed between him and the organization after that seems to be behind him. He re-signed with the team as a restricted free agent during the summer and showed up in New York early to get ready for camp.
“It didn’t work out last year real well, but this year he’s come in with a great attitude and he’s done everything we asked, and he wants to be a good player,’’ Gallant said.
In his first interview with the media, Kravtsov said he was nervous. At times, he has looked it in the preseason games.
“Yeah, the first game was awful,’’ he said last week. “I couldn’t control the puck. My hands were rusty.’’
But playing on a line with Panarin, who also is Russian, and talking and spending time with him is a great help to the 6-3, 186-pound rookie.
“Yeah, for sure,’’ he said. “Every drill, I have to go all out with him. Just, I try to show my best. You know, I can’t play bad with him, because if I’m going to look bad, he’s not going to be happy about me.’’
Sometimes the two Russians talk about on-ice details, and other times, just about life.
“It’s just like, I don’t know, just like a dad in the locker room,’’ Kravtsov said. “You know, for me, he’s helping a lot, just on ice, off ice. I always, if I need help, I can ask him. It’s so good to have that guy.’’
Kravtsov appeared to be blindsided when the Rangers sent him down to AHL Hartford last year, but this year they can’t send him to the minor leagues without having him clear waivers. Because the odds of getting through waivers are just about nil, he’s almost certain to be on the Opening Night roster. But with two preseason games remaining, Kravtsov would like to have a strong performance or two before cutdown day.
“You can be, like, the best in the practice, but when the game starts, you have to show, like, all your things,’’ he said. “It doesn’t matter how good you are in the practice. You have to show that in the game. I do some things in that practice that I have to put them in a game.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
