Canucks: Vitali Kravtsov returns for a second chance — and some sushi

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Chelyabinsk, it must be pointed out, is a long way from the ocean.

Indeed, when you look at the map of Russia, you realize how hard it would be to find a spot in the vast country that is further from the sea than this industrial city east of the Urals, a place that was vital to the construction of tanks during the Second World War and has long been a railway hub otherwise.

Vancouver is the complete opposite. And that’s a big reason why Vitali Kravtsov is taking a second tour with the Vancouver Canucks.

“Fresh sushi,” Kravtsov’s agent Dan Milstein quipped on Tuesday as a big reason why his client is returning to the team where he finished the 2022-23 season after a late-season trade from the New York Rangers.

At the time, Kravtsov fit what president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford had laid down as a player-acquisition focus — find formerly high-end prospects who might just need a fresh start. Kravtsov was a ninth-overall selection by the Rangers in 2018, but had struggled for ice time in New York and had bounced up and down between the NHL and the minors — and even back to the KHL.

Yes, back to Chelyabinsk. He grew up in Vladivostok, on the Russian Pacific coast — Vancouver reminded him of his hometown, he told Postmedia in 2023 — but he had played all his hockey in the city that is just 100 or so kilometres from the Kazakhstan border. He played junior there. He turned pro there.

And he signed back there in 2023 after a brief run with the Canucks, where he scored a single goal in 16 games. A goal that deflected in off Blackhawks defenceman Seth Jones, notably.

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It was not an especially memorable goal, nor was it an especially memorable run in Vancouver.

But he has had two strong seasons back in the KHL, and the Canucks clearly see something that might be something back in the NHL.

He had 27 goals in 66 games with Traktor, finally getting to play a front-line role for the first time in years. He hadn’t been leaned on by any team like that since he was in junior. You know he’s brimming with confidence.

Can he translate that confidence to the NHL?

Can he bring the pace needed to succeed?

It’s also hard to see how he would fit on the NHL roster at the moment. The team is brimming with wingers with actual NHL pedigree: Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Evander Kane, Conor Garland, Nils Hoglander and Kiefer Sherwood. Is Kravtsov going to supplant any of those six?

Would it make sense to have him as a fourth-liner, because as it stands, he seems most likely set to battle for a role there. Even if Jonathan Lekkerimaki’s playoffs were underwhelming in Abbotsford, the rookie’s regular season was solid and he played a bunch of NHL games to boot.

Lekkerimaki is the future of the team’s offence and surely he will be given every opportunity to take a spot in the NHL. Kravtsov will also be behind Lekkerimaki when it comes to fighting for top-line minutes.

Simply put, that is the task in front of Kravtsov: show he can be a consistent contributor in an offensive role. The hill he’s looking at is big.

But at least the sushi will be tasty.

pjohnston@postmedia.com